KristyW
Well-known member
Time for me to vent a bit. I've had quite a couple of days. My husband has a blood clot located behind his knee for the past 7 months. We didn't know he had one, but it appears that for the last 2 months this clot has been shedding parts of itself and lodging in his lungs. On Monday morning, enough material had built up in his lungs to impede the blood flow and we had an episode of him losing consciousnesses. The paramedics determined that he needed help right away (they were thinking cardiac), so he was airlifted to University Hospital here in the Denver area.
Now to the vent part. University Hospital is as it sounds part of the University of Colorado. It is one of 3 or 4 teaching hospitals in the Denver area. I encountered in the ER Drs. and nurses that said my husband would need to be on "blood thinners". I bit my tongue most of the time, but when the 3rd year resident kept calling it that I spoke up. She said that she knew that it was an anticoagulant, but patients understood blood thinner better. I didn't want to get into an argument because it really wasn't important at that moment. Once up into ICU the Internal Medicine 3rd year resident also insisted on blood thinner. This time I spoke up right away. I told him that he's not doing his patients any favor by scaring them about this drug and making them believe that they'll bleed to death from "thin" blood if they're not careful. His response was that patients find "anticoagulant" too difficult for them to remember. I asked if he could try saying anti-clotting instead? Almost everyone can understand that term. He said that he'd try. Again...this is a TEACHING hospital. Oh! Yesterday my husband was ordering lunch and he was not allowed to have a green salad because he's on "blood thinners" AAARRRGGGHHHH!!! The ICU nurse was in the room at the time. When I asked "Why they do that?", greens are so good for you. He said well, if they're not going to let your husband out until he's theraputic, don't delay that by eating things that counter warfarin. He really did have a point on that, but if this was a paitent who didn't have someone like me with them, the patient would think that they could never have things like that. He's a great guy and doesn't call our favorite rat poision "blood thinner". I asked him why so many Drs. and nurses insist on that and his response was to shrug his shoulders.
We still have a long way to go. The educators are continuing the misinformation by not calling Coumadin/warfarin by the correct term. And hospitals are still not letting the patients eat what they should. Oh well, one thing at a time I guess.
BTW, my husband is fine. He should be released sometime later today or tomorrow.
Now to the vent part. University Hospital is as it sounds part of the University of Colorado. It is one of 3 or 4 teaching hospitals in the Denver area. I encountered in the ER Drs. and nurses that said my husband would need to be on "blood thinners". I bit my tongue most of the time, but when the 3rd year resident kept calling it that I spoke up. She said that she knew that it was an anticoagulant, but patients understood blood thinner better. I didn't want to get into an argument because it really wasn't important at that moment. Once up into ICU the Internal Medicine 3rd year resident also insisted on blood thinner. This time I spoke up right away. I told him that he's not doing his patients any favor by scaring them about this drug and making them believe that they'll bleed to death from "thin" blood if they're not careful. His response was that patients find "anticoagulant" too difficult for them to remember. I asked if he could try saying anti-clotting instead? Almost everyone can understand that term. He said that he'd try. Again...this is a TEACHING hospital. Oh! Yesterday my husband was ordering lunch and he was not allowed to have a green salad because he's on "blood thinners" AAARRRGGGHHHH!!! The ICU nurse was in the room at the time. When I asked "Why they do that?", greens are so good for you. He said well, if they're not going to let your husband out until he's theraputic, don't delay that by eating things that counter warfarin. He really did have a point on that, but if this was a paitent who didn't have someone like me with them, the patient would think that they could never have things like that. He's a great guy and doesn't call our favorite rat poision "blood thinner". I asked him why so many Drs. and nurses insist on that and his response was to shrug his shoulders.
We still have a long way to go. The educators are continuing the misinformation by not calling Coumadin/warfarin by the correct term. And hospitals are still not letting the patients eat what they should. Oh well, one thing at a time I guess.
BTW, my husband is fine. He should be released sometime later today or tomorrow.
