Chapter 146 INR

Monday, January 4, 2010

I went to the bank and discovered that my inheritance was gone! How could that be? I felt sick!

When I got home, I asked Richard what had happened to the money. He nonchalantly asked, “What do you mean?” I told him the money was gone. He responded, “Yeah, what did you expect?!” We paid off the house, went to Europe, and remodeled the house with it.” I told him the money couldn’t be all gone; there was no way the money could have all been spent!”

I hadn’t kept track of it because I didn’t think I needed to. I questioned Richard again. He told me I wanted the house remodeled, so that’s what he did. I wanted a trip to Europe, so that’s what we did. I wanted the house paid off and new furniture. He made me think the money had been spent on what I wanted.

In my gut, I knew something was terribly wrong! I thought he took the money! Then I thought, no, he wouldn’t do that to me, he loved me! Richard had a way of making things sound logical even though they weren’t. I chose to believe him because the alternative was too hard to accept.

I found out 10 years later that he had transferred the money a little at a time to a separate account.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Richard came home from work and told me that the company he worked for had been bought out, and the new company that had taken over was bringing in its own people.

My inheritance was gone, and now Richard had lost his job again.

Richard put his arms around me and said, “We have been through so much together. At least we have each other. Just think, when I retire, we will never have to worry about money again! We will get through this.” It sounded so comforting.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Richard was starting to charge on our credit cards again. I told him he would have to put all the credit cards in his name because I couldn’t keep paying them off.

Monday, January 25, 2010

I have started to babysit again. I don’t have a choice if I want any money of my own.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Sarah emailed me and said that she needed money. I wrote back, telling her the money was gone and that I was babysitting again.

I let her know that Jared was living with his in-laws so that he could get ahead in life. Laila and Johny wanted a car of their own, but they would have to save up for it by themselves. I told her that I loved her and that I wished there was more I could do for her.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Laila and I loved Wednesdays because that was the day we got to watch Bladen while Emma taught piano and violin.

Emma called me this morning to say that Jared, her mom, her dad, Bladen, and she had all been sick with a stomach bug. They were over it now, except Bladen still seemed a little sick. She was worried I might catch it, so she said not to come today. I told her I wasn’t too worried because it had been a long time since I had been sick.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Richard and I went to a Valentine’s dance put on by our stake. As we were dancing, I could tell I was starting to get sick. I ended up having the stomach bug.

Monday, February 22, 2010

I had the stomach bug for 10 days. Whatever I ate went right through me. It was miserable! There were times I thought I should just stay on the toilet because, in a few minutes, I would be back again.

I haven’t slept much. As soon as I fell asleep, I would wake up because I had to go to the bathroom again.

I am on Warfarin (blood thinner) because of my blood clots. The doctor had not told me it was dangerous to keep taking it while I was sick. After 10 days of having diarrhea, I was dizzy and felt like I was going to pass out.

I went to see the doctor. He took my pulse while standing, sitting, and lying down. Then he said my blood pressure was fine and that I was probably just feeling dizzy from being sick for so long.

I asked him to take my INR, which shows how thin my blood is. A normal person’s blood level is 1, and they like to keep mine between 1.6 and 2. The doctor said, “You are not due to have your blood drawn for another 3 weeks, but if it makes you feel better, we can see where it’s at.”

When the nurse took my INR, the machine kept reading “error.” The nurse thought her machine was broken.

They took a blood sample from my arm to see if they could read my INR this way. I went home and waited for the doctor to call me back with the results.

Since I was not told to discontinue the Warfarin, I took my usual dose before I went to bed.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

I woke up feeling worse than I had the day before, but since the doctor said I was fine, I kept pushing myself. I even went to Laila and Johny’s parent-teacher conference.

I felt so sick while I was there, but kept telling myself that it was probably because I had had the stomach flu for so long.

Later in the day, the doctor’s office called to say they would like to take another blood sample because they had lost the previous one.

I went in, and when they pricked my finger, the machine read “error” again. The nurse said that was strange because it had worked on other patients they had seen since I came in yesterday. Again, they drew my blood to conduct further testing.

