May 17, 2012 - comments
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I am sitting here in ICU at a very wonderful and knowledgeably staffed hospital. I came in with shortness of breath and chest pains. I was admitted for 23 hour observation of my heart because I had a few rhythm problems in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. but the next day the doctor stated that my heart was doing good so he was going to discharge me, but I explained to him that the chest pain was secondary and the shortness of breath was the main thing wrong. To appease me he stated that he would give me a VQ scan to see if I had a blood clot in my lungs, but since I take coumadin and my INR was 2.1 that the test would be negative. Well the test stated that I have a large Pulmonary Embolism (PE) in my right lung. So I have been here in the hospital in ICU since the saturday before Mother's Day, hopefully I will be going home tomorrow. I have been given pages upon pages of information on CHF, Coumadin, and living on a cardiac diet, but I have gotten anything about what life is going to be like after I get home. While here in the hospital I still get periods of shortness of breath and chest pains. I feel better while on oxygen but my O2 sats are not low enough to get a prescription for oxygen. I have seen so many articles online about PE's, in reference to symptoms, treatment and risk factors, but none of them talk about the recovery period and what to expect.
I want to know what will happen during the recovery period...hopefully the nurse will give me something to help calm my fears or reoccurrence :)
At any rate the doctor stated that I was one of those rare people that need to be maintained on a higher dose of coumadin, using an INR of between 3 - 3.5.
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