Lindsey's having a few problems updating the blog from her phone, so this is her friend Ali with a quick email update about yesterday...
Thomas was given a large dose of warfarin (6mg) on Wednesday night to make his blood thinner, as it was still a bit too thick while he was on heparin.
It's important his blood isn't too thick, because as part of his Fontan, the surgeons inserted a plastic conduit to channel his blood to the right place. Because this tube is a 'foreign object' as far as his body is concerned, his blood would tend to form clots around it - which would not be good. Hence the need for anticoagulants, to keep his blood flowing smoothly through the tube.
But because of the high warfarin dose, Thomas's INR (blood thinness measurement) was too high yesterday at 4 (needs to be between 2-3), but this meant this meant he could be taken off his heparin infusion, and consequently lose another cannula!
This is great news - there really aren't too many wires left now!!
Thomas's remaining drain is still putting out some fluid, but the levels are dropping nicely - 350mls on Tuesday, 240mls on Wednesday and only 120 mls yesterday, so things are definitely heading in the right direction!
You don't really want the drainage to stop overnight, because that would probably mean the drain was blocked, so slow and steady reduction is definitely the way to go! The doctors will usually remove the drain once it is consistently draining 40mls or less.
Thomas was up and about again this yesterday with his trolley, and enjoyed a trip to the playroom. (see attached pic.)
He is still quite hunched over when he's walking, but is improving every day.
The ward was noisy last night, but Thomas managed to sleep through it.
They are waiting now for the doctors to do their rounds today, to find out the latest news.
So everything is going really well! What a star he is!
No comments:
Post a Comment