Heart Surgery & Coumadin

[RI Mom]

Hi Kerri,

My son takes coumadin and had surgery last week. They had us stop coumadin 5 days prior to surgery and he was admitted 2 days prior to go on Heparin. Seems like it worked out OK. Went back on Coumadin the day after surgery, I think. We are still adjusting his dosage now to get back to therapeutic range.

 

[kerri73]

That makes me a little nervous - I'm not stopping mine til after today's dose and my surgery is Tuesday... does that seem too late? I could always skip tonight's dose, since I start heparin injections in the morning (I'm starting to get slightly panicky about injecting myself! Yikers...)

 

[ALCapshaw2]

That makes me a little nervous - I'm not stopping mine til after today's dose and my surgery is Tuesday... does that seem too late? I could always skip tonight's dose, since I start heparin injections in the morning (I'm starting to get slightly panicky about injecting myself! Yikers...)

You may want to call your Surgeon's Office and verify when to Stop (and express your concern over the issue).

It is NOT uncommon to stop Coumadin 1 day before beginning the Lovenox Injections. (If I can Self Inject, I would think anyone could

The General Opinion *seems* to be that you have a 'few days' where NO Coumadin is not considered 'too risky'. Some Surgeons do NOT use Bridging and just resume Coumadin after surgery. There is a LOT of variation in the Bridging (or No Bridging) practices.

 

[Ross]

Kerri were all different, but I stopped mine emergent like just 4 days before surgery and just barely was ready at 1.2 4 days later. Yours may or may not drop like a rock. Best to check with what your Cardio wants you to do.

 

[cherylchapa]

Lovenox shots scare me. Never had them before! And if you remember when I had my cath, they had me in the hospital for 6 very long days trying to get my coumadin back in range... I got pretty grumpy, but was only told I'd be there 6 hours! Finally had to start smuggling in my own coumadin.

Nothing ever goes as planned with me... I just need to accept this.

Ask about J-Tip injections. http://www.jtip.com/ It's a needeless injector. Uses compressed air somehow. It's awesome!

They used this for lidocaine before placing Christopher's IV and it was painless. Makes a cool Star Trek swish sound when it goes in, too. They have it for lots of different drugs. Maybe they have it for Lovenox, too.

Good luck!

 

[Ross]

Ask about J-Tip injections. http://www.jtip.com/ It's a needeless injector. Uses compressed air somehow. It's awesome!

They used this for lidocaine before placing Christopher's IV and it was painless. Makes a cool Star Trek swish sound when it goes in, too. They have it for lots of different drugs. Maybe they have it for Lovenox, too.

Good luck!

That's cool. Unfortunately, Lovenox comes in prefilled syringes of their own.