Tests

It will all started with my knee. Two and a half years after the replacement, it was (is) still hurting. I went to the guy who installed the knee and asked him why it was still hurting. He gave me a happy reason - because I need my hip replaced. Of course! Why didn't I think of that!

Everyone told me to get a second opinion. We went to Pittsburgh, to a doctor who does minimally invasive hip replacement. He concurred with the diagnosis. He was also very concerned about my "unprovoked" DVT (blood clot) in 2009. So along with a daunting list of tests he wanted us to have done, he told me to go to a hematologist to get my blood tested for possible reasons for said DVT. So Thursday morning we saddled up and headed for Pittsburgh again, to see Dr. Mohammed Islam, a nice Irish boy. His technician drew fourteen vials of blood from me, and a few minutes later the doctor came in. He, too was very concerned about the 2009 DVT. He sent me down the hall to Radiology to ascertain whether I had any clots currently in stock in my legs or lungs.

They started with the legs, which turned out to be a good thing. The technician ran her magic wand up and down my legs, and found a giant clot in my left, and a big one in my right. From there I was pretty much bum's rushed to Shadyside hospital and admitted immediately.

They put me on Heparin and forbade me to walk anywhere, even to the bathroom without supervision. The plan was to scan my lungs , then install a filter in my vein by my belly button to catch any clots that might break off and head for my lungs or heart.  They took three more vials of blood, fed me dinner, and pretty much left me alone for the night. Carmen went home, and I was able to watch an entire Pirates baseball game.

At 7:05 Friday morning, Dr.Mears, the hip replacement guy, stopped in. He asked me how I had come to be in the hospital with blood clots.I told him, and mentioned that my lungs had not been scanned yet, and that clots in my lungs would delay the hip surgery. At 7:15 they hauled me down to Radiology. My lungs were clear. Yay.

At 10:00, they asked me which I would prefer - to have my filter installed right away while I would be awake, or later in the afternoon under anesthesia. I opted for right away. So, at 11:15, right after the third pricing game on The Price Is Right, they loaded me onto a cart and hauled me down to the surgery department. I was not scared or even nervous. In fact, I fell asleep a few times while waiting to go into the actual operating room.

Once in there they transferred me to a narrow table, so narrow that they installed two plastic outriggers to support my arms. They covered my lower half with a blanket, then covered my head, shoulders and neck with a sterile covering. Before long,the procedure began. I was instructed to turn my head all the way to the left, and warned of an impending "pinch and a burn." After that it was one guy feeding the hardware into my neck and down my vein, and another guy talking him through the procedure. UPMC is, after all, a teaching hospital. Once again, I was not scared, but it was very annoying to have these guys shoving a thingy down my vein from my neck to my belly button. It was not long before they were done and I was on my way back upstairs.

I arrived in my room at precisely the same time that Carmen arrived in my room. I  insisted that I could walk now that I had a filter, but the transporter had orders to keep me from walking. I was allowed to scooch from the rolling cart to the bed. Something about the pain meds they had given me for the surgery. As the day wore on and the meds wore off, I came to believe them.

Our original plan had been to get the rest of the tests on Dr. Mears' list done while we were in Pittsburgh. Thursday turned out very differently from what we anticipated, so Carmen got the brilliant idea to try to get them done while I was still in the hospital. The nurse- practitioner assigned to my case was given a copy of our list with the items still outstanding highlighted. She got on it. Soon the nurse, Patrick, got on the case, and one by one the final items were checked off.

The practitioner came and told us that Dr. Islam was "kicking me to the curb." We began making preparations to go, but then she came back and told us that Dr Islam had decided to keep me overnight. Then Patrick came to tell us that he was going to see to it that the tests were all done, and we could go home that day. Well, the last blood was drawn at 4:45, and we were out the door a little after 6:00. Yay Patrick!

My neck bandage came off Saturday morning, followed soon after by Carmen's first shot of anti-coaglant since 2009 in Albuquerque. I feel good, but not as good as I did before I found out that I have blood clots in my legs. It looks like I'm out of work until the middle of June or so. And Whatever willing and the crick don't rise, I'll have a new hip in a week and a half.