April in the ER
2023-May-17, Wednesday 14:04![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
texxgadgetIts rare but I managed to do 2 posts in 2 days.
The Friday night before Easter, I got up to hit the "loo" somewhere around 8PM.
Dad was starting dinner prep.
He usually starts at 6pm but Im usually asleep by then.
OK, he must be running late.
I got up again at 10 to start prepping to go to work and look for dinner on the counter.
Nothing had progressed.
Uh, OH.
He was trying to peel himself off the kitchen floor.
Double, triple, quadruple, OH SHIT!
He was hoping I could handle dinner on my own and he wanted to go to bed.
He said hed try and get by the Dr in the morning.
As he headed to the stair, I feared the worst and considered that letting him go to sleep on his own, \
he might not get up.
I decided to burn a shift of leave time and it was time to prep for an ER run.
He was able to get his coat on while I changed again.
Since we are on the downhill side of the street,
I propped him up on the counter having him hold tight as I dashed down into the basement to fetch one of Grandads canes.
We grabbed Dads medical file and put it in a shopping tote (Its kinds big)
I had him talk to me nonstop for the whole trip.
We got there around 11 and out around 5am.
I was afraid we were dealing with mild stroke.
I emailed my sister with preliminary details.
He dozed several times, I could tell when his pulse ox dropped from 99 to 92 that he was dozing.
A cat scan, 2 separate blood panels, 2 different glucose sticks and a few other things and we were out of there.
I did an online Python course on my phone from his bedside.
I was doing OK reading the overhead monitor.
It was only a couple days later before I figured out how to read the blood panel report.
I was still thinking stroke.
For some screwball reason, the hospital was thinking "Acute Kidney Injury". I did not yet understand.
Nervously, I did the CABAL meeting on Sat night and we did Easter at my sisters place.
The original plan was for me to drive but at the last moment, Dad wanted to try just part of the trip.
It was a chance to see if he could still drive.
The first mile was a Disneyland "X" ticket ride. He did improve, and we made it all the way to Livermore.
The trip home that night was better. He actually improved over the day, visibly.
A male close to 90 should have a EGFR score of 60 or more and he got a 20,
and had he gotten a 15 it would have counted as "Chronic Kidney Disease"
Once I learned how to read the panel, it was bad.
After more lab work a few days after Easter, I finally understood the reports,
and more importantly, I knew WHY they were going on about kidney and not about stroke.
Over the next 2 weeks, the numbers improved.
Hes finally up to 40 out of 60.
Hes been hypertensive, apparently prediabetic now too.
UGH, I know Im hypertensive and probably pre diabetic as well.
Colleen had been telling me for years that I was pre diabetic.
One of Dads kidneys has shrunk and is calcified, although hes not getting stones.
Apparently calcification is linked to the combination of pre diabetic and hypertension.
It would seem we are probably on the same path.
Dad has pretty much graduated back off the cane, but we keep a couple of them strategically placed around the house, like top & bottom of staires, next to external doors etc.
There more coming, but the panic is over.
Dad got Covid first week of Dec and we thought he was over it in a week.
A cough stuck around and in late Feb, I put him up to being checked for pneumonia.
It turned out to be acute brochitus and treastable with antibiotics.
He was mostly over it when we ended up in the ER and its totally cleared up now.
Looking back, hes been on long Covid.
As things clear, hes returning to Berkely Folk Dancers and hes resumed gardening for the firs ttime since Dec.
His activity is increasing and with that everything else is improving, although Id really like to get him to drink more water.
Id like to get 60oz a day thropugh him but his Dr if ok with only 1.5 litre.
Replacing the 8 glasses of 8oz each of water a day is a new formula out there,
where you take half your weight and use that for the number of oz water.
Dad is 120lbs, so should be somewhere just above 60 oz.
I should be just above 70 but Im lucky to get close to 64.
The Friday night before Easter, I got up to hit the "loo" somewhere around 8PM.
Dad was starting dinner prep.
He usually starts at 6pm but Im usually asleep by then.
OK, he must be running late.
I got up again at 10 to start prepping to go to work and look for dinner on the counter.
Nothing had progressed.
Uh, OH.
He was trying to peel himself off the kitchen floor.
Double, triple, quadruple, OH SHIT!
He was hoping I could handle dinner on my own and he wanted to go to bed.
He said hed try and get by the Dr in the morning.
As he headed to the stair, I feared the worst and considered that letting him go to sleep on his own, \
he might not get up.
I decided to burn a shift of leave time and it was time to prep for an ER run.
He was able to get his coat on while I changed again.
Since we are on the downhill side of the street,
I propped him up on the counter having him hold tight as I dashed down into the basement to fetch one of Grandads canes.
We grabbed Dads medical file and put it in a shopping tote (Its kinds big)
I had him talk to me nonstop for the whole trip.
We got there around 11 and out around 5am.
I was afraid we were dealing with mild stroke.
I emailed my sister with preliminary details.
He dozed several times, I could tell when his pulse ox dropped from 99 to 92 that he was dozing.
A cat scan, 2 separate blood panels, 2 different glucose sticks and a few other things and we were out of there.
I did an online Python course on my phone from his bedside.
I was doing OK reading the overhead monitor.
It was only a couple days later before I figured out how to read the blood panel report.
I was still thinking stroke.
For some screwball reason, the hospital was thinking "Acute Kidney Injury". I did not yet understand.
Nervously, I did the CABAL meeting on Sat night and we did Easter at my sisters place.
The original plan was for me to drive but at the last moment, Dad wanted to try just part of the trip.
It was a chance to see if he could still drive.
The first mile was a Disneyland "X" ticket ride. He did improve, and we made it all the way to Livermore.
The trip home that night was better. He actually improved over the day, visibly.
A male close to 90 should have a EGFR score of 60 or more and he got a 20,
and had he gotten a 15 it would have counted as "Chronic Kidney Disease"
Once I learned how to read the panel, it was bad.
After more lab work a few days after Easter, I finally understood the reports,
and more importantly, I knew WHY they were going on about kidney and not about stroke.
Over the next 2 weeks, the numbers improved.
Hes finally up to 40 out of 60.
Hes been hypertensive, apparently prediabetic now too.
UGH, I know Im hypertensive and probably pre diabetic as well.
Colleen had been telling me for years that I was pre diabetic.
One of Dads kidneys has shrunk and is calcified, although hes not getting stones.
Apparently calcification is linked to the combination of pre diabetic and hypertension.
It would seem we are probably on the same path.
Dad has pretty much graduated back off the cane, but we keep a couple of them strategically placed around the house, like top & bottom of staires, next to external doors etc.
There more coming, but the panic is over.
Dad got Covid first week of Dec and we thought he was over it in a week.
A cough stuck around and in late Feb, I put him up to being checked for pneumonia.
It turned out to be acute brochitus and treastable with antibiotics.
He was mostly over it when we ended up in the ER and its totally cleared up now.
Looking back, hes been on long Covid.
As things clear, hes returning to Berkely Folk Dancers and hes resumed gardening for the firs ttime since Dec.
His activity is increasing and with that everything else is improving, although Id really like to get him to drink more water.
Id like to get 60oz a day thropugh him but his Dr if ok with only 1.5 litre.
Replacing the 8 glasses of 8oz each of water a day is a new formula out there,
where you take half your weight and use that for the number of oz water.
Dad is 120lbs, so should be somewhere just above 60 oz.
I should be just above 70 but Im lucky to get close to 64.
