Nancy, any word on Joe?

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K

Karlynn

Nancy,
I'm just one of many keeping Joe in my prayers and wondering how he is doing.
 
Thanks K, I was wondering the same thing. Hope no news is good news!! Nancy, please let us know how Joe is when you get a chance to come up for air, I'm sure it's all crazy!
 
Poor Joe finally had his endoscopy today. He's been on a liquid diet in anticipation of having it each day since admittance. They were waiting for his INR to get low enough to do it. They were really afraid of a massive bleed if there was anything to cauterize, biopsy, etc., since he has had a great deal of recent bleeding.

The procedure showed nothing drastic, just a polyp in his stomach which was snared and cauterized. They're usually benign in the stomach,. And there was some irritation, so they upped his Protonix.

He will go back on Heparin tonight, and we'll see if there is any bleeding from it.

He's looking forward to solid food tomorrow.
 
Dear Nancy:

At last....we were all worried.

Do they think that is the cause of the bleeding? The polyp? Are they doing any further testing? How is his SOB? How is he feeling? How are you doing?

Gosh. It never ends.

Marybeth
 
Thanks for taking the time to post, Nancy. Hope that he gets to eat tomorrow and that they find the source of bleeding and he is home again soon. Hope you are taking care of yourself as well!!
 
I bet he's looking forward to solid food!!

Thanks for letting us know. Please give him (and you) a big hug. Prayers are still coming your way.
 
He's through one more set of tests. Thank goodness. He must get so tired of that.

I hope he gets a truly enjoyable first solid food meal. Tell him we're all thinking of him. And know that we're thinking of you both.

Very best wishes,
 
whew - sigh of relief. Thank you Nancy for taking the time to let us know. We are all worried when Joe isn't up to par.

Isn't it something? Joe has not ever said one word to any of us, but we think of him so fondly, know him so well, feel like we've known him always. Kinda nice, isn't it?
 
Glad things look good for now. Make sure he gets something good to eat. Most hospital food is so bad it isn't worth looking forward to. Hope he can tolerate the Coumadin without any more problems.
How are you doing with all of this? I hope you are taking care of yourself too.
 
I don't know what the source of the bleeding was. It was pretty extensive. His crit went from 30 upon admittance in the ER to 25 the next morning. So that's a lot of blood. He had a high INR prior, however, the bleeding has been going on for a while I do believe. His stools were black.

He takes iron pills and they also cause black stools, so it was masking this problem.

Joe's hematologist has been having trouble maintaining his blood level for a few months now, in spite of Procrit three times per week and iron and folic acid each day. He's had a couple of other transfusions within the past two months.

They are gingerly starting him back on anticoagulation and doing blood draws every 8 hours to see if the count maintains.

Still questions and kind of fuzzy answers.
 
Nancy, thank you for the update. Continuing the prayers. Make sure you get some rest too. I know you are the best watch dog around, but even they need to keep their energy.
 
I'm really sorry y'all have to go through this. Glad to hear Joe is doing ok, though. I' sure he's looking forward to some solid food. Keep us posted, please.
 
Glad to see an update.............

Glad to see an update.............

relieved, too. Sending our love and prayers. J.
 
Thanks for the post, Nancy. At least it seems Joe isn't on a downward trend. When I had the upper GI bleed last year I was able to avoid any transfusions because my blood count usually runs above normal. In other words, I had room to spare. The actual source of the bleeding was never proven but thought it was either a duodenal ulcer or bleeding from the area damaged the year before from transient ischemic colitis which was right where the ileum becomes the colon. That area was biopsied when I had the colonoscopy two years ago. When I developed the bleed I was started on prevacid and then was scoped from above a few months later and other than a hiatal hernia nothing worth noting was discovered. Since then I have been doing fine. I do know though the delicate balance of being on anticoagulation and having an unknown source of bleeding though. The uncertainty can weigh on your mind.

I hope this episode is soon behind the two of you and just becomes another thread in tapestry of his health history.
 
Betty-

It sounds very similar, doesn't it? They are convinced that it was in the upper GI area. His cardiologists had just recently raised his INR from 2.5-2.5 to 3.5-4.0. Perhaps Joe's delicate system could not handle that.

The reason they raised it was to try to prevent infarctions that were occurring (his spleen and eye).

So he's a "high wire" act with a very narrow balancing pole. It's sheer frustration for his docs. They have said his treatment margins are terribly narrow.

In spite of it all, he's continuing to improve. He went for a short walk today and enjoyed his solid food, no matter how bad it was.
 
Nancy, it's good to read encouraging words on Joe's condition. God bless you.
 

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