Take 4

Lucy was initially scheduled for her procedure at around 8:30 this morning. An emergency case came up and she got bumped for the time being. She has her Nook Color to help pass the time.

Her blood transfusion occurred without incident last night.

As part of her blood clot treatment, she has a simple neurological check performed every two hours, even at night. She says she falls back to sleep quickly afterwards.

A very large part of the hospital is cell phone friendly and the patient rooms have Wi-Fi Internet access. The IV Therapy area and Day Surgery suites still require cell phones be shut off, but Wi-Fi access is in those areas.

This might be a multiple update day. Bear with us.

UPDATE #1: Lucy finally went down to Interventional Radiation at 12:15 pm. Her procedures have averaged a bit over two hours, so I was pleasantly surprised when she returned at 1:05! All the “plumbing” on her left leg is gone. She went from nine infusers plus a pain pump to two infusers plus a pain pump. There are some small clots remaining in her calf region but they are going to let those dissolve on their own. After four hours, Lucy potentially could get out of bed and walk a bit.

UPDATE #2: Lucy is restarting Coumadin tonight. She is also still getting heparin. They had to run an IV into her arm so they could administer some Levaquin, an antibiotic, as a preventative. The skin on her right leg looks sunburned. A skin infection called cellulitis may form if the antibiotic is not administered.

She still has a couple very small clots in her right calf, but Dr. Siddiqui wants to let the clots dissolve on their own. We know she will be in the hospital until at least tomorrow and until she no longer needs the heparin IV. Molly and Dr. Weinshel from Minnesota Oncology were by to see how Lucy was doing today.

Lucy did manage to stand up with some help and took a few small steps. She was confined to bed Thursday and her leg immobilized for a couple of days. Her ankle was very stiff which hindered walking. However, she has noticed a little more range of motion in her ankle as time goes on. She had a large catheter inserted on the inside of her ankle. That also contributes to the swelling in the area. Her pain has dropped down a bit. She was grading herself on the 10-point pain scale at an 8. After her procedures, it dropped to 5. At 7:00 pm, she gave it a 4.

Her calf circumference is another ½ cm smaller (about 0.2″). It doesn’t sound like much, but it is getting smaller. Her thigh is still open and the color has nearly returned to normal. The bottom of her right foot has normal coloration instead of being very dark pink. The Doppler flow detector does not need the volume set to maximum just to pick up a faint pulse. Her right foot and ankle pulses sound as loud as the pulses in her left foot and ankle.

Lucy also got a fun little ride today. Even though she is a petite woman, she got put in a patient lift and thought it was fun. The lift also ensured her weight was more evenly distributed. For us, the big plus is it helps prevent injuries to the care staff. Even a person of average weight is difficult to lift and balance. Too many care providers suffer injuries or disabilities from an awkward patient lift.

We’re hopeful of Lucy coming home yet this week. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, love, and support. You really help us get through this!

UPDATE #3: While we don’t have a definite date when Lucy can go home, we did get some really good news about her Complete Blood Count (CBC) from tonight. Her hemoglobin went up higher than expected after the transfusion. Her white count is back in the normal range and there is still no indication of infection. It’s nice to have a couple more victories!

Leave a Comment

Filed under cancer battle, DVT, hospital, transfusion

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.