Lucy had her TPA procedure this morning. It took less than 90 minutes. She was told they will need to repeat it tomorrow, but they made progress. She still can't get out of bed and she is to keep her leg as still as possible. Lucy seems to be in a little less discomfort today. Lucy doesn't have a firm time for tomorrow's procedure, but it could be as early as 7:30. She is really tired today because of being awakened every two hours for the last couple days, and now has at least one more night of tests.
The hospital plays "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" when a baby is born. I swear it was playing on a continuous loop today. There is an anecdote stating more babies are born when during bad weather because of the drop in air pressure. The barometer here dropped to 29.23 early this morning and is slowly rising.
Julie called tonight, but Lucy had to get a blood draw a few minutes into the call. Lucy's arms have been poked so much she is bruised. The heparin isn't helping with that either.
We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Thank you for spending some time reading this and have a Happy Leap Day!
Showing posts with label TPA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TPA. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
"You put your left leg in, you put your left leg out..."
The weather was supposed to be very challenging today. The Twin Cities was under a Winter Storm Warning due to anticipated heavy snow, sleet, freezing rain and high winds. As the morning went on, the storm shifted farther to the north. The Warning was downgraded to an Advisory. As of this writing, it is raining hard. There is still a chance of freezing rain tonight and a chance of a couple inches of snow tomorrow. The day had an unexpected turn of events, but it was in our favor.
Lucy's day had an unexpected turn of events, but in her favor. Marynne from Minnesota Oncology visited with her this morning. Dr. Thurmes was unavailable this morning. Lucy's leg was improving very slowly. Dr. Nashawaty felt that since Lucy had not had a nosebleed in several days, perhaps the TPA catheter option was available.
Her next visitor was Dr. Dittes, an Infections Disease specialist. He felt that Lucy may have celluitis but acknowledged to her that her blood cultures and blood tests show no obvious indication of a bacterial infection. He also told her that her blood clots could be the majority of the fever spikes and redness. He changed the antibiotic she was on to two different IV antibiotics. There is nothing to be concerned about.
Marynne came back a bit later. She was going to see if Interventional Radiology wanted to do the TPA procedure. The best guess was that Lucy would have it done tomorrow morning. They had time today and got to her about 1:30 this afternoon.
The procedure went very quickly. She was done by 2:45. There was a very large clot in her thigh. The clot in her calf was small enough that they were going to let nature take its course. Her left leg was much less clogged than her right leg was a couple weeks ago. We hope that means she will not need subsequent procedures and her recovery time will be shorter. It will be a couple days before she will be able to do the Hokey Pokey.
Of course having the procedure means she also got moved from 8th floor to 3rd floor. The first move was into a two bed room. She got moved again about 20 minutes later to a private room.
Her evening is winding down now that there isn't as much activity. She knows sleeping will be tough tonight because they have to wake her every two hours to do a neurology check. Lucy got to talk to Diane and Julie on the phone tonight which helped brighten her day. I found the beaded owl pictured below in the gift shop. It is beaded and stands about 6" tall.
Here's hoping Leap Day goes well for her. We wish all of you a good evening and have a Happy Leap Day tomorrow!
Lucy's day had an unexpected turn of events, but in her favor. Marynne from Minnesota Oncology visited with her this morning. Dr. Thurmes was unavailable this morning. Lucy's leg was improving very slowly. Dr. Nashawaty felt that since Lucy had not had a nosebleed in several days, perhaps the TPA catheter option was available.
Her next visitor was Dr. Dittes, an Infections Disease specialist. He felt that Lucy may have celluitis but acknowledged to her that her blood cultures and blood tests show no obvious indication of a bacterial infection. He also told her that her blood clots could be the majority of the fever spikes and redness. He changed the antibiotic she was on to two different IV antibiotics. There is nothing to be concerned about.
Marynne came back a bit later. She was going to see if Interventional Radiology wanted to do the TPA procedure. The best guess was that Lucy would have it done tomorrow morning. They had time today and got to her about 1:30 this afternoon.
The procedure went very quickly. She was done by 2:45. There was a very large clot in her thigh. The clot in her calf was small enough that they were going to let nature take its course. Her left leg was much less clogged than her right leg was a couple weeks ago. We hope that means she will not need subsequent procedures and her recovery time will be shorter. It will be a couple days before she will be able to do the Hokey Pokey.
Of course having the procedure means she also got moved from 8th floor to 3rd floor. The first move was into a two bed room. She got moved again about 20 minutes later to a private room.
Her evening is winding down now that there isn't as much activity. She knows sleeping will be tough tonight because they have to wake her every two hours to do a neurology check. Lucy got to talk to Diane and Julie on the phone tonight which helped brighten her day. I found the beaded owl pictured below in the gift shop. It is beaded and stands about 6" tall.
Here's hoping Leap Day goes well for her. We wish all of you a good evening and have a Happy Leap Day tomorrow!
