jazzgeek
The Rule Of Thirds.
And the latest news.....
OK, before we all physician bash....
(Gratuitously stolen from xkcd.com)
It's an economic reality that health care costs money. I was rolled off of the Warfarin script in January because, given the level of tests I had performed on me, I came through with flying colors.
Mind you, those "tests" amounted to one recurring test - the PT/INR test, which is the most common test used. It provides only the most basic of information regarding clotting and anticoagulant progress.
And why didn't I get more, and more extensive, tests? Because I was "under-employed" and had no health insurance to cover the more extensive and expensive tests. Now that I have a great health insurance plan, item one on my agenda was to have a complete "thrombosis panel" performed on me. That actually happened this past Friday (kind of prescient on my part, given that I didn't develop strong symptoms until Saturday) when I had no less than 7 separate vials of blood drawn from me....and I actually called my clinic twice yesterday to see what the results were.
What I wasn't informed was that the blood samples are shipped to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN for the series of tests; there are around 13 separate "factors" in hypercoagulability, of which I could have one, a combination, or all of 'em.
And the results are trickling in. It's now determined that I'm "Protein C aberrant", as well as "lupus anticoagulant by dilute Russell's viper venom hypercoagulant". (The first one I understand, but since I've never been diagnosed with lupus, I gotta read up on the second - especially since there's a snake in the mix. )
Point being, NONE of us knew in January that I had these two "factors". So, like the graphic says, science works.
OOH!! OOH!! I just now got to see the CT scan slices, and it's interesting; compared to the solitary golf-ball sized clot I threw two Novembers ago, this one looks as if my lungs were peppered with birdshot, with a respective 40/60% split between the left and right lungs.
It looks like I'll be here tonight, and maybe tomorrow night as well. If it's any longer than that, I guarantee that I'll rip the telemetry leads off and storm out.
Finally, my thanks to Charles Pritzel for having the courage to enter the squalor that is my home and walk my dog.
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
Dale
OK, before we all physician bash....
(Gratuitously stolen from xkcd.com)
It's an economic reality that health care costs money. I was rolled off of the Warfarin script in January because, given the level of tests I had performed on me, I came through with flying colors.
Mind you, those "tests" amounted to one recurring test - the PT/INR test, which is the most common test used. It provides only the most basic of information regarding clotting and anticoagulant progress.
And why didn't I get more, and more extensive, tests? Because I was "under-employed" and had no health insurance to cover the more extensive and expensive tests. Now that I have a great health insurance plan, item one on my agenda was to have a complete "thrombosis panel" performed on me. That actually happened this past Friday (kind of prescient on my part, given that I didn't develop strong symptoms until Saturday) when I had no less than 7 separate vials of blood drawn from me....and I actually called my clinic twice yesterday to see what the results were.
What I wasn't informed was that the blood samples are shipped to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN for the series of tests; there are around 13 separate "factors" in hypercoagulability, of which I could have one, a combination, or all of 'em.
And the results are trickling in. It's now determined that I'm "Protein C aberrant", as well as "lupus anticoagulant by dilute Russell's viper venom hypercoagulant". (The first one I understand, but since I've never been diagnosed with lupus, I gotta read up on the second - especially since there's a snake in the mix. )
Point being, NONE of us knew in January that I had these two "factors". So, like the graphic says, science works.
OOH!! OOH!! I just now got to see the CT scan slices, and it's interesting; compared to the solitary golf-ball sized clot I threw two Novembers ago, this one looks as if my lungs were peppered with birdshot, with a respective 40/60% split between the left and right lungs.
It looks like I'll be here tonight, and maybe tomorrow night as well. If it's any longer than that, I guarantee that I'll rip the telemetry leads off and storm out.
Finally, my thanks to Charles Pritzel for having the courage to enter the squalor that is my home and walk my dog.
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
Dale