Well...more like a body blow followed by an upper-cut to the chin...So the hospice doctor came out on Monday with a nurse to check up on Nana. The visit went pretty well, and they discussed some options with Laura. What Laura found out yesterday was not encouraging at all...
One of the medications that Nana receives to keep her blood pressure up (so that her kidneys are able to do their job) is midodrine. Her supply runs out Thursday morning. The nurse called the pharmacy and found out it's been pulled off the market, and that there are no meds to take its place. We're going to do a bit of research in this, as it looks like the FDA called for it's withdrawal from the market in August 2010, and relented from this in September 2010.
If we aren't able to get in a supply of midodrine, Nana's blood pressure will drop. The doctor said that a pacemaker would help, and possibly extend her life several extra months. When Nana heard the cost of such a device (around $20K), she said she didn't want it. :-(
Laura was saying that she thinks it might be time to start making some phone calls...
Doesn't Kay have insurance? Bill has had two pace-
ReplyDeletemakers and the insurance covered most of the cost.
I hope she has insurance. They would be one of the calls that you should make. I'll pray that you can get an alternative medicine also. She is in God's hands. All my love to her.
Love and Prayers,
Aunt Pat
Yes, she does have insurance. She'd have to go off hospice care to have this procedure done. One of the difficulties with this would be the anesthesia that would be applied for the pacemaker to be correctly installed. Her blood pressure might be too low to safely operate. This is one of the concerns we have about having her heart valves operated on.
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