Big shiner and 5.1!

[catwoman]

Have been sick the last week. Woke up Sunday 2/20 coughing, worse on Monday 2/21, so I stayed home. Foolishly went to work Tuesday, got worse. Husband called in sick for me Wednesday, called PCP @ 8:15, got me in by 9:30 (my PCP works only half-days on Wednesdays, so I was very lucky). PCP said severe bronchitis, stay home. Was hesitant to prescribe the big guns, so he started with amoxi (yeah, baby stuff). Said to test in 2 days.
I tested Thursday night and was 4.1 (I like to be 3.5-4.0). I figured I could test again Sunday.

Sunday I had an especially severe coughing attack and apparently broke a blood vessel near my left eye. Later, someone looked at me and freaked out... Looks like someone belted me in my left eye. My INR was 5.1 last night.
I usually take 6.5mg on M-W-F-Sat, 7mg T-Th-Sun. So, today I took 3mg and have cut my dosage for the rest of the week by 15%, to 6mg daily.

I'm going to let my PCP look at my face this afternoon and see what he says.
When he saw me last week, I mentioned an incident that occurred Tuesday night. John had to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. He had a drop in BP due to jumping out of bed and fell in the bedroom just as he got to the bathroom door. Then he fell again in the bathroom and was dazed a little. I think I hit the left side of my forehead in trying to deal with him, because it was extremely sore. I mentioned it to Dr. Murphy and he looked at my head, no bruising showed up. He did squeeze in seeing John to check him over -- John was pretty bruised, but no broken bones, and was told to halve an Rx he's on.

Any thoughts on my shiner?

 

[Ross]

It'll have to heal over time most likely. See what the Doc says.

 

[geebee]

Marsha,
I have popped a blood vessel in my eye from heavy coughing. Looked like someone poured red food coloring in my saline solution.
5.1 is certainly high enough to cause pressure bruising and therefore could easily cause the bruising you see from the popped blood vessel (assuming that is what it is). I also had a black eye once because my SO rolled over during the night and elbowed me in the eye. Ouch.
It is unlikely connected to the bathroom aid event if that was Tuesday and the shiner was noticed on Sunday. It shouldn't take that long for bruising to show up especially with a 5.1 INR.
However, maybe you damaged a blood vessel Tuesday night and that's what caused it to pop on Sunday????
Just some thoughts. Glad it wasn't a cat claw that did it to you.

 

[tommy]

Marsha,

Sounds like a round of bad karma. I guess you miissed your cat show as well. You seem to be fishing for a relationship between the forehead bump and the blood vessel. Could be. Also could be from sinus pressure and blowing your nose.

Let us know what the doc days.

 

[Tony]

Marsha,

You posted to me on 1-18-2005 re. my eye condition.

Is your eye black and blue in the tender skin area around the eye? In my case nothing was black or blue but the white of the eye from the pupil to the nose and under the lower lid was bloodshot. It all cleared completely on three weeks. Previous similar eye conditions cleared in about 10 days. My cardiologist said mine was due to coughing although I have no recollection of any severe coughing spells.

Hope you are feeling better from here on!

Tony

 

[Marty]

Hi Marsha I believe 15 % dose reduction is appropriate. You have a home monitor as I remember. I would test twice weekly and try to get your INR stabilized between 2.5 and 3.0.We don't want you to go around looking like "Million Dollar Baby" !

 

[catwoman]

Tom: No, I DIDN'T miss the show... should have just stayed home. Maybe I wouldn't have had the coughing bout yesterday that did this...

Gina: No cat claw.
I still have a bump on my forehead and it's still pretty sore.

Tony: My eyelid is a little blue-green. Skin is black-blue-purple between corner of my eye & nose, and underneath the eye. No broken blood vessels in the eye. I can see where the bleeding is heading...

Marty: Yes, I have a monitor. Will retest Tuesday p.m.
I didn't want to hold one dose -- that really throws the INR for a loop tooooo much.

 

[Guest]

Have been sick the last week.

