A month ago, had someone suggested to me that I would soon be voluntarily ingesting Rat Poison I would not have believed them - I would have vehemently denied it as something I just wouldn't do and WHAT were they thinking? I probably would have also said something derogatory about their Mother ...
But then again - had the same person - while smarting over the comments about their Mother - burst out saying that I was going to have multiple seizures and a stroke - I would have just laughed at them or punched them out - which ever I felt like ...
I would have thought:
Nonsense!
Absurd!
Not Me!
NOT ME!!
Yeah,
*sigh*,
Not fun,
Not good,
Not nice ...
Not me ...
Oh please, oh please, oh please
Please not me ...
But I apparently got the short straw - or more along the lines of the truth: I was sent home on WAY too much blood pressure lowering medications after my seizures (Five different prescriptions: FIVE!) and the cause of the stroke is listed as low blood pressure.
So, every day I dutifully ingest my dose of Rat poison ...
It DOES actually have another name - one that doctors prefer using and simply insist on using that name when discussing it with you. In fact, using the term "Rat Poison" in there presence referring to your medication is a sure fire way of flustering most doctors since this is sort of an industry secret ...
It's kinda fun too ...
Coumadin - innocuous sounding, no? My vote for its name would be: "Pain In The Butt" but no one seems to be asking me ...
I find it both disturbing and sad that my DNA and that of a Rat is so similar that the active ingredient in both Coumadin and Rat Poison is something that works equally as well whether you are a rat and purchasing the cheap stuff at Wal-Mart (not the rat - the rat murderer) or someone who is trying to dissolve a pesky blood clot and using the über expensive prescription at Walgreens.
In the hospital - after the doctors finished scratching their heads about why my hematocrit dropped so low one evening (basically giving up and shrugging their collective shoulders - don't know why - can't go exploring (yeah!) since I was on heparin and you just don't start poking about a person when - if they start bleeding - tend not to stop ...) I was started on Coumadin.
I sat around the hospital for my Coumadin level to get into the "Therapeutic Range": with the "IPL" falling between 2 and 3.
If the IPL is under 2 it is too low and that pesky blood clot in my brain would not dissolve.
If the IPL is above 3 the blood gets too thin - clotting becomes something that just does not happen - and one tends to bleed to death - thus above a 3 is basically a big no no.
Right off the bat it jumped to 0.5, then about 1.0 then 1.5 it was looking like the next day would be my day! The next day it was 1.7 ...
Bummer - no going home.
I was not pleased.
But when the day after that and it had progressed to a whopping 1.97 with the doctors saying: "Sorry, you cannot go home - it is not above 2.0" my displeasure was transformed into something much more intense than the day before.
That day the doctor decided to up my dose of Coumadin - WHAT A CONCEPT! The next day it was - surprise, surprise - above 2.0 and I went home. This , of course, involved a new pile of new prescriptions. THIS time I was feeling much better than the last time I had been discharge - a whole week before - so I checked and double checked my prescriptions to make sure of what I was tossing in my system.
I also purchased a top of the line blood pressure cuff and take my blood pressure twice daily to make sure it is neither too high or too low. Hopefully all this will ensure that there will not be a third ride to the hospital in an ambulance ...
After going home - the Coumadin level must be monitored thus multiple visits to the blood doctor for finger sticks to check the levels accordingly. Did I mention that diet will change your amounts? Basically Vitamin K is used to make what ever it is that makes your blood clot. Coumadin inhibits that thus the clotting no longer works and voilà! Thin blood. So ... if you tend to eat foods with large amounts of Vitamin K - you kinda screw everything up. Green, leafy vegetables are PACKED with Vitamin K - lets just say avoiding kale and spinach is not going to be a hardship on my part ...
Today was my first visit to my hematologist to check my IPL level.
My lovely friend Linda took me.
It was a casual visit - my Doctor was not there and it was supposed to just be a quick finger stick - get the level and head home until next time.
Things were going swimmingly - I was filling out the 'New Patient' forms when they called me back. I was please that we were progressing so rapidly since Linda and I were meeting Bonne for one of our Power Lunches and I didn't want to make both of us late.
The Nurse sticks my finger, puts the blood on a gizmo and waited about 30 seconds and then I heard the very sharp intake of breath. "This cannot be!" she exclaimed - we need to do it again.
Before I could get out a question or a word in at all she had grabbed the next finger and punched a hole in it. Placed a drop of blood on the gizmo again shaking her head. When it was done - she looked up at me and told me that "I couldn't leave the building."
What!?!
It's not like her gizmo tested for the Ebola Virus ...
WHAT IS GOING ON?
She explained to me that my IPL was 6.5 and she actually didn't want me to move at all - like if I played 'Frozen Statue' I wouldn't bump into anything and die of internal bleeding. What she DID DO was totally scare the shit out of me.
I told her my friend would wonder where I was - could I go get her? She said no - that some people - when they got out to the lobby - bolted.
Well - YEAH - that WAS TOTALLY MY PLAN ...
She went and got her and then went off to call my Doctor to see what to do.
It all went rather quickly and we made it to our lunch just a few minutes late!
And can you guess where we went?
I know it is a very sad, desperate time for me when I start taking photos of random crap. I just goes to show how desperate I am for a real photo junket. That being said - this is actually a very cool building and had beautiful flowers everywhere!
See my sweet friend peeking?
The two most wonderful women I know:
Now tell me that was not a pretty cool building ...
So - for two days I am off the Rat Poison - then I go back and check my levels again.
Here's hoping I don't fall down or bump into anything in my booted, hobbling state!
4 comments:
The generic version of the blood thinner is warfarin and Walmart has it on their $4 script list. I know this bc my husband has to take it as well. Although they call his levels INR instead of IPL. Either way when I told him what you wrote even he wigged. He's had 3 clots get lodged in his lungs after they passed through his heart. Very scary and you are very blessed and very lucky that bro. Hurst took action when he did. He thinks they are going to have to lower your dosage so you can get more stabilized. They have him on 7.5mg and 2days a week he has to double up. If he misses more than a week of dosages they also make him take injections of lovonox straight into the fatty tissue of his stomach twice a day. Blood thinners, aka rat poision, are not fun and they can screw up your immune system make cold in the summer and freezing in the winter even on the Texas heat. I hope they can get your levels evened out soon for your sanity because its crazy when they can't figure it out. So glad to see you blogging again because I was very worried about you.
Never a dull moment . . . .
I am humbled that even in your scary medical-mystery moments, you find the beauty in the world around you!
Thank you for sharing your journey and your photos.
Keep hobblin' ~
Alison
Whoa! That sounds really scary. Keep us posted. Hugs...
So I can maybe see why they were trying to bring up your levels so slowly! I loved the pictures, think I can see the friend peeking (right door, correct?) and want sanity in your prescriptions and doctors! I'm glad you are reading all the labels and being more pro-active.
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