csutherland
Well-known member
If you've read any of my previous posts over the past 5 wks or so you know that Jerry was diagnosed with pneumonia on July 28. The acute stage finally seems better, no elevated temp, the cough has changed from productive to non, he feels somewhat better. About 2 wks ago after a round of prednisone he felt great for 2-3 days, then had another downturn. We called the GP who ordered a CT scan which showed infiltrates in the lungs, mostly the left lower lobe. He was referred to a pulmonologist.
Yesterday was his app't. They've scheduled a bronchoscopy & biopsy for next Tues and are trying to exclude non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Otherwise it might be an inflammatory process such as sarcoidosis, a fungal infection, etc. etc.
He's concerned because Jerry is still weak, has lost 8-9 lbs, has a cough & is intermittently SOB.
The really fun part involves the bridging therapy (Lovenox). Of course there's the chance of bleeding while they're messing around in your lungs, which would not be good. The coumadin clinic folks had got his INR down from 6.1 to 3.9 after the prednisone. (Range is 2.5 - 3.5) The pulmonogist has him skipping last night & tonight, coming in Fri for a protime. If it's 2.5 he starts the Lovenox shots every 12 hrs until after the biopsy. I was glad they didn't insist on it being lower than 2.5.
We have to do the shots ourselves. I'm not much of a hands-on nurse type and Jerry's not looking forward to shooting himself so we'll see how this goes!
Yesterday was his app't. They've scheduled a bronchoscopy & biopsy for next Tues and are trying to exclude non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Otherwise it might be an inflammatory process such as sarcoidosis, a fungal infection, etc. etc.
He's concerned because Jerry is still weak, has lost 8-9 lbs, has a cough & is intermittently SOB.
The really fun part involves the bridging therapy (Lovenox). Of course there's the chance of bleeding while they're messing around in your lungs, which would not be good. The coumadin clinic folks had got his INR down from 6.1 to 3.9 after the prednisone. (Range is 2.5 - 3.5) The pulmonogist has him skipping last night & tonight, coming in Fri for a protime. If it's 2.5 he starts the Lovenox shots every 12 hrs until after the biopsy. I was glad they didn't insist on it being lower than 2.5.
We have to do the shots ourselves. I'm not much of a hands-on nurse type and Jerry's not looking forward to shooting himself so we'll see how this goes!
