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Old 03-14-2015, 02:53 PM   #1
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Default Pretty rough week.

Had a pretty rough week here. Basically on Sunday afternoon I had a clot form in the SMT artery, which supplies blood to most of the intestines and bowels. Hurt like the dickens! And not a good place to be medically.

After seeing the first doctor in the ER things went rather quickly. Drank a quart of nasty dye stuff to prep for a CT. Got more dye in the vein during the CT which lit me up like Times Square. And the clot was then obvious to the doctors.

So they rolled me back to interventional radiology and ran a catheter up my femoral artery and essentially squirted "clot buster" all over the clot and dissolved most of it. Went back in 12 hours later and 95% was gone.

The rest of the time was spent rolling around hurting and taking anti-clotting therapy via IV. So it looks like I'm on Coumadin therapy for at least a year. After some time to think about the events of the week I wrote up a synopsis on my Facebook page:

My vocabulary was expanded this week. Some of the new words I learned were:

“superior mesenteric artery”
“thrombosis”
“infarction”
“interventional radiology”
“coumadin, warfarin, heparin, lovenox”
And I became experientially familiar with “morphine, oxycodone.”

I also became more acquainted with “amazing” and “blessed.” In context, when Dr. G___, Dr. F___, and Dr. W___ come into your room and announce “Your recovery has been amazing. You are blessed” and they peek their eyebrows and give a little nod of the head on “amazing” and “blessed” which communicates without words the idea that if you can’t see the hand of God in this then you are blind.


At first I wondered which ORR.net family forum to post under. The recovery has left me unscarred and unscathed. There is a defect in the SMT artery that would tend to cause a clot, but otherwise all my arteries are in fine shape and if a clot is going to form it's going to form there and not in a lung, heart or brain. With the Coumadin a new clot is not likely. So all that is good news.

On the other hand, the experience was rather unpleasant and painful, so I think I'll just leave it here.

Ouch! Let's not go there again.
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Old 03-14-2015, 07:20 PM   #2
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Well, the warfarin isn't so bad. I take 4 mg every day, and have for years. It's such a pretty blue pill. Other strengths (2 mg, etc.) are other colors, less charming.

You'll learn other new words soon, like PT (prothrombin time, a measure of how quickly your blood clots) and INR (international normalized ratio, a measure of PT).

Ain't learning new stuff a blast?
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Old 03-15-2015, 06:34 AM   #3
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Just an FYI Wade:
There are PT/INR testing devices available for "HOME TESTING" , very similar procedure to blood sugar testing devices for diabetics (check with your insurance though).
If your going to be on "Coumadin" (or one of it's relatives) for an extended period of time this saves you trip's to the Dr. or Clinic for testing and allows a bit more flexibility in travel.
Check with your Doctor, he may be able to set you up with one and coordinate with your insurance.
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Old 03-15-2015, 10:50 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NN5I View Post
You'll learn other new words soon, like PT (prothrombin time, a measure of how quickly your blood clots) and INR (international normalized ratio, a measure of PT).

Ain't learning new stuff a blast?
I also learned to inject myself with Lovenox, which is a fast acting "on steroids" version of Coumadin/warfarin type drug. The point was to get my INR between 2 and 3 as quickly as possible and the doctors were thinking that would be several days after I left the hospital. As it turns out I was on target the day I was discharged, so I never had to self inject except in "practice sessions"

And learning THAT was a blast. Once I mastered the art however, I found I could do the job with less pain and bruising than the professionals could.
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Old 03-15-2015, 02:31 PM   #5
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here is a problem with warfarin long term for folks who post here.

You need regular visits to the blood lab for testing

There are newer drugs that do not need monthly testing,but they too have downsides.

Recommend a long chat with the Doctor..Mine put me on one of the alternates.
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Old 03-16-2015, 05:56 AM   #6
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XYL here was on warfarin for about 15 years following a go around with cancer which caused a clot in the lung's , (and again after a knee replacement), that's when we found out about the home testing kit.
Since they were fairly new back then we had a bit of a fight with our insurance but finally got the kit and that saved us many miles and hours going back and forth to the lab.
She's been off "warfarin" for about 4 years now but we keep the machine around Just in case!
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