Blood Clots

[gemloyear]

Is there anyone out there who has experience with blood clots in the legs? Glen has had severe pain in his leg for over a week.His doc did not think it was clots, She finally ordered an ultrasound today to rule it out.He has 2 clots, one in the calf and one behind the knee. She was more concerned with that one possibly moving. Considered prescibing coumadin or hospital,confered with a hemo.The Hemo ( not his reg.)said he couldn’t take the coumadin because of other meds. perhaps they would disolve on their own.Will do labs mon. and another ultrasound next Weds. 5/11. In the mean time watch for bleeding or difficulty breathing. It seems like a long time to wait and see with no treatment. Anyone have any thoughts or advice ?

Ellie

[Terri]

Bob has not experienced the clots, But I know that the coumadin would not be something they would prescribe for Bob due to the plts being low. THat was one of the questions they always asked if he was on any blood thinners.
I hope all goes well and Glen starts feeling better and the dr gets the clots under control

[txnmomma]

First whats meds is he on right now?

Quote:

Is there anyone out there who has experience with blood clots in the legs? .. Anyone have any thoughts or advice ?

My dad was diagnosed with DVT’s in Oct 2003. His dr put him on Coumadin immed. They found about 3-4 clots in his legs.

The DVT’s were dx’ed first before MDS. My dad’s plt. count was ok and so the dr decided to keep him on the coumadin after dx’ing the MDS. BUT… this is the thing. He was taken off the coumadin last week. After having pnuemonia and a bronschoscopy, it was discovered he had bleeding in the lungs as a result of the coumadin. I believe my dad’s platelets were getting worse. I dont know, I could be wrong.

Anyways, he is off the COumadin, right now. His dr put a filter in his super vena cava vein. This filter will prevent any future blood clots to travel upwards into his heart or lungs causing a pulmonary embolism.

You might want to have your husband look into the filter. It’s a minor surgery. They go up thru the groin in the vein to place it there. It’s there indefinitely.

Here is some info about it.

A cardiovascular intravascular filter is an implant that is placed in the inferior vena cava for the purpose of preventing pulmonary thromboemboli (blood clots generated in the lower limbs and broken loose into the blood stream) from flowing into the right side of the heart and the pulmonary circulation

They made 2 incisions around the groin. They went up through the femoral vein in the groin. Another incision to open the vein and put the filter. The exact location of the filter is in the area of your belly button. There are 4 major veins in the body. One in each leg and one in each arm. They all connect around the belly button area to a MAJOR vein called the Super Vena Cava. This vein leads back to the lungs/ heart. Many people die from a pulmonary embolism in this Vena Cava vein. The filter was put here were all 4 veins lead to the heart/lungs. The filter is made of strong titanium/plastic combo. It’s insert thru the femoral vein in the groin and then balloned out to form an “umbrella” affect. It’s a screen [filter] to prevent blood clots going to the heart. It takes 2 weeks to heal.. and about 3-6 months for the filter to really get lodged in the vein and mend to the vein. It’s in there forever..

I hope this helps some. It may be an option given the fact that the dr has to work around the MDS. SAME exact problem with my dad!

[gemloyear]

Hi Wendy, I really appreciate your reply, your the only one that seems to have any experience with blood clots DVT. We wont know much until he goes to the doc tomorrow. He will be seeing his Hemo. and will have another ultrasound. He is still having severe pain in his leg, so I’m sure he will be admitted to the hosp. It’s scary to me, as he has so many other problems.He has a diaphragmatic hernia in the area of the navel, so wonder if that would interfer with the placement of a filter ? His plts. were only 35000 this Mon., I worry about bleeding with the procedure. His regular doc.,hemo is out of town until jun.1,so think he may seen by the P.A. or a different doc.His primary doc tries to coordinate his treatments with all the other specialists that he’s seeing but sometimes it’s difficult.Last week his labs were lost!! I guess with this illness one has to expect the unexpected at times!I dont know what Meds. she was refering to he has been taken off several of his meds. because he has had several severe allergic out breaks in the last few months.I hope he will be a good candidate for the filter proccedure as the clots are a reacuring problem. I will post again when I find out more. Many thanks.
Ellie

[ButchL]

I unfortunately am the king of clots. I lost count at number 12. I had a DVT in 90 and have been on thinners since then. 7mg. of Coumadin for life.

The danger is breaking off and going into the lungs. That is a pulmonary embolism. I had 2 of those. That is why they have him watch for breathing difficulties.

The body does naturally dissolve clots. I have had several that we just watch and they go away. I would think that being as he has low platelets, it is equivilent to having the blood thinned by meds.

I would bet the doc is counting on them going away naturally. They are painful and what I always watch for is if they go above the knee. That is when I was told I have to really be careful.

I had 2 DVT’s back then and the rest have been surface clots. They don’t think the filter is necessary for me. I think the best is to keep the leg elevated above the heart and try and relax. I know that they confined me to bed when I had the DVT. They do not want it to break off without dissolving.

I hope some of this helps……

[gemloyear]

Hi Butch, I’m just hoping that they will disolve on their own. He is a poor candidate for any type of surgery.Our doc was most concerned with the one behind the knee. He’s had that one for at least 2 wks. that we know of. How can you tell if it moves above the knee, pain in that area? I appreciate your responding especialy in view of your recent losses. I too have lost loved ones,the most traumatic was an 11 yr. old daughter, who would have been 43 this yr. I guess the best therapy is work, keeping busy and being thankful that we had them in our lives for even a short time. I think often of her daughters and wonder how they are accepting the loss of their mother. perhaps the older girl could help you write that song,I admired what she was trying to do to help her mom. Thanks once again, Bless your family.
Ellie

[ButchL]

Ellie:

The girls seem to be handling it well. We have lots of family around right now so it isn’t too bad. In the coming weeks it may hit us harder as things calm down.

As for clots, I could tell when they moved by redness, hotness and the pain. Does the pain feel any better at all ?

Butch

[gemloyear]

Hi Butch, He has redness, hotness & a lot of pain in his calf and some pain in the Dvt. behind his knee. So far the doc’s don’t want him to take anything more than the Lortab for the pain and elevating his legs. They don’t want him to take coumadin, or won’t consider a filter because of the low platlets.He had a stroke 18 mo. ago, so doc is concerned with that.For now they’re hoping the clots will dissolve naturally. Thanks for all the info, I have an idea of what to expect now, and how to treat it.I was apprehensive about doing the wrong treatment to start with,at least I know what to do for him now.Thanks again.
Ellie

[txnmomma]

Quote:

I unfortunately am the king of clots

I didnt know you were the king..of clots. WOW!! Alot of clots..

Quote:

redness, hotness and the pain

—> thats something my dad felt at the very beginning with his first clot. Back in 2003, he never had them. He thought he injured a muscle or something. Then thought it was a bad bug bite. Seeing the red spot on his legs..

[geebeebee]

Hi Ellie,

Sorry I got in late here — Mom, at about day +100, I believe, after her SCT, had a very large pulmonary embolism that originated in her leg, they believe. They put her on some high-powered blood thinner (2 shots a day, now down to 1) that broke the clot up pretty well. Glad the docs are able to keep a close eye on it — in Mom’s case it was out of nowhere.

Take care,

Greg

[gemloyear]

Thanks for your reply Greg, now we wait and watch and pray. It’s good your mom could have treatment for her’s.I hope her condition improves and she regains good health.
Ellie

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