Jay
YOu wrote

> Mom has been on IV Heparin since admittance.
>Two days ago they discovered another blood clot in her lung.

This is probably an emboli - a piece of the clot in the leg which has broken
off and lodged in her lung. [ When the clot gets above the kneee it is more
likely to break off than when below the knee.]   And these emboli, if large
enough, can block off blood supply to the parts of the lung which are
supplied by that artery (or arteriole) which is blocked.  The clot goes from
the leg to the right atrium, right ventricle and into the lungs.  If part of
the lung dies it is an infarct. This can cause a lot of pain if the pluera
surrounding is thereby irritated - possibly needing morphine for pain
control.

 The clot in her
>leg is showing minimal improvement with the drug therapy.

The clot will have to slowly dissolve on its own.  The heparin prevents new
clots from forming in the meantime (or the old one from 'growing.')

 Dr's ran some more
>tests and discovered that her blood is thicker than normal (anyone hear of
>this?).  They are also running tests to see if she has Lupus.  (I don't know
>a thing about Lupus, any info out there?)

Many times the expression 'thicker' is used but isn't accurate.  What is
meant is that the blood clots more easily.  There are conditions associated
with hypercoaguability.  Lupus is one of them.  Sometimes there are
hereditary conditions influencing clotting factors - they are just beginning
to find these out.  Protein C and protein S deficiencies can cause this (I
don't know exactly what these are - I could ask my husband).  There are
hyperviscosity syndromes as well.  Birth control pills can cause clotting
problems.
sounds like the doctors are trying to rule out (or in) some of these
conditions.
>My questions are:
>**Could thicker blood cause a problem with a milk supply (I know I am
>probably reaching here,

Since clotting involves the platelets this shouldn't influence the milk which
doesn't usually contain any.

 but we can't figure out why her supply is so
>low----was only getting max 7mls per breast per 2.5 hr pumping.  Now at hosp
>on Heparin getting 15 mls per breast per 3 hr pumping....  Gee, could
Heparin
>be a glactogogue?)

hmmmm.  Could it have been stress?

Hope this helps.

Mardrey