My other half - MJR - has been in hospital for the last four days though he is home now thanks to a break down in communication between the hospital, the consultant and our health insurance company. He would have been out today or tomorrow anyway. He is on Warfarin and his INR - the clotting factor in his blood - went way too high because he's been on too high a dose for too long.
Fortunately the antidote - Vitamin K - works almost straightaway but has to be administered in hospital in case the INR goes too far the other way. He has to go to our GP today to have his INR tested and it depends on the results (obtained instantly like blood glucose machines) of that as to what dosage he's on. Clearly for someone who has had two previous pulmonary embolisms it is essential that his blood does not clot too easily. But on the other hand you don't want to imitate someone with haemophilia.
So - not a good start to the New Year. He has a consultant's appointment on Monday which may lead to another operation so it looks as though this year is going to feature hospitals prominently.
The good thing about the last few days is that it has shown me I'm getting more things done than I thought I did because trying to fit everything in that I normally do has proved impossible.
I have never seen our local hospital as busy as it has been the last few days with everyone rushing around all the time and ambulances queuing to unload patients four or five deep at times. Clearly winter is taking its toll on people round here.
Books
I took my Kindle with me when I went visiting and when MJR fell asleep one day I decided to buy a book - just for the hell of it! That's the first time I've used it outside the house and it worked! Funny how little things amuse me. I downloaded a book called The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande - which is about making sure the right things are done at the right time in hospital - which I thought quite appropriate.
I am still reading John Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga - on the third book at the moment - To Let. I'm also still reading my way through Patricia Wentworth's crime novels.
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4 comments:
Hi Jilly. Hope MJR gets sorted quickly and you don't have to spend the year traipsing back and forth to hospitals.
I bought myself a Kindle shortly before Christmas as I knew Anthony Powell's Dance was about to be released in e-book form. I can't use mine outside the house as I didn't get the "go anywhere" wifi version (I don't really need that)and it works well on my network. I do quite like the Kindle for books one is going to read through or which one needs to be able to search. For me it isn't so good for anything I just want to dip into, often at random, in bed. And I do find some of the navigation a bit unfriendly, but that's only because it's different to PC. Overall I'm very impressed with it.
So sorry to hear about the health issues, Jilly - hope everything gets sorted out soon ...
Hugs and stuff
Anne
xxxxx
kcm - I agree it's not too good for books which you want to dip into - though brilliant for searching. I think the navigation does take some getting used to but then we're all used to computers!
I have a horrible suspicion that this year is going to be just as bad for hospitals as last year was but we shall see. At least I don't have to try and fit it all in around work.
Anne - thanks for that. With MJR I'm afraid it's usually a case of adding another problem to those he already has though this is the first time he's had a serious problem with Warfarin.
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