Oh those blood thinners.... makes me sick as a dog till they get it right so I send the very  best to Mr Phoebe.... and to his girlfriend who must be anxious

GB, I'm sorry he is still so sick. Poor guy.

Testing the INR at home is a new one to me. I had no idea they had made a home test.  People used to have to ruin a day by going to the doc to be tested.

 

I think riding a bike would be too dangerous. One little fall and with the coumadin he could bleed terribly.

 

Hubby's office nurse threw a clot into her lungs and had to take Coumadin for years. Hers didn't seem to make her sick once she was stabilized and back at work. It's been years and I can't remember how long she was off work but I remember she was hospitalized for two weeks cause I had to do her work at the office.

 

I have a real fear of that happening to me because I bump into things and leave big awful 3 and 4 inch bruises all over my legs. I am on blood thinners so maybe that helps. We know that's why I am so bruised. My arms look like someone has been beating me. Nope, hubby hasn't, or he'd be in no condition to work.

Please update us again soon. He's in my prayers.

Annie

MSN ate my post earlier today...now I forgot what I said..

 

Annie, he hasn't been doing the INR tests at home.  He gets them done each week when he sees the doctor.

My mom has atrial fib, and has been on coumadin for about 2 years now.  They've never really gotten her INR stabilized to where she could wait a month between blood draws, like a few of her friends.  She goes every week at 9:15 a.m., and they call her at 4:00 and change her dosage.  Up and down.  Her poor arms look like someone beat her with a stick, too.

Barb

Since July first, the day of my hip replacement surgery, I've been taking an injectible blood thinner every morning.  Talk about bruising!  Good thing the weather is cool enough to wear long sleeves.  After injecting each morning, i feel so cold for about an hour, I snuggle back in bed to warm up and sleep until I warm up again.

 

I continue to pray for Mr. Phoebe.  di

The saga continues

 

He did go to Spokane and saw his regular/long-time orthopedist and discussed surgery for his ankle, doctor agreed it is probably something that needs to be done but can't be done, of course, while he's on these medications.

 

He also saw a hematologist, who gave him a strong impression (without actually saying so) that he thought his local doctor shouldn't have him still using the lovenox...it's normally used for a much shorter length of time and he's been using it now for about 5 weeks  Results from that bloodwork done in Spokane, still coming

 

Weekly checkup  yesterday showed his INR level went DOWN again. How can it go DOWN when there is nothing going into him to counteract these INCREASED levels of meds?  He asked the nurse to re-test because one time she did it two times and the levels were off by a substantial amount. She refused to do a second test yesterday.  So, of course, the doc INCREASED his coumadin again. 

 

He's one massive bruise around his waist where he's injecting.  He's also got a very large bruise on his inner thigh. Doc said  he must've bumped it somewhere.  It's in a place where a man would definitely not be bumping anything without knowing it.    He also found a new bruise last night, on his arm. To me, kind of sounded like some sort of spontaneous internal bleeding (i'm sure there's a medical term for that). 

 

Just got an email from him that he'd injured his knee at work around noon and the local doctor said he needed to go to the hospital because he thought there was internal bleeding in his knee.  One of his coworkers was taking him, instead of going by ambulance. 

 

All this, and he can't get them to re-do the sonograms or CAT scans to even be sure of whether he HAS any blood clots still roaming around.

 

 

 

 

 

That's why he went to the hematologist in Spokane.  Going on a regular basis to the docs in Spokane isn't an option.  It's on the opposite side of the state and takes him almost 4 hours just to get to the airport in Seattle, to catch a short flight.

 

When I talked to him last night, he said he might start going to a hematologist in Olympia, for the weekly follow-up/adjustment stuff.  But that's almost 3 hours from where he lives, so it was just way more convenient to have it done where he's been going, which is right on his way to work.

 

Maybe he'll be able to get the scans while he's at the hospital today. 

It's a nightmare isn't it...

 

Blessings to your friend GB....

Got an update from him a little while ago,  he'd just come home from the hospital after midnight!  Had to pay for a cab, 25-ish miles.

 

He said his knee sort of twisted yesterday evening, hurt all night and swelled way up, so he went to the clinic after he got to work. Doc there sent him to the hospital.  He had fluid drawn off the knee.  ER doc said if there'd been any blood in it, he'd have to have surgery done right away--luckily, no blood, so no surprise surgery.

I asked if he'd talked with that doctor about scanning him to check for clots.  He said after the possibility of surgery was brought up, he forgot about much of anything else.  (I said he needs ME around, to make sure these things get asked --he seemed agreeable to that suggestion, but he was loaded up on percodan so maybe he's a bit delirious.)

 

He did get an answer as to why there is so much variation in his INR levels.  This doctor gave him an injection of novocain  (or something similar) and was surprised he wasn't numbed, so gave a second one, still not numb enough. It took 3 injections.  Yikes!.....Anyway, he said Mr. Phoebe is one of the people who metabolize the medications very quickly.

 

So.....he will be working from home Thursday so he can keep his leg more mobilized and raised, and iced.

Is there an ending in sight for the poor man?

 

I do believe your suggestion should be taken to heart and hopefully it will register when the pain killers wear off, what a great idea that was...

 

 

 

 

Abby, you've seen a picture of him, remember?

An update:

 

He's still doing the lovenox injections and he looks like someone with tiny fingers left inky fingerprints across his entire belly--little dots at each injection site.  A new doctor is at the office he's going to each week, and that doc didn't seem concerned that he's been on lovenox for almost 10 weeks .  Doc said the INR levels aren't at the therapeutic levels they need to be.  Strange.   And after every weekly test which has shown the level not going up, his coumadin dosage has been increased.  He's now taking a dosage that is 5 times what it started at.

 

He's having a sonogram this week (Wednesday?) to see if there are any blood clots left.  If nothing's found, I think that'll be the end of the injections.