Leaving hospital later today

Sunbunnyqt
on 2/3/12 3:47 am - FL

I'm glad you are going home and hope your nose heals quickly. Be careful with it to be sure.

When I went on blood thinners not too long ago because of a blood clot I got from the central line they put in me during RNY surgery, my PCP who is monitoring the meds wanted me to get this service where you have your own device you can monitor your INR at home. The company said I would have to pay out of pocket for them to teach me how to use the meter to the tune of $100. I thought that was weird and didn't want to hassle with it at the time because most of my doctor's say I will only have to be on it for about 6 months. In the past month or so I have had the pain come back and I'm wondering if I will ever be able to go off of it. I'm telling you this because I think it would be a good idea for you to inquire about this home testing for yourself. I'm beginning to reassess whether I need to have one and definitely will look into it if I have to increase my dosages.

Know you are still in my thoughts and prayers. Best wishes for a restful night at home.

Cicerogirl, The PhD
Version
on 2/3/12 6:01 am - OH

RNY on 08/27/07

I actually have had a home unit for several years now. It cost the insurance company about $2500 for the unit (just like a blood sugar machine only larger) but it costs me about $600 per year in test strips (and my current insurance company covers only 45% of that). There was no charge for anyone showing me how to use it, but I had to fill out some kind of form "proving" that I real their insturctions and watched the video. As with everything else, though, you have to actually USE it, and my levels have been stable lately so I got lazy and had not checked for about 3 weeks. It is MUCH mroe convenient than having to go to the lab every week (even with a standing order).

My Vit K levels were ok (a wee bit low, but not enough to cause this problem... despite me allegedly taking "way too much" according to the doc assigned when they admitted me... yeah, whatever... I told him that MANY gastric bypass patients have to take very high doses of certain vitamins in order to attain optimum levels... he just gave me a blank look). They had their pharmacy check the generic coumadin I got from Medco (the only thing that changed recently), but all they can say is that, yes, it IS warfarin... nothing about the quality of it. I think I'll go back to paying extra for what I was previously taking just in case...

Lora

14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained

You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.

rbb825
on 2/3/12 1:45 pm - Suffern, NY

RNY on 10/27/08

I am glad you are doing better - many think that generics are the same but in many instances they are not and with drugs that we count on to keep our bodies going and stable, I will only use brand name such as Synthroig. My Endo wont let me take the generic, she says it isn't the same and the other problem is that pharmacies are constantly changing brands of generics which also causes a problem -as with synthroig, the generic from one brand to another is not the same and you can really screw up your levels by switching brands, so I stay on the name brand and all is fine

oxfordcat
on 2/3/12 3:48 am - NJ

so happy to hear that. Please rest and take care of yourself. I know how crazy those pt/inr numbers get. I hated being on coumadin.

Just know that you have a whole group of supporters here. (((hugs)))

"Something has changed within me. Something is not the same". Elphaba