No Big Clots in the Lungs

We finally got into nuclear medicine to have the lung test done. Mom got really nervous about the test before we went. They gave her Ativan but she was really, really afraid. We got her to the room for the test and Sam the technician could not have been nicer. He allowed both Dad and I to stay with Mom the entire time. I was able to coach her through the whole process and she did great! She had to breath tiny radioactive (and I mean really tiny) transmitters in through her oxygen ... she looked like she was smoking a peace pipe. Then Sam used this huge camera that looks like something about of the movie 2010 (which is only a few years away -- yikes!). We were able to watch as the transmitters showed up on the screen as tiny particles appeared on the screen looking like that scene from the Willy Wonka movie. Then they inserted a radioactive substance into her bloodstream and took the same photos. The first photos showed everywhere in the lungs that air can travel and the second everywhere blood can travel ... this allows the doctor to know whether or not there is a blog clot or pneumonia.

So .... if there are blood clots in the lungs they are very, very small. But there are confirmed blood clots in her legs so they will start her on Lovenox to thin out the clots. The other possible cause of her breathing issues could be bronchitis -- which will not show up on a chest x-ray -- so they are starting her on the IV equivalent to Avelox. Dr. Thomas started her on Avelox yesterday as a possible solution to the fever.

Bottomline is that Mom needs way too much oxygen right now. She is on close to 15 liters which is very high. When they try to turn it down then her saturation level drops. Therefore, she is being admitted to the hospital. They will treat the blood clots and the possible bronchitis ... and the shortness of breath should be caused by one of these two things. OR there could be something growing in the cultures that Dr. Thomas started last night that might be able to explain all this in a few days.

Of course ... there are no rooms in the inn. So we will continue to hang out in the ER until something comes available. Dad went home to get some sleep and Bert will take over for me in a few hours (though I was hoping to get Mom into her room first but that doesn't look good at the moment).