My father had been sick for 3 weeks before he finally went to the hospital.
They found he had congestive heart failure(fluid around heart) and took care of it.However, they need to check his lungs for clots (before he went in he had said he coughed up black stuff from his lungs).
How does one get clots out? Surgery?
Any info appreciated.
IANAD. Please don’t construe this as medical advice, merely an observation from one with a couple of cardiac patients in the family. My guess is that there are meds – anticoagulants – that help dissolve clots.
thank you. No I knew I wouldn’t get medicla advice I just wanted information on this type of thing.
Thanks he is 89 and I would rather he not go thru something as intensive as surgery.
He had a laryngectomy in 1976.
Usually, one does nothing to get the clots out. The body is left to dissolve them (hopefully). Treatment is directed at preventing further clots, usually by using blood thinners such as heparin and warfarin (coumadin). The other aspect to management is determining why the clots formed.
Sometimes, if things are critical, the doctors will try to dissolve the clots using medicines like TpA or streptokinase. This is not often required. Even more rarely, the clots can be extracted mechanically. Dissolving clots and extraction of clots are reserved for the most acutely and critically ill patients.
thanks.
I’ll know more tuesday.
The dr. said he couldn’t send him home because he wasn’t getting enough
oxygen without help.