Blood Clot or what ??? long

[Guest guest]

Hi friends...

I have a question for you all. My husband Joe is gonna be 33 in August, he

has Rheumatoid and Osteo Arthritis. Joe is in the hospital since

Wednesday--today is Sunday. He went to the famiy DR on Mon last week cuz he

was sick. While there he told the DR he has pain in his knee and its really

swollen. The DR said its probably a bad flare. So he comes home, goes to

work the next AM and later that nite (now its Tuesday) I told him he should

go to the ER that he is showing signs of a blood clot. I took him and the

ER DR said 3 tests taken--2 showed negative for a clot yet the d-dimer test

was positive and she wanted a doppler in the AM. OK--so we get that done.

I call the family DR and they tell me its negative for clot but he wanted a

Accutek test done..this is a radioactive dye test and then you wait an hour

and they take pictures again.................anyway he gets admitted cuz the

radiologist says its a DVT (deep vein thrombosis). I forgot to tell you his

symptoms: swollen and red from the knee to the ankle, hot to the touch and

painful on the side of his calf muscle. They call a vascular surgeon in to

get his opinion and make sure they dont need a screen put in--he SAYS, there

is no clot he dont know why he is hooked up to all the blood thinners

(Heperin and Coumadin by mouth). Meantime our reg DR goes on vacation ad

has his asst cover............shes at a loss. He told him if she sends him

home and its a clot and it travels it will go tot his lung and can be

fatal. He was scheduled for a venogram on Friday, they claim all 5 veins in

the top of his foot that they tried callapsed. I am not sure they know what

they are doing personally since the nurse said its a test not common.

ANYWAY---does he have a clot or not and if he dont have a clot what could it

be? These are the ? we all have. They are gonna redo the venogram in the

morning (Mon)...if this is a failure I want hi outa there and to a different

hospital. Has this happened to any of you? I am beginning to think maybe

its a complication from the RA and these guys just arent up on it and what

can happen in an RA patient. I know there are other things that come along

w this disease, and I am wondering if this isnt one of them and the DR arent

catching on. I did read where anyone w a suppressed immune system can be at

risk for a clot. Could his swollen knee have brought this on? It was worse

then he ever felt or seen, yet I know some flares are so painful. So I

guess I juts wanted to see if any of you had experienced this and know where

I might search the net for problems associated with this disease so I can be

informed and better inform the DR if I need to. I am gonna have the DR

speak w his rheumatologist tomorrow...my main family DR is in Canada on

vacation--this would be our luck! ANy hints for us? Any experience w this?

Thank you all so much in advance. Im in a hurry so I hope I told you it

all--lol Going to the hosp now. Will check email after 8 tonite. Thank

you all again!

and Joe in Pennsylvania