Hi all, can anyone advise me here? I am on warfarin and when the first lockdown happened I was allowed to have my INR done at home but as soon as lockdown ended I had [unwillingly] to go back to having my INR done at my local infirmary. With this more virulent strain of covid going around I asked if I could have my INR done at home again but have been told it is safer for me to go to the infirmary rather than have a nurse, who has been in other homes, come to me. Each time I have been to the infirmary there have been more and more people there. Whether it is nurses, doctors, patients or other staff and I do not feel safe. They have refused to come out to my car for blood like a drive thru and will not let me do the tests myself at home. If I refuse to go to the infirmary will they then say I have refused treatment and leave me untested?
A nurse has been coming to my house once a week to treat my mother and has in the past taken my blood back for testing but they are no longer willing to do this.
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suzannah16
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Hi susannah...can you not go to your drs? During first lockdown i was told not to go to the hospital for my dmards bloods so my surgery did them.over the summer on 2 occasions they were unsuccessful and I had to go up to the hospital which in all honesty felt ok. 12 is usually a quiet time so i go then wearing ppe.i haven't been up to the hospital during this lockdown as my bloods were done a few days before we were put into this lockdown....they are next due on the 25th.
I dont know whether they would refuse point blank to treat you but I cant have my mycophenolate script without having bloods done and I'd of thought you would be the same. X
Is there no nurse to do it ? .....think I'd be changing practice.i go wearing mask visor and gloves and use the sanitizer at the doors...I think you may just have to swallow your fear on this one.pre covid I usually went to the path lab because they take it out of my hands which the nurse at the drs wont do so when they couldn't get any out of my arm after 3 attempts I had to go the hospital anyway.i did ask if my bloods could be 3 monthly but consultant said no I must stick to monthly 1 week before script is due......I've just had to get on with it xx
It seems so unfair that I have isolated for nearly a year and now when there may be some end to it i'm being forced out when there is a new strain of the virus. it feels a bit like a soldier who dies on the last day of a war.
It does. I go to a lab within the hospital reserved for special proceedures. ( so not the ED/ A&E. ) this helps a little bit.
However, for direct admits of covid patients arriving from home- with Doctors orders called into hospital aghead of time- there is a short section of common hallway and same main entrance used... 😷😶
hi s16, so sorry to hear you are struggling with this situ. I agree with you how scary it is out there and how we must be deadly serious about every time we leave our home. I'm on Warfrin following (PMR/Pred induced?) clots Jan 2021. I've had INR bloods taken by needle in my arm at Hospital anticoagulant clinic, then at home in front garden on bench, in porch with arm sticking out the front door (no not through the letter box!), down the Dr, surgery, and finally now at home with a ringer prick test, managed by my nurses at my Dr Surgery, as I'm CEV group plus extremely breathless due to lung obstruction, and so fundamentally housebound. My father was a soldier so well versed in protecting our family and having a plan B. Yes Suzannah, this is a battle for our lives! If you cannot change the means by which you are tested, please don't make yourself stressed and ill over it. with the vaccine on the horizon we have real hope now of things getting much much better and safer. Is there anyway, you can bite the bullet, PPE, Visor, gloves antibac to the hilt, talk only when need to, touch nothing, I used to sit outside until I was called in for blood withdrawal, so I was not exposed to others in the unventilated waiting rooms. Get out and back home as quick as you possibly can, I used to put all my clothes in the washing machine, and even antibac my shoes which 'd walked into the surgery/hospital with... and importantly, you and are are still here to tell the tale, so we must be doing something right!. I can hear how brave and strong you are... the end is in sight. Maybe the regime for INR testing will change or your circumstance will change, I totally agree it is crazy to have got this far and now be expected to walk into the teeth of the storm when it is most virulent .. but we must have our INR tests and if we can't change the system, we will arm ourselves to be as protected as we possibly can. I feel for you. you take the very best care you can, and I'll be thinking of your when I get my INR done 19th Jan, I'm 70 today, and happy there are lovely people like you out there sharing your story, virtual hug, Grandmother Polly
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