AGAIN! (In the Hospital!)

   "Ricki" was in the hospital (second time since Passover) on the 17th to 22nd of June. She had, as the previous time, "some type" of lung disturbance", although we managed to get her in fast enough to keep her pout of ICU. They treated all possibilities, and with in a few days  her Oxygen saturation levels improved. They even did a CT of the lung (regular), heart echo, and lung function test, but the first 2   were normal, and the last was hard to get a good test done. In the end, the doctors decided that this was all caused by stress on the heart from not wearing her CPAP at night, causing fluids in the lungs. During her stay she complained of leg pain, so they did a Doppler test of her leg, but it was OK as well. So we went home, fought her for a week (and she wore the CPAP at least half of every night)... and by Sunday July 1st she was cyanotic again... entering the hospital again July 1 with an O2 sat of 60! (There went her "camp" and my mini vacation... I didn't mind so much and she was too sick to care, poor thing....)

   Again, tests showed nothing conclusive, but on Monday her leg  (which as always with her lung problems tend to have fluids) was purplish which I showed the doctors. A repeat was done of the Doopler, and she has a thrombosis. They started  milder anticoagulants right away, to prevent pulmonary embolism.

   So again they treated all possibilities, but she has NOT been getting better. A repeat Echo heart was done with the "expert" echo technician checking it, and again the results were normal. Yesterday they redid a lung CT, but with dye in the blood, and she has a PULMONARY EMBOLISM! In addition, she has a few "suspect" nodes that they want to recheck with iodine CT, and biopsy if needed. As soon as they are sure that the nodes are not cancerous, they will start Coumadin for the embolism.

   Of course, the hospital has generated several good potential blog posts, but you'll all have to wait till I have more time. I have to get back to the hospital (came home for three hours...)