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Health update #9

Great news today, on several fronts:

1. I had an abdominal ultrasound test which came back clear. This is very good news for reasons I didn’t understand when I had the test: they were checking for tumours that could have caused my pulmonary embolism! I’m glad I didn’t spend the last week worrying about that unpleasant possibility.
2. For the second day running, my INR reading was above 2.0 (meaning my blood now takes a lot longer to clot than it did before I started my medication). This means I’m now within my “therapeutic range” and can safely rely on the Warfarin to prevent future clots - so I can stop the painful daily Clexane (Lovenox) injections I’ve needed for the last week and a bit. That’s a huge relief.
3. My anti-coagulation clinic nurse now feels that my INR levels and Warfarin dose have stabilised to the point where I no longer need daily blood draws to monitor my levels - instead we’re moving to tests every 48-72 hours. This has also come as a relief; after a week of having blood drawn ever day, the inside of my elbows are very bruised and the bleeds have become quite painful because of that. It’ll also save me a couple of hours a day in trips to the hospital and waiting for a phlebotamist.

On top of all that, I am feeling somewhat better lately. My body is gradually breaking down the existing blood clots, so my breathlessness and high heart rate are abating. I can now get up and around much as I used to, albeit for shorter periods before I become tired. I’m not up to walking the dogs yet.

Next step will involve future referrals and more tests, starting when I come off the Warfarin dose - three or six months from now (there seems to be some debate about how long I will need to stay on the medication). These will be aimed at working out exactly why this happened; the implication is that the pulmonary embolism is itself a symptom of something deeper - a genetic condition, for example. However, we might push to try and get this done sooner through my GP. I’m not clear how it’s safe for me to come off Warfarin in the future without knowing if a clot can re-occur.