Back at the Hospital

I was slightly tempted to continue my "Hello Blood Clot" naming theme, but I don't think I realized how many updates might be involved around this. Sooo....

Tuesday was an interesting day. I got two calls in the morning I didn't really expect.

One from an outside facility calling to schedule a referral appointment I didn't know about (see my Facebook post). And the second from my new doctor (who had been on rotation when we first went in for my blood clot) following up on me since being home and seeing how my medication was working.

Can I just take a minute to say how much I like this new doctor? Goodness, she's very much involved and really looking into my situation to make sure we get me the the best care. I had a followup appointment scheduled with her on Friday, so I really appreciate the call as an extra measure.

I took her call as the opportunity to ask several questions that had come up in the last couple days. One question was about expectations for my leg swelling.

Although the swelling always fluctuates, I had noticed that it wasn't really going down and was actually getting worse. Jake and I had tried measuring at home and kept getting numbers quite a bit higher than what was recorded at the hospital. Plus, I saw the swelling go into my ankle and foot and knee—places that hadn't swelled before. I didn't know if this was normal and expected or what.

Doctor thought this was concerning enough to have me come in—and she offered to squeeze me in on her lunch break. She wanted to check things out and possibly do another ultrasound on the leg to see if anything was changing and hopefully that they weren't getting worse.

This call was around 10:30 am and I was then scheduled to go in at noon. I hadn't driven in a few days but luckily Jake and I switched cars so he was driving my manual clutch (Thank goodness I insisted he become comfortable with driving it last year.) and I had his automatic.

The appointment was pretty quick. She went over everything, checked my vitals, measured my swelling, etc. And agreed that the swelling was more intense. She sent me to radiology and said to come back and she'd fit me in to go over the results and decide what to do. One of the initial options was upping my dosage of blood thinner. You typically match dosage to weight and, for a general example, I was at a 60 dosage where the weight would put me at a 65-75 dosage. But they don't have needles for that range. While I could take TWO needles of 35 dosage, she (and I agree) wasn't too fly on making me inject myself FOUR times a day rather than two The other potential option was to give me a 80 dosage needle and train me where to stop at to get the right dosage.

I quickly got to radiology and then had some waiting time while we waited for results and such. In the end, the doctor pulled me in and said that the ultrasound showed the same thing as my one from last Thursday. However, after talking with some other specialists, she recommended it best to switch me to a Heparin drip, instead of my other blood thinning Lovenox.

Pros: Heparin is supposed to work a little more effectively and a little more quickly. They can adjust more often to more exactly match my levels and could cater the treatment to exactly what my body needs.

Cons: The Heparin drip needs to administered via an IV, with staff to make the changes as needed, and thus I would need to be admitted back to the hospital.

The team of doctors looking at my case felt most comfortable with this approach in order to get a handle on my levels. They anticipated I'd be admitted for 4-5 days and then could return to my previously prescribed treatment at home, hopefully with more workable results.

Taking all the information in, I asked if this would be an immediate admittance. After confirming I didn't show signs of a PE (pulmonary embolism), she said it would be fine if I'd want to go home, pack a bag, etc. Whew.

Plan was made. I head back to the car on my crutches and a near dying phone and text Jake to call me when he got a chance. I made it home and started getting stuff together: clothers, laptop, chargers, magazines, snacks, pillows, etc. Jake called and I caught him up and he was able to meet me at home to take me in. (Before I told him what was going on; I emphasized that he was NOT going to be staying at the hospital but hopefully this could help him focus on his busy week and not worry about me so much since the hospital would be taking care of me.)

By 4 p.m. we were heading back to the hospital, but definitely feeling a bit more prepared this time around. We went straight to Labor & Delivery where they had scheduled a stress test for the baby. They hooked up a monitor and listened for about 20 minutes there. Then the general medicine doctor came in and caught me up on the plan and looked at my legs. Then they transfered me down to my room and started the admission questions, blood tests, and procedures.

I got an IV in my right arm for the Heparin drip. The left arm is used for individual prick blood draws every 4 to 6 hours to test my levels, which would then affect what's happening in the Heparin drip. I think we did those draws around 8 pm, midnight, and 6 am, and noon.

Wednesday morning
This morning I spoke with the general medicine doctor and my OB doctor. Both said that everything went great, almost better than expected. They were able to really quickly match my levels and match the Heparin where it needed to be. (I don't really exactly know what these levels look like or mean but oh well). Looking at my legs, the swelling looks MUCH better. Although the swelling has always fluctuated, we have never seen it that "normal" since before I first came in last week.

My OB is going to do some background work and research to see if there is any reason to keep me the initially recommended 4-5 days. If the positive results stay around for the next 24 hours, they may be able to let me go home earlier. She doesn't want to keep me if it's unnecessary but also doesn't want any concerns or having me wind back at the hospital again anyways.

While I'm here anyways, we're going to try to get my 28 week labs down and possibly a few other things usually scheduled for the beginning of the 3rd trimester. For example, I may have my glucose test while here and probably my flu shot.

I think that's it for now!! Again, I'm doing great and really am back at the hospital just to have this particular medicine administered. Baby is also getting a lot of attention and doing well!