Pulmonary Embolism Support Group
By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.
I am using Lovenox to bridge because I am having surgery on Wednesday. So I called my doctors office today to see what my last INR was. After hearing it was 1.6 I was concerned, this was an actual blood draw instead of the finger stick I usually get.. My doctor is on vacation this week but the office is open. So I went in and today my INR was 1.4. The lab tech who draws the blood (in office lab) said it was not too bad. She checked the doctors notes and I did what he said as far as stopping my warafarin and celebrex 5 days prior to surgery. Although I went in today for the INR check instead of tomorrow. I went today over confusion or concern about the 1.6 number. Any way the lab tech said that the doctor likes to see it at 1.0 - 1.1 when using lovenox to bridge before surgery. But she said given surgery is Wednesday it should not be a problem because I still had another dose of lovenox to use and surgery was still two days away She went onto say that if I was still concerned after she explained it that I could make sure to add a salad or pork or something simlar high in vitamin k to my diet to make sure the number drops a little more. Now I thought I understood this but now I am really confused. There is a doctor there tonight for sick patients and I will try to call to check with him and even though he used to work with my doctor I am not sure I will get to speak with him. Would someone please help me understand this?
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Look at what my best friend did with my picture!
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We all have 24 hours in a day. How we spend these hours is important. Watching a little bit of a video about how sitting affects us made me aware of how much sitting and laying down I do. Gonna have to work on that.Your turn. Tell me another truth.
1.-1.1 is what a person's INR would typically be for a person who does not take warfarin. So that's what they're aiming for here. It sounds like the nurse is saying, if you're worried about it not dropping lower than 1.4, have a vitamin rich food.
The Lovenox should be working, but it won't be reflected on your INR. It usually take several days for the Warfarin to get out of your system ... it is the only thing that affects your INR.
I usually plummet after two days on Lovenox and off warfarin. I would think you would be fine by Wednesday, but consider having some nice big salads to help it along.
I was able to talk to the doctor filling in and he thought 1.4 was a little on the high side because of having sugery, but did mention that I had another day on the lovenox before the surgery. He also wants me to check with the surgeon's office in the morning to see what they say. Then he mentioned the surgeon's office did call the GP's office an wanted the blood results. I have not heard from the surgeon's office and I would think they would have called if there was a concern. Nevertheless I will call them inthe morning.
I did have a salad for lunch today, broccoli with dinner tonight and I am thinking pork chops for dinner tomorrow night. Not sure if it would be over doing the vitamin k. I don't know how much is too much for a situation like this. I just know modertion and consistancy to maintain a theraputic number. Even after three years I have lots to learn.