Warfarin Warfare
My partner’s grandmother is spitting up blood, falling over her walker, weak and dazed, dehydrated and has a sore stomach, gas, bloating and nausea. Because she is ninety-two on Monday, her caregivers were putting it down to age-related systems failure. But not so Derango. I smelled a rat. And unfortunately, that rat was treating grandma like a rat. This normally vital, sharp as a tack, feisty woman was suffering from a severe case of Coumadin poisoning. Alias, Warfarin. Alias rat poison. (It is often misspelled as Warfrin. It is also known as Jantovin in the U.S.)
This nintey-two year-old could easily live to be a hundred and four, if spirit and will and interest in life have anything to do with it. But, obviously, it is dangerous to get over-medicated when you are that old, because everyone, and I mean everyone, in her circle of family, friends and medical practitioners, was more than ready to put the symptoms down to old age and write this woman off. After all, she has lived longer than any of them think they ever will. After all, she is a little on the nasty side. Thank goodness old age did come along and give her something to blame this cantankerous nature on. It’s hard to keep friends around and not alienate family when you are like this at 37. And 47. And 57. Etcetera.
But I digress. Back to the point at hand. Coumadin/Warfarin is dangerous in the wrong hands. It might be an excellent blood thinner, preventing deadly blood clots in those predisposed to such life-threatening conditions, but you must be careful.
Vewwy, Vewwy, careful.
If you have ever seen the effects on rats and mice or upon the more than occasional unfortunate cat that ate the bait put out for the vermin it had been sent into the garage to eradicate, you will know that the effects of rat poisoning are not at all pleasant or humane. No matter how cantankerous your grandmother might have been in her day, she does not deserve the pain and suffering Coumadin poisoning can inflict. And even if she does, in your evil estimation, it is illegal to poison your grandmother, so just wait and suffer her criticisms like the rest of us.
I know; I am being macabre.
It is just my twisted, humorous way of trying to come to terms with the fact that no-one seems to care if they have made numerous mistakes in a person’s caregiving in more than one caregiving institutional setting. Each department in the nursing home and in the hospital where grandma finally ended up, did not keep track of her food and liquid intake, did not note that contra-indicated medications were being prescribed and ingested, that required foods were not being provided, restricted foods not being avoided, buzzers not working, wheelchairs not parked in reach of water and working buzzers, nutritional liquid supplements not being administered as requested, and newly administered anti-depressants monitored for signs of overmedication. After all, who can, or wants to, tell the difference between signs of senile dementia and a drug overdose of a prescribed happy pill?
Grandma wants to, that’s who. But no-one wants to hear it.
Grandma is as good as dead. And I can’t do anything about it. Other than “inform” the right parties until I am blue in the face. And I continue to do so.
I have been doing my level best to advocate for grandma’s rights. I even slept on her floor in the seniors residence to see how she was faring thorughout the night. They were actually going to bill me for it. For me having to lie on the floor at the foot of her bed because she was being either purposely or accidentally neglected by the staff of their fine establishment. Bill me for having to basically guard, protect and advocate for grandma, who is paying $4200.00 a month for the privilege of being neglected, and poisoned, and, in essence, killed off before her time.
She might be ninety-odd, but she still had her full, sometimes nasty faculties, and was walking, talking and causing a fuss as usual before her blood was so thin she didn’t have enough oxygen reaching the brain, and her stomach and colon were bleeding and she was so dehydrated from the coumadin poisoning that she almost died from dehydration alone. And she wasn’t bloated and belching like a sailor twenty-four seven. Nor did she have the runs.
Yummy.
As for having given up her lease on life, you’ve got to be kidding me. This woman’s sodium count was 117. A normal person’s sodium count is 140. 117 is deadly. So is a coumadin count of 7. 3 is considered very dangerous, if not too late. The admitting doctor at the hospital told me all this. Too bad each departement didn’t know what the other one was doing. Or, more to the point, didn’t care. Didn’t ask. Just assumed old age was the culprit.
Grandma loves life and being a social butterfly.
The belle of the ball.
The toast of the town.
Not toast.
Ham perhaps, but not toast.
Speaking of food; the following foods are rich in Vitamin K. Suffice it to say that Vitamin K affects the amount of blood clotting that goes on in the body. If you like these foods, then the powers that be say that you can have them, but your coumadin level is set in relation to your ingestion of these Vitamin K-rich foods. So stick to your decision. Either you eat vitamin K-rich foods every day, in the same amount, or don’t eat them at all. Otherwise, your coumadin levels are all wrong, and you will be ill. Once you commit to eating them, you must eat a serving of one of these foods, or two half servings of two of these foods etc. every day. Set the size of these servings with your doctor and dietary specialist, and stick to them: beef or pork liver, brussel sprouts, cabbage, swiss chard, spinach, coriander, collards, broccoli and kale.
Coumadin/Warfarin must be carefully monitored, and the person taking coumadin should be told why it is so important that they take the medication at the same time every day, and eat what the they are told to eat in the amount that they are told to eat of it. Their caregivers need to know what to feed a person on Coumadin and what medications are not to be used in conjunction with Coumadin without a doctor’s supervision.
Grandma had a headache for weeks, one of the signs of too much Coumadin, and the staff gave her tylenol every day that she complained. She drank cranberry juice daily. No-one, including grandma, knew that she had to eat a steady level of Vitamin K-rich foods, or tell the doctor to change her Coumadin level.
NO alcohol. NO cranberry juice. NO tylenol. NO aspirin. NO a lot of things.
If new medications are prescribed to you, be your own advocate and ask if they are okay with Coumadin/Warfarin. Your doctor is not infallible. And if it is a clinic doctor, don’t assume the Coumadin fairy told him about your other medications.
Speak up. Or spit blood. It’s your choice.
And be very nice to your family and caregivers. If this Coumadin poisoning can happen by accident and look like senile dementia and natural organ and systems failure, just imagine how tempting this could be to someone you’ve been nasty to since you were 37.
Or 47.
Or 57.
Etcetera.
If you are a bitch, just keep in mind that paybacks are too!
And quit smoking. You’re niney-two already. How fair is that?!
Click Here For Funny Pictures &
Funny Old Lady Pictures