Burying Their Mistakes

It is an old saying, about how Doctor's bury their mistakes, and I think it is perhaps true. Maybe more than we would like to admit, or believe.

Mom takes coumadin, a blood thinner. Each month she is supposed to have a blood test, to determine the levels, and to make any adjustments, if needed.

If you have followed this blog, you know she is having some health issues, one of which, is her bowels. The Doctor finally, after some hard pushing arranged for a home testing, that being where the blood technician comes to the home, to take her blood, instead of her going out to the lab.

At that time, he also arranged for some more extensive blood testing, and it's been over a month. No news is good news, right? It should be, but how does one know?

Her second test was last week, and this time, I asked for a copy of the tests be sent to me, which I got, and to my surprise, her INR test showed the levels to be low. 1.7 instead of at least 2.0

Not a word yet from the doctor, who should have gotten the results before me, last week. I got my copy today. I called, and gee, an answering machine, but this is too low. It can allow for blood clots to form, and so it worries me, but what really has me in a cold sweat, is what were the results from earlier on?

Is that why I rushed her to the Emergency Room, because a clot passed through that shouldn't have, if the thinner medications had been adjusted? Could her levels have been low last month, but the doctor not recognized it, so did nothing?

And what of the other blood tests, did they show nothing, or did they show something, but he didn't see it?