Before going to bed, I made sure to take the Warfarin because I wanted to feel better.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I felt worse than I had in the past few days. I thought I just had to build up my strength after being sick. As usual, I pushed on. The doctor’s office called. They were sure the test was wrong and asked me for the third time to come in for my blood to be drawn. I was so sick I could hardly get myself to the doctor’s office.  

For the third time, when they pricked my finger. Just like before, the machine read “error.” The nurse told me that she read up on the machine and figured out that the machine read error because my blood level was so high that it could not read it. Then she asked me, “Did they tell you how high your INR read?” I said no.

She said that it read 16 on Monday and 19 on Tuesday, but they thought it must be a mistake because if it WAS that high, you should not be able to walk around. That is why they have asked you to come in again. I jokingly said, “Well, I really don’t feel good!” I didn’t understand what it meant to have my INR so high, so I didn’t take it too seriously. Especially since neither the nurse nor the doctor seemed concerned.

In the evening, Laila and I went to babysit Bladen, while my daughter-in-law taught violin and piano. I felt I was too sick to go, but pressed on regardless. I thought, “When we get to Emma’s house, I will rest for a few minutes, and then I will feel better.” As I was driving there, I thought I was going to die.

When Laila and I got to Emma’s house, I hurried and lay down. By now, I could hardly move. As I lay there, I knew I was in no shape to drive home, so I called Richard to come pick me up. When Richard got there, he and Jared gave me a Priesthood blessing.

By now, I could hardly speak. I asked Richard to take me to the hospital so they could see if there was something they could do to help me feel better.

Richard said, “Since you have been sick for so long, you just needed to get home and get some rest.” I couldn’t walk to the car, so he ended up carrying me.

When we got home, I could hardly walk in the door. When I stepped inside, I collapsed onto the floor.

While I was lying there, Richard heated some soup for me, thinking it would help me regain my strength. I couldn’t put the spoon to my mouth. Richard tried to feed me. I didn’t have the strength to open my mouth, so it was no use.

The phone rang. It was a doctor, he asked Richard if I was having blood coming out of my mouth, nose, or ears. Richard leaned down to look at me. He looked in my ears, in my mouth, and up my nose. Since he couldn’t see anything, he told him no. Then the doctor told him that my life was in danger and to take me to the nearest hospital.

When we got to the hospital, the nurse was asking me questions. I couldn’t understand what she was saying because it sounded like she was talking underwater. I could barely keep my eyes open.

Then the nurse drew my blood. They did a few tests on me that showed I was having internal bleeding.

When the doctor left, the nurse came in to tell me they were very busy and had just had two ambulances arrive. But she wanted me to know I was their number one priority because my blood level read 27. She asked me to do what I could to stay awake.

When she left the room, I was going unconscious. I realized then that I might not make it. It took everything I had to talk. I whispered to Richard that, in case I didn’t make it, to throw all my journals away.

In case I died, I didn’t want him to read what I had written in my journals, about me not loving him because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

I promised Heavenly Father that if he would let me live, I would gather all my pages and put them in order so I could write my book. I didn’t want everything that I had gone through to be for nothing. A peaceful feeling came over me, and I knew everything was going to be okay.

The nurse came back and gave plasma and morphine for the pain. As I felt it enter my vein, I slowly started to feel better. 

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Since I had internal bleeding yesterday, they did an ultrasound on me. After the ultrasound, the nurse told me they couldn’t believe everything looked fine.

In the evening, my INR was 1.2. I was told I could go home, but I was to take it easy for a while.

Friday, February 26, 2010

I had to go back to the doctor to get my blood drawn. I knew the nurse who was taking my blood because I had worked with her at the hospital.

Since she knew me, she told me they were called to an emergency meeting because they were sure I was going to die the night I went to the hospital. The doctor thought there would be a lawsuit, and they wanted to see where they went wrong and how they could cover up their mistakes.

She said that because of what happened to you, they have changed their policies and procedures so that this will never happen to anyone again.

Then she said, “Since your INR was 27, no one in the meeting can believe that you survived!”

I searched the internet to find out what the highest INR recorded was. The highest I could find was 15.6. It said, “Needless to say, this person died of internal bleeding.”

I realized just how lucky I was to still be alive!