Well we spent the evening at the ER last night. Our dear, kind, doctor of a home teacher recommended Jim go in after looking at his right calf.

Last week Jim's leg was feeling a bit sore and by Friday it was swollen, red and warm to the touch. He tried some antibiotics and nothing changed so off the the ER we went.

Here are some of the highlights of the evening:

*We had been bottling salsa all day and we really wreaked of it! I was kinda grossing myself out/craving mexican food. When the Tech came in to take Jim's blood pressure/temp the first thing he said was: "Wow it smells like Salsa in here! Does anyone have chips? It smells good." (we shamefully admitted to being the cause of the stench-later the 9 week pregnant nurse will notice the smell and not appreciate it as much.)

Jim got wheeled to his private room (cubicle with a curtain) and a lovely gown where he sat and waited for the following visits: Nurse, admin lady, doctor, ultrasound guy, etc.

*After the ultrasound guy did his thing the nurse came in and informed us that: "Well I spoke with the the tech and I have a verbal diagnosis which I am to give to the doctor. He has to come in and talk to you about it, I can't. . . but you do have a couple of blood clots in your leg. They will probably start you on Coumadin but I hope they don't since I personally think it is RAT POISON. It's better if they just give you the shots that you will administer to yourself everyday for the next 6 months or so. But you didn't hear it from me so act surprised when the doctor comes in."

15 minutes later nurse enters the room (doctor never came)

*Nurse: "OK so the doctor wants to go ahead and start you on Coumadin"
Jim: "You mean the RAT POISON?!"
Nurse: "Well it's not THAT bad. But he also wants you to do the shots for a few days. I am going to go ahead and show you how to do it. It's not that hard I promise. Now the best thing to do is to give yourself the shot in the fattiest part of the body-so go ahead and grab a chunk of your belly. Now all you have to do is stick it in and punch the medicine through. In my skinny patients I have them put it in at at 45 degree angle but it looks like you have enough flesh to just stick it in. Go ahead now-the medicine going in hurts way worse than the needle."

20 minutes later the Doctor comes in

Doctor: "well you have a few blood clots but since they are in the leg we are going to go ahead and treat it as an outpatient. If it were in your arm we would have you stay. You will need to be on the blood thinner for about 6 months and the shots for roughly 5 days.
Jim: "Are there any side effects?"
Doctor: "If your Coumadin levels get to high you can bleed internally and ultimately die. Just be sure to see your physician and get your blood checked regularly. Ok you are good to go we will get you your discharge papers and send you home."


Good times! My saint of a mother came over and sat with the kids while we were there. We got home around midnight, Jim got his prescription filled and this morning began with a show and tell to the kids of Daddy putting the needle in the "fattiest part of his body". I'm just glad it was him instead of me, it would have been really hard to find a fatty part of my body! :)