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| Lucy's new friend |
Monday, February 27, 2012
Holding pattern
So much for Lucy's heparin staying in the therapeutic range. She has had two adjustments and boluses today and will have a re-test at 9:30 pm tonight. It sounds like she is close to where they want her. The tricky part is having her stay in the therapeutic range for a couple days.
Her nosebleeds have stopped, but Dr. Thurmes is very reluctant to run a TPA catheter in her leg. The TPA would speed up getting rid of the thigh clot. Right now she has to stay the course. Perhaps that could change the longer she goes without a nosebleed. Right now she is dabbing saline gel in her nostrils every four hours and that seems to be working.
The two unit transfusion helped a little, but Lucy's hemoglobin was only at 7.9 today. More than likely she will need a transfusion tomorrow or Wednesday. We have not heard how her white count or platelet count were faring.
She has still been having fever spikes today. Her worst one was 102.8° which was taken down with Tylenol and cool washcloths on the forehead. There is still no indication of an infection. The fevers break within 30 minutes.
One nice thing was she got to use a shower today. The disposable washcloths are nice, but having some independence is nicer. She also got a birthday rose from one of the floral shops today. That was a nice present.
It's still wait and see. A lot depends on how fast her body starts wearing down that clot in the thigh. We have no idea how soon she will be going home. It's frustrating, but it is what it is.
Thank you so much for caring! Your comments are like her getting a Get Well card without having to wait for mail delivery.
Her nosebleeds have stopped, but Dr. Thurmes is very reluctant to run a TPA catheter in her leg. The TPA would speed up getting rid of the thigh clot. Right now she has to stay the course. Perhaps that could change the longer she goes without a nosebleed. Right now she is dabbing saline gel in her nostrils every four hours and that seems to be working.
The two unit transfusion helped a little, but Lucy's hemoglobin was only at 7.9 today. More than likely she will need a transfusion tomorrow or Wednesday. We have not heard how her white count or platelet count were faring.
She has still been having fever spikes today. Her worst one was 102.8° which was taken down with Tylenol and cool washcloths on the forehead. There is still no indication of an infection. The fevers break within 30 minutes.
One nice thing was she got to use a shower today. The disposable washcloths are nice, but having some independence is nicer. She also got a birthday rose from one of the floral shops today. That was a nice present.
It's still wait and see. A lot depends on how fast her body starts wearing down that clot in the thigh. We have no idea how soon she will be going home. It's frustrating, but it is what it is.
Thank you so much for caring! Your comments are like her getting a Get Well card without having to wait for mail delivery.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Mondays are supposed to suck, not Fridays
Lucy's leg started getting worse this morning. She called Minnesota Oncology and they set up an appointment for 2:00 this afternoon.
Her nosebleed started at 1:30 and finally let up around 3:00. The nurse practitioner at Minnesota Oncology helped Lucy with her nosebleed. Anticoagulants are so fun. She also was contacted by Dr. Thurmes who was at Fairview Southdale on rounds.
She was admitted to Fairview Southdale as a precaution. Lucy also had some extra blood work drawn along with blood cultures. They need to wait 18 hours after her Lovenox injection before they can start IV heparin. That means she will get woken at 4:30 am. She just had completed an IV antibiotic because they suspect cellulitis. An ultrasound of the left leg found that the clot in her groin was solidifying. We are hoping she will not need a TPA catheter started tomorrow. In the past few hours, she started running a fever which is at about 102° right now. The Tylenol will help reduce the fever.
It is frustrating that this clotting problem flared up again. More than likely she is here until Sunday. We were looking forward to a nice quiet weekend at home and having her leg continue to heal. Now it's back to a wait and see mode. Keep Lucy in your thoughts and prayers this weekend. It helps us get through these setbacks.
At least I don't have to play Nurse Ratched with the Lovenox while she's in the hospital. See, I did manage to find something positive.
Her nosebleed started at 1:30 and finally let up around 3:00. The nurse practitioner at Minnesota Oncology helped Lucy with her nosebleed. Anticoagulants are so fun. She also was contacted by Dr. Thurmes who was at Fairview Southdale on rounds.
She was admitted to Fairview Southdale as a precaution. Lucy also had some extra blood work drawn along with blood cultures. They need to wait 18 hours after her Lovenox injection before they can start IV heparin. That means she will get woken at 4:30 am. She just had completed an IV antibiotic because they suspect cellulitis. An ultrasound of the left leg found that the clot in her groin was solidifying. We are hoping she will not need a TPA catheter started tomorrow. In the past few hours, she started running a fever which is at about 102° right now. The Tylenol will help reduce the fever.
It is frustrating that this clotting problem flared up again. More than likely she is here until Sunday. We were looking forward to a nice quiet weekend at home and having her leg continue to heal. Now it's back to a wait and see mode. Keep Lucy in your thoughts and prayers this weekend. It helps us get through these setbacks.
At least I don't have to play Nurse Ratched with the Lovenox while she's in the hospital. See, I did manage to find something positive.
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