Mon, Apr 26, 2010 - Update on June Lee

Hi All,

Today was another roller coaster day. When I got to the hospital at 0800 the blood Dr. was in talking to June and going over plans for the future. She explained that the initial clot blocker has apparently done it's job and dissolved or mostly so, the massive clot that was blocking her lungs and nearly killed her. The thinking there is that she is breathing good, all lung tests and vital signs are good. She explained that heparin or coumadin would be probably a life long thing now. Those prevent clots from forming and from sticking to each other. I understood that they do not dissolve clots but that the body itself will do that in time.

June was alert and feeling good then about 1100 she started complaining of pain in her chest area. They ran some tests and put her on some pain meds but it just continued to get worse. At about noon the Nurse called the Dr. about her pain and the fact that her heart was racing and blood pressure up. He ordered another CT scan. That got done about 2:30 and when she came back she was in really bad shape. Hurting almost more than either of us could stand. I got the nurse in and she administered more pain killer and put out a call for the Dr. to come down and take a look.

Dr. Murray was the one who initially worked with her in Critical care. He couldn't get there till about 5:30 and had studied the results of the scan and said now we know what the problem is: June is bleeding internally, but he immediately said there are three major kinds of internal bleeding and she has the one that is the easiest treated. Apparently due to the clot buster or the continued heparin she got bumped just under the left rib cage and the bleeding is in a muscle which causes tremendous pain. She has bled about a liter of blood which is a bunch. He ordered the heparin stopped and said that will stop the bleeding but the other side of the coin is that it will then allow clots to continue to build now that we know she has that tendency.

The good news is that the strainer that they put in on Dr. Murray's orders early on has caught a big clot that would have killed her outright without a doubt. It is doing it's job. He explained this is a tight rope but the best course he and his associates can come up with. She is strong but greatly weakened by the 13 days of trauma. She was feeling better when I left due to the pain meds and, I think, knowing what is the problem. I know she was worried about the cause of that as I certainly was. The care she is getting there is still top notch and her little nurse is a marvel but not as readily available as when in ICU. She has other patients too.

And that's it for today. I again feel optimistic too knowing what is going on. I am not the most patient as most of you are aware and not knowing drives me up the wall.

Ken