Search results

I’ll throw my 2cents in—-i have been on warfarin for 9 yrs. I got so frustrated with doing monthly testing that my Coumadin clinic ordered. I purchased my own Coaguchek xs on eBay so I could test weekly. It was new in the box and about a third of the price that Roche wanted. I had no problems...

Congratulations!! You are truly an inspiration to all of us. I’m only 9 1/2 years in with my st Jude grafted valve. So I’m definitely a newbie in comparison.

They are wanting to put me on Ceftriaxone. But I understand that it’s in the penicillin family and I’m allergic to penicillin. So they’re going to do some testing tomorrow to see if I can take it and they’ve sent a sensitivity test to Mayo Clinic. So I’m in the hospital for a few more days.

The blood cultures have shown now that my infection is strep and not staph or mrsa. So it will be easier to get rid of. They have talked about changing the vancomycin to something else that won’t be as hard on me.

They have narrowed down my infection to strep which I could have gotten anywhere. So, I agree that a good wash with soap and water should be good enough.

I just spoke with support from Roche. I was told that they do not recommend alcohol pads because of the cooling effect. A simple washing with soap and Ayer should be sufficient. Hmmmmm!

Thank you. I will do that.

I certainly hope you find the problem and get your inr straightened out. I can’t imagine an inr that high on 1.5 mg. I’ve always taken 7-9 mg—sometimes 10 for 9 years now. I take Jantoven and seem to do well with it. I can imagine how stressed you are and maybe a little depressed. So God bless.

I generally tend to be proactive and very insistent when I need to be. When you’re sick it’s just a lot more difficult. I was caught between my 2 doctors (my pcp and my cardiologist) or actually their nurses. They are both great doctors and are now doing exactly what they need to be doing. My...

When I began my self testing I’m sure I was told to just wash my hands before the finger stick and to not use alcohol pads. Use of alcohol pads could contaminate the sample. I am currently being treated for endocarditis. One of my doctors said the finger stick is a possible way the infection was...

Thank you. It’s reassuring to hear that others feel my doctor’s are doing what they should.

I spoke with my surgeon yesterday. I had an aneurysm of my ascending aorta. So I have a St Jude grafted valve. The surgeon explained that just the valve could not be replaced. The whole graft would have to be replaced. That would be a huge deal. So I’m extremely glad this was caught before...

No. They have not found the cause.

Yes I am. I certainly got another lesson on why you need to be proactive with your own health. I’ve had my artificial valve for 9 1/2 years. Endocarditis was always in the back of my mind. Now it will always be front and center. Again thanks to all of you for your help.

They found some “strands” on the back of my st Jude aortic valve when they did the TEE. They think it’s just a natural part of the valve and not bacteria. However, 3 blood cultures have come back “gram positive cocci”. So I am being treated for endocarditis. The internist said they would put a...

Thank you.

They already got a positive from the blood culture they took yesterday. Nurse came in a half hour ago to start IV vancomycin 1000mg. Looking forward to talking to the doctors in the morning.

Latest segment of my saga—-TEE shows no bacteria and my st Jude aortic valve is working great. EF is 65%. CT scan is ordered for this afternoon. In the meantime—the culture my pcp did on Monday using the ARD was negative 1st day and 2nd day. But this morning showed a positive. She faxed those to...

Thanks for the reference. I was beginning to think they were just making that up.

My cardiologist really got things moving. I’m not sure what happened but—-he did an echo this morning which looked good. Then he decided to admit me to the hospital. They’ve already done an ekg, a chest X-ray, another blood culture (2 sets), labs, urinalysis. Tomorrow I’m scheduled for a TEE (a...