@Erica @ChrissyD
Hi all, couldn’t post on my usual thread.
So I started this one. Had a very bad time.
On Sunday evening I suddenly started having difficulty conversing. I couldn’t put a sentence together just confused. Anyway the wife rang 999. The ambulance arrived in
about 5 minutes
Loaded me up and blue lighted to the local hospital. At AandE they ran many physical and mental tests. They suspected a stroke admitted me and arranged a MRI scan for the next day.
I had tremendous headache and fatigue. Anyway fortunately there was no damage and they diagnosed a T.IA. which I have suffered before. Because of my low platelets i was taken off blood thinners 18 months ago. Anyway as I improved the stroke unit wanted to introduce small aspirin to hopefully assure another Tia.
Haematology vetoed this as my platelets at 42 were to low and dangerous bleeding could be caused. Came home Wednesday night. Have my routine haematology moment tomorrow. On the plus side my tooth extraction has healed quite well. The staff at hospital were very good. Most were not English but very caring and competent.
A great pity we rob poor countries of their medical staff instead of training our own.
Anyway I feel well now but it was a frightening experience.
All the best and a merry Christmas to all.
P.S.5 blood tests in 10 days no wonder I’ve got low platelets!
Best wishes unclejack.
Oh @Unclejack gosh what a scary time you and your wife have been through, thanks for letting us know.
I include your wife as when my husband had a TIA it was frightening to see and I hate ringing 999.
Yes, what complex beings we are with so many different medications.
My husband collected my monthly meds from the pharmacy today and could not believe the weight and size of the bag.
I am glad that your tooth extraction is healing quite well.
Don’t these things always happen when we have other medical issues and appointments going on too.
Thank goodness for our NHS
Really look after yourselves well over the holiday period and enjoy.
Hi @Unclejack and @Erica
Goodness. What a scary experience for you and your wife. I’m glad you’re back home now. And glad to hear your dental extraction is healing up well.
Did they have any idea what might have caused this -especially coming so soon after the dental work and the medication to enable clotting? Are you now on other medications to prevent further TIAs? I’m glad you had such good care in hospital too but always good to be home. Hope everything remains stable and that you are able to enjoy whatever you are celebrating next week. All best wishes
@ChrissyD @Erica
Hi, having problems with replying on the forum, doesn’t seem to be a reply button to send the post. Anyway another stressful day. My 10.05 am appointment was actually 1hr.45 mins late (telephone appointment). Whilst I was actually talking to haematology the doctor was trying to get in touch with me on my mobile. Instead of ringing myl landline the number of which is clearly printed on my appointment letter they cancelled my appointment. To say I was fuming is an understatement. Then I rang the hospital to get through to haematology to try and sort it out.
The switch board didn’t answer for twenty minutes. Eventually I got through and haematology eventually sorted it out. Unfortunately the doctor.did not speak very good English, and is extremely hard to understand. Although some levels had fluctuations she said I was stable and the disease had not showed signs of progression.
My neutrophils were down to 1.84 from 2.34, platelets 42, monocytes unchanged at 154.
As you said Chrissy they bounce around a lot.
But she said the trend is stable so not to bad at present. The point that annoyed me was that initially she cancelled my appointment rather than ring the landline! After all the problems this week I thought my head was going to explode.
Not actually seen a doctor for 15 months. Admittedly as things are stable telephone appointment is sensible. Going back to my TIA
the stroke consultant was reasonably sure it was a Tia. BUT there were certain symptoms that didn’t support that view. Apparently rare types of migraine can be responsible for similar symptoms. I have had migraine with aura attacks since my teens but not with confusion like this. If it was a small blood clot how can you have thrombocytopenia with 42 level platelets and small blood clots!?. After all when my blood thinners were removed the doctor said it was virtually impossible to develop a blood clot with that level of platelets. Also my cholesterol has slightly fallen to 1.9 and it’s still necessary for me to take a 40 mg ATORVASTATIN. I have studied there is cases of thrombocytopenia with accompanying blood clots. My carotids were scanned and as clean as a whistle. My cholesterol is terribly low so I assume my veins and arteries are in fairly decent condition. All seems mysterious. Perhaps an expert somewhere could get to the bottom of all this
Never mind nothing can change the inevitable. I believe this is not going to end well.
Best wishes unclejack.
Oh, @Unclejack what a frustrating day you have had.
Do you think you might need to get a second opinion to try and get to the bottom of your long standing symptoms etc.
Be ever so kind to yourself, you are worth it.