Update 4/22/2013

Don had to have total hip replacement surgery on the hip Dr. K. rebuilt. This surgery took place on 4/1/13. He had to return to the hospital on 4/11/13 as his hemogloban was 7.3. He has a follow up visit with Dr. Peak tomorrow & hopefully will get his clamps out.

Monday November 30, 2009

9:24 PM
Don goes to Dr. K. tomorrow. He hopes that Dr. K. will release him and that he will be able to return to work on Monday Dec. 7th. He is really excited and ready to return to work. I will post more after his visit. Thanks for all the prayers!!

Sunday September 27, 2009

12:48

Well another day in the hospital. They came in about 2:00 AM for labs. It seemed they were in and out all night long. It is amazing how some nights the staff is very quiet and other nights it seems like they are in a contest as to who can make the most noise. Don nor I slept very well at all. The doctor came in about mid morning. He said that Dr. Sing was off this weekend and he would have to consult him as to a new plan. However what he would like to do is up his Coumadine to 10mg from 7.5mg. That may start tomorrow. I will leave later this evening and go home so that I can go to work tomorrow. I will be back after work on Monday.

Saturday September 26,2009

10:38 AM

Don's count was 1.5 yesterday and he was very depressed. He called me at work and before we hung up he was crying. He called again about 2:00 and said that his blood pressure was up 155/100. He said the doctor told him don't ruin going home by letting his blood pressure go high. I told him I was sure it was because of all of his frustration and that I would be at the hospital as soon as I could after work. I arrived about 5:00 and he was up and watching TV. he said he had walked around the hospital a bit and that the staff had come in several times and spent some time with him chatting. I think that helped him a lot too. We ate supper and then we walked out to the children's emergency department and back. We also walked down to the cafeteria before bed time to get some snacks. I finally crashed before 11:00 and Don said he was up until about 3:00. They came in about 4:00 for vitals and then again about 5:20 for blood. Breakfast came a little after 8:00 and I dozed while Don ate breakfast. I finally got up about 9:00 and went to the cafeteria to get breakfast for myself. Don's parents called to check on him, they are out of town. Donnie Lee called and while Don was on the phone with him, the doctor came in. He said he wished he had better news, but that his count was 1.6 as of 5:21 labs this morning. He said if it still wasn't at 2.0 tomorrow, they would increase his Lovenox to 10mg. Don has found games on Yahoo! and that has kept him busy last night and this morning. He is in taking a shower now (that's the only reason I can have the computer - LOL!). Pray he gets to go home tomorrow because it will be a difficult day Monday for him by himself.

Thursday September 24, 2009 1:04 PM

Well here we are still in the hospital. They came in during the night and again about 7:30 and drew blood for labs. About 9:30 the nurse came in and said I hear you may get to go home today. Don explained we were waiting on the lab results and for the INR to be at 2.0. She made a face and said aww. So we asked were the results already back and she said she would check to make sure. She came back and said that the INR was still at 1.4. I don't think either one of us is comfortable in what must come next, but I am going to go home tonight so that I can go back to work tomorrow. Don has been real depressed and dependent on me for his meds again. It has brought back a lot of emotions and bad memories for him. We are hoping that he gets to leave by the weekend. I will come back tomorrow after work and stay the weekend if he doesn't get to come home. Then I will go home on Sunday night so I can go back to work. Please just keep praying.

Wednesday September 23, 2009 8:55 PM

Well, we didn't get to go home today. They came about 7:00 and told us that Dr. Sing had reviewed the labs and that Don's blood was not thinning. He came in at a 1.3 and now it is a 1.4. He has had 2 shots of Lovenox and has resumed taking his Coumadin. His blood will have to reach at least a 2 in order for him to be discharged. We got a few answers today as to all the mix up. Dr. Sing didn't want to take a chance so he felt it was better to have Don at the hospital. When we leave the hospital Don shouldn't have to take any more shots. His blood will be at the level they want and the Coumadin should keep it there. Don is blaming himself for the accident and all that has taken place. He has been very depressed today.

