Wild Wednesday

I was in for my Rituxan IV on Wednesday. It only took 4 hours, from 12 noon to 4 pm, since I had no reaction last week and they speeded it up. My blood test before the IV showed that my Hgb had dropped to 8.2, from 9.6 last week, so I also had 2 units of blood this morning. My white cells were 3.7 (just a little low) and platelets were 503 ( a little high and exactly the same as last week).

What made Wednesday wild was that both my mother and mother-in-law were in the hospital at the same time as I was. My mother-in-law was just coming home on Wed afternoon, but my mother was admitted after being taken to the emergency room on Tuesday night. She had a mini-stroke and lost a little control of her left hand. They discovered a blockage in her right carotid artery to her brain by using a CT scan. They did an angiogram on Wednesday afternoon and would have put a stent in, but discovered a large blood clot that was in danger of moving to the brain. Instead they gave her Plavix and heparin to reduce clotting and try to dissolve the clot. We discussed my blood clotting problems with the Doctor who did not think there was a connection.

My sister and I were visiting with her early Wednesday evening when she started to have difficulty speaking and yawned deeply. Her blood pressure dropped quickly and she passed out. This was shortly after 7 pm in the middle of a nursing shift change so she received plenty of quick attention. My other sister and older brother showed up just as this was happening. We thought that this was the big one and were prepared for her death. She was prepared as well and has mentioned frequently that she has had a good 88 years and is ready for heaven to join my father who died 2 1/2 years ago.

But God had a different plan. The drop in blood pressure was due to bleeding into her abdomen. Possibly the blood was too thin or the femoral artery was damaged during the angiogram when they ran a catheter from her groin up to her neck. Anyway, they gave her five units of blood and reversed the blood thinning drugs. By 11 pm when I left she was talking and moving fingers and toes. A CT scan showed that there was no stroke, but are concerned because of the possibility of more clotting. I saw her again at noon today after my blood transfusion and she is eating and talking fine. They are planning to try the stent again next week, but say she is a time bomb waiting to go off. God’s plan did allow my younger brother time to get here and visit with her some over the past two days. It also has allowed us more time to discuss what life care directives should be used in a situation like this.