We are afflicted with the dreaded POX in the Jones household... that is to say D woke up this morning covered in Chicken Pox. As usual he handles illness remarkably well and has been in fine form all day, even playing outside with a couple of his buddies (who have had it) once or twice. I've stocked up on Calamine lotion and some childrens Benadryl which apparently relieves itching somewhat and we wait for more spots to appear (which they are doing by the minute). He's not complaining of itchiness YET but that will come.
I had a minor panic earlier wondering if I'd had it or not. I had to call the hospital and cancel our tour of L&D which was scheduled for this evening (much to my disappointment). I'd been rather looking forward to it, the appointment has been booked since January and it seemed like such a milestone to have reached it, plus I am very keen to look around the place and have a load of questions for them to find out what they provide, what I need to bring, Vitamin K for the baby, etc. The thing is, D was excited about going too, as was G, and I didn't want them to miss out and I didn't want to go alone, so I've rearranged it for the end of June (30th).
While I was telling the HRC secretary this (as she books all my appointments) I mentioned that D had the pox and that was why we couldn't attend and she immediately put me through to the Nurse who asked if I'd had it. I thought I had, but wasn't sure. Dad thought I had, but wasn't sure. The only person who knew for certain was the person who gave birth to me and obviously the lack of relationship there means I can't get any information about my medical history very easily... very annoying and frustrating. Fortunately my sis was online and able to contact her and determine that we both had it in 1981, so I should be safe... as it can be risky for the baby during pregnancy.
This afternoon I had an appointment with the Haematologist to discuss the birth and afterwards in terms of anticoagulation, which was very reassuring although as usual with these things one tends to come away with a totally different set of questions than one goes in with! Anyway, the long & short of it is that the amount of Fragmin I'm taking has been increased, effective today, from 5000IUs to 7500IU's, up until the day before the birth at which point I stop. This increase is to 'provide some extra coverage as we don't want any fun and games like you had last time' (my PE) and I was reassured that it is still a relatively low dose. The day I have the baby I don't have any shots, and then the day after they will start again - one of the Haematologists will visit me in the hospital and prescribe the future doseage but he guessed they would start me with 5000IU's in the morning and another 5000IUs in the evening, and after that assuming I don't have any extra bleeding episodes, increase it again. I will continue on the Fragmin shots for 6 wks after the baby is born, and I won't have to take any Warfarin/Coumadin which is a result.
The only thing I'm a little nervous about is the new instruction to take a shot at noon the day before the surgery. This gives less than 24 hrs and the anaesthetist and most of the things I've read online suggest 24 hrs would be better. I might ignore that specific bit and give myself my last shot on the Wednesday night, either that or gradually change my shot time so that my last one is early Thurs morning so still 24 hrs prior! While I want to avoid a PE, I also want to avoid permanent paralysis due to bleeding into my spine as a result from the anaesthesia.
Posted by katie at June 15, 2004 06:39 PM