Dr. Shapiro Saved My Life The First Time I Met Him

I was recovering from a hip revision surgery just when Dr. Shapiro was starting in the practice of my cardiologist, who was retiring. I was home from rehab and feeling awful - exhausted, not thinking clearly, staying in bed most of the day, and my sons were pleading with me to call the doctor. I knew that the "new guy" was there on certain days of the week, so I wanted to wait until I could see the doctor I knew. But one morning I felt so sick that I agreed to go in. Dr. Shapiro and I had never met, and the first thing he ever said to me was "Are you usually this pale?" Then he asked me to walk a few steps (with the walker because of the hip) and I could barely lift my feet. He turned to my son and said, "Get her to the hospital immediately - she needs a blood test and if we do it here it will take too long to get the results. I'll call ahead to tell them you're coming." When we got to the hospital, someone came to take blood and all was quiet for a few minutes. Then what seemed like an army of people entered the cubicle carrying tubes, bags of blood, etc. It turned out that my hemoglobin was 5 (which meant nothing to me but alarmed everyone else - they ran the test twice because they couldn't believe it) and I was admitted to the hospital. I had 5 transfusions in 4 days, and finally went home, weak but alive. The source of the internal bleeding was never found, but I remain convinced it was the change in blood thinner (for atrial fibrillation) which the orthopedic surgeon had requested, that was the culprit.