Saddle PE clot in red, blocking the blood flow to both lungs
Things are much better now. I continue to inject myself twice daily in the stomach (not fun) with Lovenox and will keep doing that until the warfarin (blood thinner) orally-taken pills gets me to the desired INR "therapeutic" range (from 2.0 to 3.0). Yesterday, I scored at 1.4 so still have a ways to go as they keep increasing my warfarin dosage. A cardiologist friend of mine commented thusly on that process:
Some people just 'need' a higher dose of warfarin to get the INR therapeutic. Also, if your diet is healthy (like yours is) with plenty of green leafy vegetables (which contain Vitamin K), folks tend to be a little more resistant to warfarin as it's an agent that is rendered less potent (per milligram) when the patient eats green leafy vegetables. The appropriate response, as you might guess, is NOT to reduce the green leafy vegetables. Rather, it's to increase the warfarin dose as your doctor has prescribed.
The good news is that I have reason to believe that my HUGE Saddle PE clot has already broken up quite a bit and should be completely gone soon. My breathing is almost back to normal and the latest test of my oxygen level yielded a score of 100%.
I hope to be completely off of my blood thinking meds in the near future. In case you missed it, you can find my earlier post (6-16-17) on this topic by clicking:
I almost died last week!
Now for that dose of REALITY. Here is the latest report from one of my favorite scientists, Dr. Peter Wadhams, Professor of Ocean Physics at the University of Cambridge in the UK. This video was posted on YouTube on 6-5-17 (the day I almost died) and runs 21 minutes. It covers what's happening in the Arctic right now and what that means to the rest of the world.
It is not a pretty picture. Unfortunately, those with the power and/or influence to change this bleak picture are not paying attention. This group includes ALL of our most powerful political leaders along with a few thousand of the wealthiest and most influential people on Earth.
The Bottom Line. Not only is human life fragile, so is the ecosystem that supports all of life on Earth. One huge part of our fragile ecosystem is what's happening in the Arctic right now as we rapidly approach an ice-free Arctic (during summer) within the next two or three years.
Some are predicting that human extinction could likely follow that ice-free Arctic within ten or twelve years. My conclusion is that our ONLY chance is to urgently raise the awareness of this crucial topic to the highest levels.
Like managing big changes of any kind, It all boils down to three things according to my quality guru, the late Dr. W. Edwards Deming: "Leadership, Leadership and Leadership."
Be well, J. Morris (Jim) Hicks
Promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth
