The Greatest Reward

Last Thursday I met a very special individual at my Am Care site. "Scooter" is a mentally-challenged adult who lives in a care home. Several years ago, he had a mechanical valve in his heart and consequently requires life-long Coumadin therapy. He has always been very well controlled on Coumadin...that is until two weeks ago when he got sinusitis. Scooter did not tell the Urgent Care doctor that he was on Coumadin. The doctor prescribed Bactrim DS - which significantly interacts with Coumadin. When Scooter came in for his monthly INR check two weeks, his INR was 4.9. When he was told the INR value (he always wants to know the number), he cried. He was so upset over his INR value that he burned his popcorn every night that week. Once it was so bad, the fire department came. Consequently, he lost his job as "popcorn popper" at his care home. He was devistated. Last week when he came in, his number was down to 3.9, but was still high. He started to cry again. I explained to him that his INR was not his fault and that it certainly was nothing to get upset about. We sat and talked about his INR and what makes it go up and down. I again explained that his INR was not his fault. He thanked me and thanked me. Today he came back to the clinic. His INR was 2.9. Woohoo!!! When I went to get him from the waiting room, he handed me a card. It was a thank you card that he had addressed to me and my preceptor. He said the world was a better place because of friends like me and KM. Icing on the cake - he got his job back as popcorn popper and is getting an award for his dedication. That is the greatest reward I could ever receive. :)