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A little over a week ago, we noticed Mom's face swelling a bit. It got worse over the past 4-5 days, so I talked with her yesterday afternoon about seeing Dr. Houston (her general physician) to be sure nothing else was going on. I called Dr. Houston's office yesterday, and he agreed that a visit would be a good idea. Mom, Pat and I went to his office at 8:30 this morning. He thought that the swelling might be due to the steroids, but since her dosage has been dropping, and her swelling has been getting worse, he wasn't sure. He also thought the swelling could be due to her extremely irregular glucose levels. He suggested an ultrasound at the hospital to rule out any clots or other issues.

By 10:30 a.m., Mom had gotten the phone call: a large clot in her inferior vena cava and renal vein. She was instructed to get to Prairie Heart Institute in Springfield immediately, report to the ER, and wait for a room. Dr. Goswami is on vacation this week, and so Mom would be assigned a fill-in cardiologist when she arrived. I talked to Mom, and we decided to call Dr. Goswami on his cell to be sure he didn't want a specific doctor assigned. He seemed quite happy that I called and said that he would take care of everything. No 8-hour ER waiting period needed; he would call and set up her admission. She would have a room waiting on her when she got to Springfield. He called Donita Schrey and Dr. Shayuk (Internal Medicine), and despite a little confusion, Mom was in her room within 20 minutes of arriving at the hospital. Again: THIS is why Mom is lucky to have Dr. Goswami in her life.

Mom will have a CT scan of her head and a CT with venous dye of her chest, abdomen, and pelvis tonight. The dye helps to see where clots are. Right now, we are waiting on her labs to come back to be sure she has high function in her kidneys (the dye is hard on her kidneys). Mom's neurologist, Dr. McGregor, is out of the country, so one of her partners, Dr. Russell (sp?),  will be the 'main man' in determining where things go from here. If Mom hadn't just had a hemorrhage in her brain, the next step might be to start her on heparin (clot-busters). Dr. Russell will review the CT of Mom's head tomorrow to determine whether or not that's an option. If it is, she will start immediately. If it isn't, Mom's team of doctors will have to decide on another course of treatment. Hopefully the CT shows what is causing the swelling in her face and neck, since the IVC clot probably wouldn't cause it.

Dr. Goswami is, indeed, on vacation this week, but he is in Springfield, so he will be stopping by to see Mom tomorrow. Donita has been in twice tonight and will be back tomorrow. It is so nice to have a friend here. Dr. Mink, the oncologist at St. John's/Memorial has been in. As well as Dr. Russell. It has been a crazy evening.

Unfortunately, the craziness is leading to some miscommunication/lack of communication between staff tonight. Mom's dinner was delivered, but she had to wait over 30 minutes to eat it since they hadn't checked her glucose yet. Someone came in to take her blood for labs, but the nurse didn't know all the correct labs needed, so 10 minutes later, someone else had to come in and stick her twice more. A nurse put Mom's IV in when we got here, but now she needs a larger gauge so they will have to put a new IV in tonight (and nearly EVERY nurse has to try more than three times to get a vein).

The good news (good, I think) is that Mom will be transferred to Intermediate Care after her CT scans. That means more care than she's getting now and a private room! Mom isn't a fan of shared rooms - who is, really?

So, no real news tonight. Hopefully we will know much more in the morning. Mom needs all the prayers/good thoughts/vibes she can get, so send them up and this way.

Written/Posted by Jenn.