I have noticed in the last few weeks my husband's bottom lip is a purple/blue color. The nurse has tested his oxygen...which is fine. Anyone else spouse have this? He is in stage 7a-7b.
I'm no help here, even though our husbands are at about the same stage. The obvious thought is lack of oxygen, but if their machine is recording accurately, that seems to be ruled out. What colour are his nails? If they are blue, too, that would point to lack of oxygen, too.
Kadee I don't want to frighten you-my husband's lips and sometimes nail beds and feet would turn blue due to lack of circulation as his body was shutting down. Often he would suddenly pink up again. This #^^% disease.
My DH has the same thing on his bottom lip(just in the center) he has had it for a long time. It is almost like a blood blister because it is a little bit raised up from the rest of the lip. It doesn't appear to be a problem, at least in the eyes of his doctor, because he hasn't said it is a problem. I don't know if this describes what your DH has but he is at the same stage that your husband is too. His nails are the color that they should be so I don't think it is oxygen level but...
My dh feet and ankles would turn purple when he was on his feet. I thought it must be circulation. His feet were also cold all the time as were his hands. . . later stages..
Charlie's lips and nail beds turned blue often in the past few weeks, but it would come and go. Also the tip of his nose would turn white and be very very cold, again it would just come and go. Oxygen level was always ok.
I was told by Hospice to watch for the bluish discoloration of his extremities. His hands stayed OK, but his feet and toes became mottled purplish/greyish toward the end. Just seems like your DH's lips aren't getting the proper circulation. (Like children when they've been in the pool too long.) I think a DOCTOR needs to see this. I had a Hospice nurse who swore my husband did not have the (warning sign) low grade temp...but she used a little flat 'Teddy Bear" thermometer she pressed on his forehead. My ear thermometer registed 1-2 degrees over hers every time. She would still log "Normal, 98 degrees in her chart. He died five days later.
Nancy B* - Your take on the thermometer might be right on. They used the type of thermometer you mentioned at Charlie's facility and it always read normal too even though I and the nurses thought he felt feverish. Even the nurses said they doubted the accuracy of that type of thermometer.
As I've mentioned, I had my knee replaced a few weeks ago, a scheduled, non-emergency procedure. Starting with pre-op exams, the various nurses took my blood pressure repeatedly, with all different sorts of machines, from plain bulbs to fancy mechanical things that input into the computer. They also took my temp repeatedly. And both varied widely from time to time. At one time I'd have 101, then 97, then 100.. My BP went from 120 to 150 to 110 to 140.. on and on!! No correlation with the stress of a doctor visit or anything else. At one point when the fancy one registered 150, we went across the hall, used the old-fashioned bulb, and it was 120. Apparently there's no light or anything to warn when the fancy one has lost its calibration.
typically the pulse/oxy reading is only the percentage of oxygen in the blood. simply put it means that the lungs are functioning properly and the blood is being oxgeniated as it should be. if the readings are low they simply add more oxygen to the system making a richer mixture in the lungs to increase the performance. this does not necessarily mean that the heart is doing a good job of circulating the blood to all exrtremites thus the blue color. blood pressure as previously stated in other posts can vary by both the equipment used and the person using it. also whether they use the right of left arm. typically the right arm will give the most honest reading because it is farthest from the heart. but if blood pressure is taken from the same arm several times in a short period of time it also can affect the reading. i don't know if any of this helps but usually bluish color of the lips and nail beds is a sign of poor circulation not the amount of oxygen in the blood. your primary pcp is the best source of information for this type of followup.
Poor circulation makes sense...he also has swelling in his hand from a fall 3 weeks ago. His feet have been swollen for months...nothing seems to help.
Kadee, My DH had swollen feet for months. He was sleeping in his socks and I convinced him to leave them off at night. I also bought some diabetic socks for him to wear. His ankles and feet look so much better. I think the elastic in the tops of the socks were contributing to the problem.
Keep in mind that if they use the wrong size cuff it will be wrong. I can't use the ones in stores because the cuff is too small. I went in one time to give blood and it read high. I asked what size cuff they were using and they didn't know and thought size would not make a difference. He went and got a supervisor who got a large cuff and it read normal then.