Hello,
After few days' hospitalization and discharge in early Sept this year, I was told to return to the ER 8 days later after I'd called about a hematoma from a stab wound and slight shortness of breath. Honestly, I was more concerned about the hematoma--it was hard and not going down. I just attributed the shortness of breath to just laying around for a few days in the hospital not realizing that it could "cause" embolisms but nobody said anything during my stay. During that initial stay my HGB was 7.9, then 8.1 a few hours later. It was back down to 7.8 the 2nd admission. I was inpatient a couple more days, given blood thinners on discharge intravenously and then Pradaxa pills for 3 months. I was told for the next 3 months to be careful with sharp objects, bumps and bruises, and stop riding my bike (lol... bummer), take up swimming and walking. I am praying it's JUST for 3 months and not life long. The issue now is that those were ER doctors. Saw my primary care doc and was told to schedule with a hematologist. The problem is, getting specialists WITHIN the 3 months (now less) has been hell. I'm afraid that by the time I'm to come off Pradaxa I still won't have a doctor to advise me. How will I know I can stop? What will stopping it suddenly do to me? Won't I need another CT? Anyway, sorry it's so long but thanks for starting this post. How are you?