blood thinners?

Has anyone had an issue with having to take blood thinners during surgery? My sister has blood clots in her lungs, heart and legs. I was tested for a hereditary blood disorder that promotes clotting and my tests came back positive. My doc says I need to be put on blood thinners during surgery but I don't know much about them.

Thanks for any info.

Ronda

tvh 6/23

I don't have any history of clotting problems but I was automatically given a shot of heparin 90 minutes before surgery. Then I got a shot every 12 hours after that until I was discharged.

I've no idea what it did for my blood, but I certainly never noticed any difference myself.

HollyK

I have a history of blood clots. I wore thigh high support hose (Teds) and also had the massage booties and well, and given Heprin. All went well. I had surgery at 1:00pm and was out of bed by 7 the next morning and walked a lot in the hospital. I was released after 2 days and made sure I walked around several times a day at home. I did great..no blood clots! Just make sure you follow docs orders. Good luck! You'll do great!

Hi I had DVT 20 yrs ago and was on blood thinners for a while and LSH two days ago 5/3/05 as an out patient. I had the compresssion stockings, ted stockings and had a shot of lovenox in the hospital and have to give myself one a day for the nest two weeks

I thought blood thinners such as Heparin were fairly standard with any abdominal surgery. In the UK you are advised to wear your support stockings for 6 weeks to aid your circulation. (It takes 6 weeks for your blood to clot normally again after surgery)

Hope this helps

Chicky

Chicky:

No one mentioned support hose here at all. We got some funny green knee/thigh high stockings to wear until after the surgery, but I don't think they were supp. hose, quite loose actually. And they came off after I was awake in my room.

I had never heard of the heparin shots before they gave me my first one (which really burned!).

HollyK

The heparin shots i had for my first surgery were given every 3 hours - but this time, medical science has moved on apparently and it was just one a day - but what a one - it felt like a very large wasp sting (probably the most pain I had!)

I was measured for my stockings - they were white - and very tight and came up to the top of my thighs. I hated them with a passion!

I ditched them for some knee-length ones when I got home - I wore them all the time for the first 3 weeks, then just in bed for another week - then I 'lost' them in a laundry accident

- I felt I had to wear them though, as my surgeon was so adamant about the benefits, and afterall i was pleased enough with his advice to get on my bike ASAP - and drive, and be really active - so I felt I should at least try to wear them (even though I wanted to burn them)