The Coumadin files

My Hubby has a second chance at life.  On December 9th, 2014 my husband was admitted to the hospital for a blood clot in his leg (DVT) and part of it had broke off and hit his lung (PE) causing him to have shortness of breath.  He had suspected a blood clot in his leg for 5 days prior to the hospital visit.  He had a DVT about 13 years ago, so now he is on coumadin for life.  If we had insurance, my hubs would just now be released from the hospital.  But since we didn't, he was released on the 12th, with a box full of blood thinners that I had to inject him with twice a day.

At this point, most people question why this happened.. but not us.  I had been trying to get my husband to take his health seriously for some time.  He was a pack a day smoker.  He didn't exercise.  He ate well at home, but at work he was a soda drinking, fast food eating freak of nature.  He was chronically dehydrated and wouldn't listen to a word I said.  Talk about stubborn...

My husband didn't just develop these habits overnight.  His mother has a large cocktail of ailments and is the perfect example of how not to live your life.  We lost his father a year ago to lung cancer.  Both parents smoked, lacked exercise, and didn't eat well or drink plenty of water.  This is why it's so important to be a good example to your children.  At 40 years old, my husband has to undo all the bad habits and basically undergo deprogramming so he can learn to live a healthy life.

I am very proud of my husband for listening to his Doctor.  He is now over a week smoke free.  I'm settling in to our routine of tracking what he eats and monitoring his meds and blood count.  His spirits are up, and he seems to really be taking his second chance seriously.  We have to learn how different foods affect him, and become very consistent with how he eats.

Even though this was a very unexpected road in our life journey, I am very happy to be able to keep traveling along with him.  My husband can resume his work life today, and I admit that I'm not too happy about letting him leave my watchful eyes.  I will be a wreck today, but I'm sure that all will go well.

I will keep posting the 'coumadin files' so we can openly track our progress.  If you or someone you know is on coumadin, We'd love to hear from you!