[CyberTOPS] roll call last week, this week. Health warning to anyone taking blood thinner

[Carolyn Beran]

I thought I had sent in last week's weigh in but guess I didn't.  I had a gain
of 1.5 lbs.  We had a no meeting this week so was excused from weigh in. 
 
I had a very bad health scare this weekend.  I take warfarin (a blood thinner
in pill form) on a regular basis.  The last couple of weeks I had a very bad
allergy/sinus problem with a horrible cough.  I developed a sever pain in one
of my groin muscles but didn't think anything about it as I get muscle pains
when I cough too hard.  Sunday morning I could barely keep my eyes open and as
the day progressed I got so dizzy I could barely walk,  I had my husband take
me to the emergency room.  I had a blood pressure of somewhere in the 50's
over something in the 40's.  They did a CT scan and discovered that the muscle
was bleeding inside itself.  I was sent by helicopter to a Level 1 trauma
center.  They immediately gave me drugs to slow down the bleeding.  Eventually
they told me I had lost about 30% of my blood which was life threatening.  So
anyone on blood thinner, please watch for symptoms of something like this
happening.  I can't count the
 number of times in the past, when I got a sore muscle from coughing and never
thought anything about it.  From now on, I will not take for granted that the
muscle is just sore. 
 
The doctors also said that if your levels of blood thinner get too high, you
can get a spontaneous bleed like this with no cause.  So if you are on blood
thinner, make sure you get your numbers checked regularly like your doctor has
ordered. 
 
I don't know if I will be going to TOPS for the next couple of weeks. I am
still so weak I can't be up for long periods of time.  They said that I won't
be back to normal for 4-6 weeks, until my hemoglobin builds itself back up.  I
got out of the hospital yesterday.  This is the first time I have had enough
eneregy to get on the computer for a while.
 
Carolyn