Sigh. Our friend BFSkinner returned to the emergency room on Friday due to intestinal blood loss and extreme weakness. He remains hospitalized at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, north of Detroit.
He received three units of blood. His intestinal bleeding has apparently stopped for now. No site of blood loss was visible on a red blood cell nuclear scan. His doctors cannot determine if the tear has healed completely or if the rend is bleeding intermittently with a periodicity of one to two weeks.
Some of his doctors want to give him the blood thinner Coumadin to prevent blood clots being thrown to his heart or brain. He had a clot already which lodged in an artery on the surface of his heart, for which he had a stent placed. Other doctors reject Coumadin because of his risk of hemorrhage. Coumadin has caused him to hemorrhage in the past.
He told me he has to choose between death by bleeding and death by heart attack or stroke. Immediately after delivering this news, he made me laugh by telling me a funny story about an interaction with one of his doctors. We both laughed.
Looks like he will undergo placement of a temporary vena cava filter in the next couple of days. This filter will be removed in about 30 days.
His family is nearby. His sister lives in the next town, and his brother has not yet returned home to China.
I found out about his rehospitalization today. BFSkinner asked me to say his continued illness has kept him from participating at Daily Kos.
Again, he cannot view Daily Kos on his cellphone, but he can make limited comments on FaceBook.
Instead of creating another incredible collection of get-well notes for him, please take a moment as you hover over the Tip Jar to send him gentle but firm and certain healing.