Dad is in the hospital again. Wed evening his blood pressure was 70/40 so the nursing home sent him to the ER. When he got to the ER his INR was 1.3. His INR on Thur was 1.5. Friday it was 1.3. Before going to the ER his last four INR's were 1.8, 2.1, 1.7, and 2.4. The day before going to ER INR was 2.4 and was 1.3 on admission to ER. Blood pressure has stablized and he will be recieving Lovenox injections until INR back in range. The past month or two before going to ER they were having a hard time getting his INR above 2.4. Dad's physician can't figure out what is going on with INR levels. Dad is being discharged from hospital today and going back to nursing home. This morning I was going over dad's medications with the nurse at the hospital and I noticed that he takes Synthroid. Not sure why the Synthroid but I think he takes it for Hypothyroidism. I believe he was started on Synthroid several months after his Mitral Valve replacement in 1999. I won't be able to discuss this with his physician until Monday. Could it be possible that his Thyroid is getting worse causing him not to react to the Coumadin as well?
Also wanted to mention that when your loved one is in hospital please watch over there care. Yesterday at 5 pm I asked the nurse at the hospital what dad's INR was from the morning lab and she said the lab report came back at noon and it was 1.3. I asked her why dad was not on a heparin drip and she responded that the physician had not ordered anything. I told her I wanted to talk to a doctor right know and she said hold on a minute I will be right back. She came back 20 min later and told me that she thought she had called dad's physician when the lab report came back at noon but she had not. She then called the physician and he told her to start lovenox injections. Thank god I was there to question his treatment. So please watch out for your valvers.
Also wanted to mention that when your loved one is in hospital please watch over there care. Yesterday at 5 pm I asked the nurse at the hospital what dad's INR was from the morning lab and she said the lab report came back at noon and it was 1.3. I asked her why dad was not on a heparin drip and she responded that the physician had not ordered anything. I told her I wanted to talk to a doctor right know and she said hold on a minute I will be right back. She came back 20 min later and told me that she thought she had called dad's physician when the lab report came back at noon but she had not. She then called the physician and he told her to start lovenox injections. Thank god I was there to question his treatment. So please watch out for your valvers.
