I just spent a long time typing this message and before I could post it, it disappeared! So I'm trying again. This may be long but I need to explain things so that hopefully someone can help with information.
With my first anniversary coming up November 16, I was hoping to have a better start to the school year. But that hasn't happened because of some health issues with my mother. About 3 and a half weeks ago my husband called me at school on my lunch time, which usually does not mean good news. He said my brother had called and said he took my mother to the hospital. Mom will be 81 in December. She said she had a hard to describe feeling between her shoulder blades, feeling like a tooth ache coming on. I thought it might be a spasm. They did some tests and her enzymes were very high so they were admitting her. I called the nurse to try to find out what was going on, as Mom lives in Girard, Ohio (by Youngstown) and I live about 4 hours away in West Virginia. She told me they were going to do a catherization the next morning to determine if she needed a stent, angioplasty, or open heart surgery. I asked her if the numbers were that bad, and she said yes. When I heard that, my knees went weak and I decided I needed to take off from school and get up there. My husband and I left that night. The next morning, after about 15 minutes into the catherization they called the waiting room and said that Mom had some blockages and they were going to put in 2 stents with angioplasty. That took about an hour. The doctor showed us the video of before, during, and after the procedure, which was interesting. They said she did very well. I told the doctor that she has always watched what she eats. He said she is 80, it's going to happen. She stayed an extra day because she was nervous to go home. She does get nervous easily anyhow. They put her on Plavix and aspirin for a year that she can not go off of. She seemed to have a pretty good week her first week home, although one day she made herself very nervous and was shaking. Then, the second week, she started having some bowel problems with bleeding.
Starting with my background: About 2 years ago, I had a colonoscopy that diagnosed me with Colitis. I have been taking Lialda and doing pretty good with it. My mother started having some bowel problems and leakage (I know it's gross, but I want to explain everything) about a year or two ago. I have tried for 2 years to get her to go for a colonoscopy, but she would not do it. Well, she had some blood when she went to the bathroom and had my brother take her back to the hospital. Now she had no choice, as they were going to do the colonoscopy the next morning. I kept in touch by many phone calls. The test went well, but they did find a polyp that was about 4 inches big, too big to remove during the procedure. They did biopsy it. I told Mom that if she would have had that colonoscopy done earlier, the polyp would have been smaller and could have been removed. The biopsy came back as benign and possibly pre-cancerous or some malignancy. (I still don't have all of the details straight.) They heart doctor, colorectal surgeon, and family doctor were not agreeing on what to do. She can not go off the Plavix. They cut the aspirin dosage. The family doctor who is an internist thought they could put the wire up there and wrap it around. One of the other doctors did did not want to do any surgery at this point because the Plavix causes too much bleeding. The heart surgeon or one of the other doctors want to wait 3 months (its been 1 month by now) for the heart and stent to heal and then make the decision. So they send her home feeling pretty good. Another week goes by and I got a call last night that my brother took her back to the hospital for bleeding when she went to the bathroom. They admitted her, but are basically telling her the same thing they did a week ago. The colorectal surgeon called me tonight to answer my questions. I asked if the blood was a typical polyp bleed, the Plavix, or a combination. He said it was most likely a combination. He explained that the polyp was very big and showed signs it could be pre-cancerous. He said that the surgery would have to take some of the colon to get the tumor. They did not want to do that now, so soon after the stent surgery. He said that the anesthesia could cause her to have a major heart attack. They still want to wait about 3 months, if she can do it without all of this bleeding. The doctor told me she is not bleeding too much and they will send her home soon. If she bleeds too much to where she needs to be given blood, she will have to be readmitted. The surgery situation will most likely come from the heart surgeon when he thinks her heart can handle the surgery. Mom feels confident with this hospital and the doctors. I told her we need to research and find someone who is experienced with doing surgery while a person is on Plavix and knows how to handle this difficult situation. Her family doctor is checking Cleveland Clinic for another opinion.
So, after this long dissertation, my question is: Has anyone experienced this or had a family member or friend go through having colon surgery while on Plavix? I have looked a few things up on the Internet, but have not found a lot that deals with both situations. For anyone familiar with Youngstown, Mom is in Northside Hospital.
Sorry this is so long. Thanks to anyone who can offer any advice.
Sandy
