Friday, June 12, 2009

P is for Pulmonary Emboli

From Wikipedia

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of the pulmonary artery or one of its branches, usually occurring when a deep vein thrombus (blood clot from a vein) becomes dislodged from its site of formation and travels, or embolizes, to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. This process is termed thromboembolism.
Common symptoms include difficulty breathing, chest pain on inspiration, and palpitations. Clinical signs include low blood oxygen saturation (hypoxia), rapid breathing (tachypnea), and rapid heart rate (tachycardia). Severe cases of untreated PE can lead to collapse, circulatory instability, and sudden death.
Diagnosis is based on these clinical findings in combination with laboratory tests and imaging studies. While the gold standard for diagnosis is the finding of a clot on pulmonary angiography, CT pulmonary angiography is the most commonly used imaging modality today.
Treatment is typically with anticoagulant medication, including heparin and warfarin. Severe cases may require thrombolysis with drugs such as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) or may require surgical intervention via pulmonary thrombectomy.

this is my second go around with PEs and it looks like there is not going to be a smoking gun as to the cause just like they couldnt figure out a cause the first time.

treatment will be an injectable blood thinner for a day or two and then getting my coumadin level, coumadin is the life long medication that will hopefully with Gods grace from happening again.

this is going to be it for a while because of where my IV access is, on the inside of my wrist.

1 comment:

Sandy Daron said...

Melinda,

I am SOOOO sorry that you are in the hospital again!!! I Praise God that they were found early. It is so dangerous. I pray that you will be kept comfortable and home soon!!!


Love in Christ,
Cole’s (Caring Openly, Loving Eternally) prayer team
www.colesfoundation.com
Sandy Daron