Late last week I called the MD's office and made an appointment for a cortisone shot today. But that's not going to happen.
Meanwhile my MD got back from a conference in Orlando and called me Tuesday night to discuss the test results and medication. I am to take Coumadin, 7.5 mg, once a day. And continue with the Lovenox injections twice a day. I can stop the shots when the Coumadin takes hold. I may be on the latter for six months.
The test for how thin, or thick, your blood is done by a hand-held machine and a finger prick of blood.
When I saw the doctor on Thursday afternoon I had received two doses of Coumadin and six shots of Lovenox since Monday evening. The PT/INR level was 1.1 and it needs to be between 2 or 3.
PT/INR stands for Prothrombin Time/International Normalized Ratio and if you want to know more about it go to Google.
BTW the x-rays taken on 11/11 show advanced arthritis in the right knee. And this morning the dermatologist's PA scooped off most of the mole (from the lower right leg, of course) to send to testing.
I noticed the swelling of my right leg and ankle has gone down a lot. There's almost no difference between the right and the left. I guess there's less inflamation down there and it must be because of the Coumadin and Lovenox thinning my blood.
I found so many interesting stuff in your blog especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! keep up the good work... best rated stethoscope
ReplyDelete