Anti-Coagulation Therapy

Today is Ari's 7th day of anti-coagulation therapy. Right now, she is on Coumadin 2 mg/day and Lovonox .14 mg 2x/day. She should only be on the Lovonox injections for the next week, at most, while the Coumadin reaches therapeutic levels in her system. So far, Ari has been doing okay with it. Ari has only had one nosebleed (today), and very minimal bruising at her injection sites. The first night (trembling & fever) must have been something else, because we haven't seen anything like that since. At our last few appointments with the Hematologist, Ari's doctor's really seem to have toned down their warnings of doom and gloom over the anti-coagulants. They don't see a need for any activity restrictions or added safety precautions. Dr. Shah informed me that 1 in 20 children have any bleeding at all, including minor bleeding like nosebleeds, (in contrast to what I remember hearing before, that 1 in 20 children hemorrhage) on blood thinners. This time, he said that a much lower percentage experience a major bleed. A relief on my end. Ari has also been a champ about getting her injections! She barely makes a sound. I am so proud of her -- she has definitely been doing her part to make my job easier. They want Ari's INR (Coumadin level) to be between 2.0 - 3.0. On Monday, it was 1.2 (baseline 0), so they raised her Coumadin dose from 1.5 to 2 mg/day. Hopefully, by Friday (her next INR check), she will have reached therapuetic level, and she can go off the Lovonox.