from

[Guest guest]

,

thank you for the info. Sorry to be so slow getting back to you. I actually

had an appt with a hematologist the day I had the TIA. My sis has an IgG

deficiency and has to get IgG IV supplements every 4 weeks. The rheumatologist

tested me and I also have an IgG deficiency so she is sending me to the same

hemo doc that treats my sis. I don't know if my IgG deficiency is caused by the

same thing as my sis, but I'm sure the doc will do all the same genetic testing

on her that he did on me. It never occurred to me that a hematologist might be

the one to get to the bottom of what caused the TIA. Obviously I missed my

original appointment and had forgotten all about rescheduling it until today.

I'm going to call Monday and reschedule. The hematologist I'm going to is in

Birmingham, AL, which is 100 miles south of where I live. My internal med doc

is in Huntsville, AL, which is about 30 miles east, so obviously, I'd rather

have my internal med doc monitor my coumadin. He is very picky and monitors me

pretty closely on everything, especially the coumadin and my INR. They were

trying to keep my INR at 2.0 to 2.5, but now that I've had the TIA, he wants it

higher. I can't remember if he said he wants it at 2.5 to 3.0 or 3.0 to 3.5.

He did a PT/INR today but told me that unless there was something critical in

the labs, they would contact me on Monday. He did other labs, also, but I

didn't even bother asking what he did. I'll just get a copy after they get it

all back. He also said that I definitely will have to be followed by a

neurologist, so they'll set up an appt for me with the one that saw me in the

hospital. He said the neurologist will most likely do another scan because

sometimes the damage doesn't show up right away. He told me that if the scan

shows any permanent damage, that's when they would change the classification

from a TIA to a stroke. I was a little concerned because everything I've read

on the internet says that a TIA is totally resolved within 24 hours and

typically within an hour. It's been 9 days since I had the TIA and even though

things are MUCH better, they're still not quite 100% back to where I was. He

told me the info is wrong and that it is not at all unusual for it to take

several weeks or even a few months for things from a TIA to totally be okay. He

did all kinds of neurological checks today and I did fine on most. I did have

trouble touching my nose with my left hand when my eyes were closed. I had no

trouble with my right hand. I'm no longer having much soreness in my left arm.

I do still have some numbness in my left hand and it gets a little worse when I

use it a lot, but I'm using it anyway. There wasn't a lot of difference in the

strength in my right and left hand today, so obviously I am getting my strength

back in my left hand/arm.

Thanks for the link to the web site. I'll check it out.

I actually felt good today for the first time in quite a while. I did have a

short episode of major panc pain after getting in the bed but I had my hubby

bring me some of my oxycodone for breakthrough pain and zofran. Within a few

minutes I was better and fell asleep - so no ER, thank goodness!