A Little More Detail

[pelzig]

So, last Thursday, I'm taking my stepdaughter to see her pediatrician. My wife joins me there and sees the back of my right leg had a red hue to it. I had been in a lot of pain just behind and below my knee and had an appointment Friday to see my doctor about it. So, my wife suggests I just go into the urgent care which was across the parking lot

Comments

[sirfox]

I'm not sure if they have megadoses of vitamin K, but what they'd likely dose you with would be something called Cryoprecipitate. long story short, if you take plasma, and thaw it slowly, a bunch of stuff precipitates out in the cold. This happens to include most of the Vitamin K dependent proteins. It's something they prepare and store frozen, and thaw out just before use. Because these are from people with normal blood and normal vitamin K, they'll do the work that your own proteins don't have enough oomph to accomplish with the coumadin keeping them down, and likely before the coumadin in your system can do much to them.

If you have a serious injury with lots of bleeding, they'll also likely be pouring units of saline / blood / plasma / platelets into you, and that will dilute the coumadin in your system, too.

Maybe not the prettiest image, but they're generally good about having a rapid turnaround in serious situations where anticoagulants are in use. If you don't already, might be good to get a medic-alert style bracelet or pendant that lists your medications/conditions