Welcome
to amplify your expertise my monthly blog for Henderson-Hughes Health Partners
(H3P) that focuses on little or unknown health care subjects. The month of
February is known nationally as Heart month sponsored by the American Heart
Association. Amplify your expertise for the month of February will focus on
Wise Health Care Consumer month which is sponsored by the American Institute
for Preventive Medicine. Wise Health Care Consumer month is to help people
receive the right care at the right time in the right place. This can only
happen if the consumer is an active member in their own health care by knowing
which symptoms can receive self treatment and which symptoms require treatment
from a medical professional.
Recently
I proved myself to be a wise health care consumer by stepping in as an advocate
for my oldest daughter who was in her final weeks of her third trimester of her
pregnancy with her second son and experiencing pain. I took her to the hospital
to be checked out. One of the first things that I noticed that as soon as she
was hooked up to the fetal monitor, the pulse rate alarm began to sound. I
began asking the nurse why was the alarm sounding and the nurse said it was
that her pulse was high but it was nothing to be alarmed about. The nurse then
placed the alarm on silent and left the room.
My daughter was admitted to the
hospital for observation and was released the next day. The run back and forth
to the hospital game had started and my daughter and I were the contestants. We
play this game for majority of the week until I finally had enough on Saturday,
February 2, 2013 and I called my daughter’s doctor answering service requesting
that her doctor call me immediately. The doctor called about ten minutes after
my calling the answering service and I explained to the doctor that he needed
to do something about the pain my daughter was having at the end of her
pregnancy. The doctor responded with two options for us. The first option was
to come to the hospital that he was currently at and be checked out or wait
until Monday and go into the office to be seen. I told the doctor there was no
way that we were going to wait until Monday when my daughter was in so much
pain and it was not getting any better.
We arrived at the hospital and were
taken to an observation room. The nurse told me if my daughter had no dilated
past 2 centimeters she would just be discharged from the hospital because she
was less than 39 weeks and the state of Arizona did not allow induction of
pregnancies less than 39 weeks unless it was an emergency. My daughter who was
at 38 weeks of pregnancy was checked by the doctor and he found that she was
dilated to 4 centimeters and it had just been twenty-four hours that passed.
Once again my daughter is hooked up to the fetal monitors and her pulse rate is
high but this time so is her blood pressure. Her systolic (top number) kept
rising over 140. The doctor came in and told us that in order for him to
schedule an induction, my daughter needed to have three blood pressure reading
at or over 140. The criteria were met in less than an hour and the induction
process started. Deondre Martin was born February 3, 2013. The birth of my
grandson should have relieved my daughter of her pain, high pulse rate, and
elevated blood pressure. Her blood pressure did return to normal after the
delivery of the baby and she was discharged from the hospital on February 5,
2013 only to return to the emergency room on February 6, 2013 because her feet
were swollen like water balloons in addition to her ankles and legs.
After
running tests and speaking with my daughter’s doctor, the emergency room doctor
discharged her and told her to make an appointment with her doctor as soon as
possible. My daughter’s appointment was on Friday, February 8, 2013. It was at
this appointment when she learned that she had preeclampsia. Like most women
who have giving birth, my daughter and I knew that preeclampsia was a pregnancy
related problem that was relieved with the birth of the baby. What a surprise
to find out that a woman can develop preeclampsia after giving birth. The
Mayo Clinic defines postpartum preeclampsia as a rare condition that happens
when a woman who has high blood pressure and excess protein in her urine after
having a child. In most cases post partum preeclampsia develops 48 hours after
childbirth but can take as long as four to six weeks to develop after
childbirth.
If left untreated post partum preeclampsia can result in seizures
and thus requires prompt treatment of the patient. Signs
of postpartum preeclampsia to look for are high blood pressure 140/90 or
greater; excess protein in the urine; severe headaches; changes in the vision
including temporary loss of vision, blurred vision, or light sensitivity; upper
abdominal pain (usually under the ribs on the right side); nausea and vomiting;
decreased urination; and sudden weight gain (typically more than 2lbs per
week). Risk
factors are high blood pressure during a recent pregnancy, obesity, or a
cesarean delivery. The complications are post partum Eclampsia which is post
partum preeclampsia with seizures; pulmonary edema, stroke, and the HELLP
syndrome which stands for hemolsysis (destruction of red blood cells), elevated
liver enzymes and low platelet count. Just as with preeclampsia in pregnancy,
postpartum preeclampsia does have the risk factor for future cardiovascular
disease.
Although
it seemed like a long journey to obtain the final diagnosis on postpartum
preeclampsia, if I had not continued to stay on my daughter about seeing her
doctor in the midst of her frustration of the lack of care she was getting
neither she nor my grandson would be here today. Get to know your health and in
my case your families health you could save someone’s life even your own. -VHHughes
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