30
Dec
Update of the idle leg
Julie lent me her foam wedge from when she shattered her ankle which has been the perfect tool for keeping my leg elevated. I’ve spent most of my days since then on the couch with my leg elevated, reading and watching movies and checking to make sure I haven’t thrown the clot.
In the mean time I have to not do anything and that’s starting to drive me crazy and it’s making me feel a little bad that I can’t help out with anything around the house. Nicole will let me do something simple like carry dishes to the kitchen but beyond that I have to stay still until the Coumadin reaches a stable theraputic level.
My parents came up for the day yesterday which was really nice. It gave a Nicole a small break from watching me to see if I’m still ok. We got to exchange Chanukah gifts on the final night which looked like was going to have to happen some time in January or so. My father took me to the lab this morning for a blood test to determine whether I still needed the Lovenox shots or not.
There was only a 5 minute wait at 7:30 in the morning and theblood draw was only two vials. It was marked for same day processing so I called the doctor at 2:30PM to see if they had results but nothing was there yet. I called again at 3:30PM but still nothing. I called again at 4PM and they said they were going to call the lab, but still I heard nothing back. Finally at 4:30PM I said I really needed to know since I take the shots at 5PM and I needed to get to the pharmacy if I needed to get more. They promised to check and call me back. In the meantime I called the pharmacy to make sure they got the supply they said was going to be in today and they confirmed that my prescription was filled and waiting. The doctor then called back and told me my INR levels were at 3.6 (they need to be between 2.0 and 3.0) so no more Lovenox shots in my stomach (yay!) and no more Coumadin today or tomorrow. I’ll also be glad to get my blood less thin because my hands will stop getting tingly when I hold them up reading too long. In the meantime I need to avoid things that will make me bleed because clotting will be a problem. My next blood test is Wednesday morning and that afternoon I’ll find out how much Coumadin to take next.