Ok, Ill try my best to keep this out of medical terminology land. So grandma was at home eating and began having trouble breathing. Grandpa turned up her oxygen for her twice, but she still struggled and then lost consciousness. EMS came helped her breath with a bag mask until someone put a tube down and connected her to a machine (ventilator) that is doing the work for her. She had blood work done to test for blood clots anywhere in her body and her heart to see if she was having a heart attack. Both labs came back positive, so the doctors thought she could have had something called a pulmonary embolus, which is a blockage of a blood vessel in the lungs. The cardiac test can be elevated from this too. Since she lost consciousness, they did a CT scan of her head and everything was fine. They did a chest xray and there was nothing new on that. They started her on a heparin drip, which is an initial intervention for a pulmonary embolus and did a study called dopplers of her arms and legs to see if there is a blood clot there. That test came back negative. In my experience, a test called a CT PE should be done to help confirm a blockage in the lungs, but that has not occurred yet. Her blood pressure, heart rate and rhythm and her breathing on the vent is fine. She is able to be woken up and she moves everything and nods to questions. All of these things are good signs of stability at the moment. Any of these can change quickly, but I was assured that for the moment she is stable. She is in ICU at Taylor County.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 23:24:34 +0000
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