Called 911 last night. Edie was having lots of trouble breathing, couldn't eat, and was just not feeling good. She was thinking she was having a heart attack, but that turned out not to be the case.
Within a short time, the paramedics arrived (always an exciting experience for the neighbors), and discovered her oxygen levels were around 50%. They immediately administered oxygen, in addition to a few other things (which I'm not exactly sure of), and then transported her to the hospital, after pushing all the furniture around, and totally disrupting the house.
Anyways, without going into any more extraneous detail, which I could probably write a paragraph or two on, it was discovered she has a "string" clot in her leg, and they're going to install a filter between the artery/vein and the lung, to catch the clot before it gets to the lung, should it break off.
The doctors still aren't sure why her oxygen levels are so low, and drop very rapidly when the oxygen is removed, so she's not going anywhere for at least a little while.
At least they're keeping a close eye on her. She's in a step down unit from ICU, and she has a private room.
And I am iron deficient, big time. [Which would account for my low hemoglobin] Test Result Ref Range IRON 30 59-158 mcg/dL TOTAL IRON BINDING CAPACITY 231 250-420 mcg/dL IRON SAT 13 20-50 % My Ferritin levels were good, but that could be because Ferritin is also an "acute phase reactant", that is sometimes increased with acute or chronic disease. Folate and B12 levels were also within the normal range. The only problem now is determining what is causing the iron deficiency, which in the case of men, is [very] rare. My oncologist has given me a Globin Fecal test to perform, and has scheduled me for a consultation with a colorectal surgeon to discuss performing a colonoscopy, which could be problematic because of my large spleen. In the mean time, I've decided to start taking an iron supplement, it's only the quantity that is causing me some consternation. I've been told by a very knowledgeable person that to overcome an iron deficiency, I need to be taking 300 mg o...
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