Seems to be going around these days. I don't have bronchitis, but I've been sick the last few days and this is the first time I've been up to checking my message boards...holy crap am I behind .

I hope you are doing better, Marsha!

How did your re-test go?


Cort, "Mr MC" / "Mr Road Trip", 31swm/pig valve/pacemaker
'72,6,9/'81,7.hobbies.chdQB = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/
MC Guide = http://www.chevyasylum.com/mcspotter/main.html
What's it like to buy your favorite car brand new? Wish I knew...

 

[catwoman]

My retest was 5.5 ..........

Wish this bronchitis/lower respiratory infection/upper respiratory infection bout would go away for EVERYONE!

I commented to my PCP 2 days ago that I felt my lungs had not been the same since my MVR. Seems that any tobacco smoke really affects me more than pre-op, and I have more difficulty in coughing up stuff from my lungs.
Dr. Murphy said that OHS patients sometimes do have more difficulty due to the scar tissue. He's not a surgeon, but perhaps there is some validity to that ... I'll buy that explanation for now.

Hope you're feeling better now, Cort!

 

[Guest]

Hmm...that retest seems a bit high....heh.

Dr. Murphy said that OHS patients sometimes do have more difficulty due to the scar tissue.

Yeah know...I hadn't thought of that before. I, too, have difficulty around people who smoke. If I just smell cigarette smoke, I start coughing. Not sure if that is a "conditioned response"...or if it is an involuntary way of my body saying, "hey, that's bad!".

*shrugs*

I'm feeling a little bit better, Marsha...thank you. Not up to even driving yet...so, you know it is not good . I just hate being sick...because you never know how the employer will "take it"...ya know? Grrr....

 

[catwoman]

Know what you mean about sickness & employers.

I called in sick last Monday, went in Tuesday (bad decision!) and was out the rest of the week -- Wednesday & Thursday as sick days. Decided to use a vacation day Friday.

What with taking warfarin, I can understand the importance of staying well -- being sick wreaks havoc on the INR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Guest]

I called in sick last Monday, went in Tuesday (bad decision!) and was out the rest of the week -- Wednesday & Thursday as sick days. Decided to use a vacation day Friday.

Is your sick time paid? Ours is.... As I was telling my parents over dinner, I'm sure if they looked back at my "sick" time 1997-2002 and 2003 to now (excluding, of course, the surgery), they'd find that I've had more sick days since 2003. But, that is a misleading statistic, considering that the 1997-2002 figure was when sick time was not paid. If you were sick, you took vacation time or no pay. I mostly when "no pay" because I wanted to save my vacation for actual vacations.... Or, I simply went to work when I probably shouldn't have. With the sick time paid now, I feel a bit more comfortable calling in sick. Which, of course, is a catch 22...damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I was sent home last Thursday because of a severe headache...yes, sent home. I had gone down to the Wellness Center to rest...when I came back up, my manager told me to go home.

*shrugs*

Then, Sunday, I get slapped with a fever...and haven't been back to work since .

*shakes head*

 

[catwoman]

Yeah, we get paid sick time, but it's very complicated -- our parent company changed the game in early 2003, not long before my MVR.

We can no longer accrue unlimited sick time, but can use up any that had accrued. We get 5 days annually, can carry over 5 to the next year.
Have to be out 5 consecutive days before short-term disability kicks in. STD pays 60% of paycheck from employer, 40% from STD insurance company.

 

[Guest]

Ahhh.... Luckily, our sick time isn't quite that complicated....

Our time is limited, but not quite as much as yours. I don't remember off-hand what exactly the top amount is, but I know I'm no where close to that this year...like I was in 2003, the first year for the current plan....

I intend to get back to work tomorrow...so, we'll see how it goes. I called my manager earlier today and she seemed less-than-pleased to hear from me...and reminded me that if I sound like I do today...and still have the cough...that nobody will want me there. But, like the nurse in the Wellness Center and my doctor said, the fever is down and I'm on medication, so I should be good to go....

We shall see.... Hope you are feeling better now!