Another Admittance

Kevin was admitted to U of I Hospitals today for a blood clot in his lungs. He was complaining of shortness of breath and a heavy chest so I called his nurse. The Dr himself called us back and said come in for a scan now. Kevin said he was surprised. Kevin, really. Not being able to breathe is not good. I was expecting it.

After the scan the Dr came in and said "I'm glad you're here. We found a problem." I was thinking pneumonia. Nope, P.E. That's Pulmonary Embolism for those not in the know.

It is a small clot and we caught it early. The Dr is guessing the PICC line, which was in him too long at 5 weeks, released a clot when it was pulled out. For those keeping track that's 4 misses for Cedar Rapids Drs. But, Kevin reminded me, they also saved his life. That was a group effort. One-on-one they're not so great.

A bit of information I didn't know; the blood clot will dissolve on it's own. The body has enzymes to take care of that. The drugs will keep the blood clot from growing and the blood thinners will keep another one from forming. Plus they are doing sonograms of Kevin's 4 extremities to make sure there are no other clots.

Now we get to learn the ropes at a whole other hospital. Yippee.