Tuesday, February 19, 2013

The Storm Continues

I'm backing up a bit to Saturday afternoon to interject that at this point after coming out of the water I had no urge to urinate even though I hadn't done so for hours. In fact for the rest of Saturday I didn't urinate even though I made efforts to drink lots of water.

Sunday morning I still didn't feel a need to urinate. After finishing the 90 minute hyperbaric chamber session Sunday morning, I was checked for neurological disorders and everything seemed fine. Again it was stressed to take if easy for at least a few days, no strenuous exercising for two weeks and no diving or extreme activities for a month.

However later Sunday evening I just wasn't feeling like myself. For whatever reason I decided to take my blood pressure with my machine that I've compared to the doctor's and it passes with flying colors.

My blood pressure was 75/52 and I still hadn't peed a drop. Wow! I knew I relaxed most of the day but obviously that was way too low. So Monday morning I took my blood pressure and it was 72/48 and I finally urinated a couple of ounces.

I could barely feel a pulse on my wrists so I had to resort to reading my pulse on my carotid artery, the large artery going up your neck. Even there the pulse was nothing to brag about but at least readable. I got an 89 which is quite high for being first thing in the morning when my normal resting rate is about 60.

At this point I weighed myself and from Saturday at 6AM to Monday 7AM I gained 10 pounds! My ankles, legs, wrists and hands were not swollen at all. However my "love handles" now looked like water balloons filled to the point of exploding. I had already called in to work to take Monday off, which would normally be a busy day since it was President's Day.

So I called my regular doctor who said be there at 11:30AM. She confirmed my extremely low blood pressure and after a few minutes sent me to Hoag Hospital. She called ahead so they were ready to help me when I got there. I felt very special.

The battery of tests began. A telling number was my creatinine level which back in September 2012 was 1.2 (acceptable range is .7 to 1.2), it was also 1.2 on Saturday when I first went to the emergency room and now it was at 3.0. My kidneys had stopped functioning!

I was admitted to the hospital and the tests continued. Intravenous liquids, albumin via IV, antibiotics via IV, blood work, you name it. Before I continue on I have to say Hoag Hospital is the hospital to be in if you must be in a hospital. Everyone, at all levels of responsibility was friendly, they enjoyed their work and it showed.

By Monday evening my kidneys started coming back to life. I was able to urinate more than a couple of ounces at a time and my blood pressure was starting to normalize though it was still low. I had to get up twice during the night because now I was urinating like a russian race horse but that was a good thing. The testing continued as Tuesday slowly rolled along. More blood work and yet more blood work. My arms probably have more prick marks than Lance Armstrong's. The news was very satisfying. My creatinine level dropped consistently until the last test around 1pm showed it had dropped from 3.0 to 1.6.

When the doctor in charge walked in and said everything looked great and they wanted to observe me for one more day I was quite emphatic that all I could see them doing was forcing fluids into me which I was prepared to do at home. He didn't disagree so he went to consult with a few other doctors and the nurses and came back to announce I could go home. Eureka! As soon as I got home, I promptly stepped on the scale to realize that over the course of three and a half days I had gained 15 pounds. I look like a water logged loaf of bread so somehow I need to continue consuming almost a gallon of water a day AND lose water weight. This is not going to be easy.

The Perfect Storm is over but now I have to figure out what made this perfect storm of circumstances lead to my to my kidney failure. It's starting to clear, soon we'll understand.




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