So you think you can drive?

We saw hubby's internist Tue.  I came armed with a list of things to be sure to ask.  One of them came from my husband.  He said "can I drive?"  Dr. answer was " I don't know, I have never seen you drive"  I wondered how many times he has used that line.  Anyway the answers were all good.  Yes he may drive, yes they would be re scanning him for clots.  He is scheduled for the end of Mar. (3 months after the embolism) for a Doppler study of the leg veins.  He feels sure that the clots originated in that area.  He had one Doppler study done while he was in the hospital so they can compare.  He thinks that if all is good he will be able to come off the coumadin at that time. So hubby drove the 25 miles home from our visit.

We were at the orthopedic this morning and he is so pleased with the progress and the knee looks good.   Sed rate is dropping ( normal is 15 and we was over 70 at one point)  It is 32 now. This test indicated inflammation or infection. They are sure there is no infection in the knee but the elevation is due to the assult that his lung took. So plan one more recheck in a month and just get on with life. 

What a difference a month can make as he was still in ICU a month ago.  We are most thankful that things have turned out as they have.  He is one lucky duck!

I see a specialist about the lypoma (egg size fatty tumor)  in my arm next week. (170 miles from home)  Haven't said much about it as it has seemed minor compared to other problems. The reason I see the specialist is that it is located deep under my deltoid muscle and is the source of the pain I have had in that arm.  I kept telling the Dr. that it was in my arm just below my shoulder.  I do have a minor rotator cuff tear that he thinks I can heal with physical therapy, but have not wanted to start that till I have this other "thing" taken care of.  So there is our health updates.  Hope I can get back to writing silly stuff soon.  This is getting to be a bore! 

Healing Thoughts

We are still making progress.  Hubby doing better every day.  Has gone back to going down the driveway early in AM to pick up the paper and driving his sister to her local appointments.  He still likes me to drive most of the time and will on the trips to the Dr. apts.  But it is good that he is keeping busy and doing some of his normal stuff.  coumadin levels have been pretty stable on the dose he is taking so maybe he won't have tests quite so often.  He has follow up apts. with his ortho guy and the internist this week.  Have a list of questions to have answered.  But I think he is on the mend.  Just one month ago he was laying flat on his back in ICU so we have come along way. 

Making progress, I think.

On my last post I told about the scare we had over Christmas with the blood clots in my husbands lungs then the bleed in his knee.  The day after I wrote that he had to have the knee aspirated again for more blood build up.  We were pretty down as the Dr. was making noises that they might have to go in and take out the new knee hardware, wash it all out, and if they did he would be a great risk for more blood clots.  It looked like we were still in trouble.  His blood tests were still not very good, showing a possible infection.  But by the next day the swelling went down in his knee and gradually he started feeling better and eating better.  But he still has this apprehension that something will happen. We don't know how soon he should drive yet.  Hopefully we will find out soon.  His sed rate is still elevated but is coming down. He will be on coumadin therapy for several months and that is scary for both of us.
  So there we are: getting better yet afraid the other shoe will fall.  Oh, maybe the other shoe is ME.  I wasn't sure I wanted to put it on here but just to say that I have a shoulder that is giving me some grief and have been referred to another Dr. for further evaluation.  I am the only driver in this household of Seniors, and it is a worry to be responsible for every ones needs. I guess my fear is that if for some reason my husband should not be allowed to drive anymore it will be my responsibility and I can't have anything wrong with me. 
Somehow I know we will be OK.  Heck if we have to his 87 year old sister can get her drivers license back.  Nawwww bad idea.

He may be down but not out!

What a roller coaster we have been on.  As I have posted before  hubby had a knee replacement on Oct 30.  Rehab was finished up around the 20th of Dec.  Then on Christmas Eve I took him to ER and at first we weren't sure what was wrong but knew something was terribly wrong.  He had complained of pain in the left side of his chest all day Sun and it got worse on Mon, (Xmas Eve) He was blaming it on running the leaf blower on Friday (actually sucking leaves with it)  Thought he had over worked some muscles he hadn't been using.  When he started getting real weak on Mon. I took him in.  After alot of testing they found he had his small arteries in his lungs full of small blood clots plus a large one in the right pulmonary artery.  Also had pneumonia down in that lower rt lobe.  Straight to ICU!!  What a shocker for us.  He told me later he was afraid he would die.  He was really miserable for the first 2 days plus he started running fever.  Was on 3 different IV antibiotics and the blood thinner shots in belly.  Got him on coumadin and he got better and came home on the 30th, Sat.  Oh, and as an incidental they found he had gallstones.  Probably had them for years.  So he was improving at home till the next Sat. (which was last Sat) He got up in the night and couldn't bear weight on that leg.  All day it got worse and knee was swollen.  So at noon we headed back to ER.  Took 8 hrs to get diagnosed and treated.  He had a bleed into that knee.  Had it aspirated and wrapped.  He has to stay on the coumadin so he won't throw any more blood clots and this is one of the risks.  Saw his ortho guy yesterday and he says it is OK and we are just taking it one day at a time.  Will follow up with his Internist Thurs and see what the plans will be on the coumadin treatment.  Took him to lunch today and his appetite is getting better.
You know when you sign those medical releases to have surgery you never really think anything will happen to YOU. 

So how was your Christmas??