Wednesday September 23, 2009

Wow what a time we have had the last 24 hours! Don was scheduled to get the filter out of his heart area at 9:10 on Tuesday Sept. 22. He was moved to an earlier slot because the 1st patient didn't show up. The surgery started about 8:15 or so and was over before 9:00. Dr. Sing came out and told me that he was unable to take the filter out because there was a clot at the bottom of the filter. He would explore some of our options and when Don woke up he would talk to both of us. He stated that other than the clot being there, Don was not exhibiting any complications from it. He had stopped taking his Coumadine over the weekend because they had told him he could since all the clots in his legs were gone. His blood was thicker than they would have liked so they had started him on Lovenox shots to thin his blood for surgery. They sent Don for a CT scan and said the results of that would determine whether or not he would go home or not. When they allowed me to go back to PACU to visit Don, his doctor was already there. He stated that he would be going home and that it appeared that the clot had been there for some time and that a clot buster would not be effective because the longer a clot exists the harder it gets. He said Don would have to take the Lovenox shots for a week, twice a day and to go back on the coumadine and the doctor would see him in December to see how things looked then and they may be able to take the filter out then. We watched a video on how to give the shots and began the process of checking out. We left about 1:00 and headed home. After stopping for lunch (because Don had not eaten since Monday night) we then headed to the drug store to pick up the Lovenox. Our portion was going to be $100.00 for this medicine. As most of you know Don was furious that it was so expensive. He called the doctor to ask if there was something else he could take since the price was outrageous. The nurse Kathy said she would check with Dr. Sing and call us back. About 15 min. later she called and stated that after talking to Dr. Sing, she stated, "I know that's not what you want to hear but", Dr. Sing wanted Don back to the hospital immediately, that the clot had gotten bigger and the blood was getting thicker after the surgery than it had been before the surgery. So we left the drug store and went home to pick up some things we would need for the night. Kathy had stated when we arrived to have admissions to call Dr. Sing because he would be waiting on us. We arrived a little after 5:00 and began the process of checking in. Don and I later joked about how we walked in the front door and had a room in less than a half hour and that both times that he was brought by ambulance it took hours to get a room after he was ready to be moved from emergency. Any way we got to the room on the 10th floor and Don got settled in. Dr. Lange and Dr. Fairfax (Dr. Sing's associates) came to see us and asked Don why he was here. Don and I just looked at each other in amazement and didn't know what to say. After much awkwardness Don began to explain the events of the day and Dr. Lange said that Dr. Sing had told her that he brought Don back to the hospital because we couldn't get the medicine he needed to be anti coagulated and that he had to be ASAP. Don and I just looked at each other in amazement again. We could not believe what we were hearing. We could have so much better paid for the medicine (although Don would have liked it) than we can pay the deductible and out 20% of the hospital bill. We spent the rest of evening going over medication and waiting on the orders to be written up by the doctors. Don finally ate supper about 7:00. My mom, Kristi and Johnny arrived shortly after we did and stayed until about 9:00. After they left I went to get something to eat. They came up and told us that Don would be moving into a private room. (I forgot to mention that he was in a semi-private room with a room mate that was a little "strange". Admissions had told me earlier to ask for the next private room available and we hadn't mentioned the uncomfortable feeling we had.) I was thankful to be moving to a private room as they had told me that I would not be able to stay with him over night in the semi-private room. Sometime after 10:00 they moved us to the 3rd floor - room 3931. By the time the new staff got him settled in and reassessed him it was after 11:00 and they stated that they would start his Lovenox at midnight. I also forgot to mention that they said they would be sending Don home on Wednesday as soon as they got his medicine to send home with us and they would start him on Lovenox shots here at the hospital. At 11:55 they came in to give the Lovenox and we finally bedded down for the night. We slept pretty good until about 4:00. From there until daylight it seemed that someone was in every little bit. They came in for vitals and the cuffs they put on your legs to keep the blood flowing. They also informed us that because Don had tested positive in January for MRSA that there would be special precautions. We finally got up when breakfast arrived about 7:30. Dr. Sing came in a told us the same story that Dr. Lange had told us last night that he brought him back here to make sure he got the medicine he needed and even joked about how crazy it was that prescription was pricey but the hospital would cost more than that. Don is very frustrated and upset at the entire situation at this point. Dr. Sing stated that has soon as his blood was as thin (INR level) as they wanted Don could go home. He told Don he could get up and move around. He has taken a couple of naps. He is not happy about being here and just keeps saying how he wants to go home. I will update when we have more news.