Complete renal (kidney) failure.
Funny story: It all started when my dad had his second heart attack a few months ago. He survived it and was put on 8 (eight) separate medications. Since then he's been unable to hold down a lot of foods. We kind of knew it was the medication, so we tried to accommodate the situation by cooking bland, spiceless foods. That worked for a while until Thursday night when my dad was so sick he had to be rushed to the hospital.
He wasn't doing all that bad when he went in, but that soon changed. After waiting in the ER for three (3) hours he was finally looked at and diagnosed with renal failure. What's worse was that his blood pressure was dangerously low. He was then put into ICU and transfered to St. John's in Detroit where he was put in ICCU (the second C is for cardiac).
There they discovered that he had a partial aneurysm in his heart. The artery didn't burst, but ballooned out a little, so it didn't kill him. But there was nothing they could do about his heart until they did something about the renal failure, and things didn't look good. So they took him off his eight medications and within 2 hours his kidneys were functioning properly again and he was awake and eating a turkey sandwich.
I visited him the next day and he complained about his lunch being late. He was obviously doing a lot better because I watched him eat (and keep down) the entire lunch and dinner that was brought to him. He was no longer tired, weak, or sickly. They even let him come home today (Sunday). Now all we have to do is keep his blood pressure as low as we can (which is abnormally low in most cases) so that nothing more happens to his heart.
I read that many medications can cause renal failure, which was the cause of the high blood pressure, which was the cause of the aneurism, which almost killed him (along with blood poisoning from the kidney failure). The moral of the story: someone at St. John's River District Hospital in East China, Michigan really fucked up. Anyone fancy a lawsuit?
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Well, I'm so glad your dad made such a terrific recovery. He's very lucky.
ReplyDeleteBTW, guess what the first thing my mom said was, when I described what happened and the recent addition of a new medicine: "Uh-oh. Lawsuit!"
We're supposed to keep his BP reallylow and keep him away from stress now, but today my mom started yelling at him about something before dinner (which I cooked). I confronted her about it and she stormed off (an entire 5 feet) into her room. Before that, she yelled at me for discussing my grocery shopping plans with my aunt, who was going with me anyway. I don't know what the Hell her prblem is, but she isn't making the situation much better.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't think either of my parents have it in them to sue anyone. That's too bad too, because we could really use the money. But St. John's probably has about a million lawyers they'd throw at us and as long as none of the doctors actually admit it was the medication (which is bleedingly obvious), I don't think we can really prove it. Wikipedia not being a 'reliable' source of information and all.
I hope that he pulls through!
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm so sorry that your family has been through so much.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you doing tomorrow? Wanna have lunch? (Which is really code for "Wanna help me do something?")
I would have if you would have called... or, if you did call, if we had caller ID.
ReplyDelete(Rich still doesn't have the internet. This is Jason typing his verbal response)
Speaking of Caller ID....
ReplyDeleteI had to pee REALLY bad and I finally gave up what I was doing to go to the bathroom. When I got to the toilet, I started peeing and dropped my cell phone in at the same time. Needless to say, it died =(
Um, eww. Ever hear of a lil' something called TMI? :o
ReplyDeleteWell, Luke came home from school sick this morning, but........tomorrow is another day, and I'll still need to eat lunch.
ReplyDeleteFriday I'm going on a field trip to the apple orchard (I hope that's not TMI). If I drop my phone in the toilet and pee on it, I won't tell you (I'll just give it to you).
As long as "apple orchard" isn't code for something (and I really don't see how it could be, as it's not in the same league as, say, "bobbing for apples"), it's not TMI. ^_^
ReplyDeleteTake the back cover off and let it sit for a few weeks. It'll probably still work.
ReplyDeleteAND, then let somebody else use it and you can later tell them it was the subject of a golden shower. (I wrote that part, not Rich -Jason)
ha ha... well, I immediately pulled it out and took the front & back cover off and took out the battery and sim card. The sim card still works (my friend has loaned me a phone) and the battery didn't get wet. I just have it sitting on some paper towel in my room until I feel brave enough to test if it is dried out.
ReplyDeleteIs your dad back in the hospital? We called yesterday, but you were gone with your mom.
ReplyDeleteYes, Rich's dad is back at St. John's in Detroit. They don't know what's wrong, yet. :|
ReplyDeleteThey don't know what's wrong because they keep sending him home to recieve a new crew of doctors upon his return. My mom says "It's his heart," but what I found out is that his heart rate is pretty high and no one knows why.
ReplyDeleteThat's not even why he went in though. He was constantly sick again, like when he had the problem with his kidneys. But there can't be too much wrong with him because he's back in a norrnal patient room, rather than the cardiology patient room he was in before.
He'll probably be in and out of the hospital for the rest of his life. Oh, and he got unofficially fired today too. Add that to our money problems and I'd say it's a pretty grim situation.
OHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWow, I am so sorry that your family is having such a hard time. I feel for you.
ReplyDeleteHeidi is dropping off a printer at your house today. I think I sent the right cords, but if not let me know.
Heidi brought me a Radio Shack power adapter that is not compatible with this printer. It should be an HP cord that is 18volts/1.7amps. :P
ReplyDeleteJason totally misquoted me in the last comment. My words were "It's a Radioshack adapter and doesn't work". And I would have omitted the toungue. Damn you, Jason!
ReplyDeleteWell, excuuuuuuuuuuuuse me, Mr. Grumplebottom! :P :P
ReplyDeleteI like making P's be eye patches for pirates
ReplyDeleteP-)
That Jason, he's so sassy, cute but sassy! P-)
ReplyDeleteI have a box full of power cords, I'll try to find the right one.
Really, once you get to know me, I'm not sassy so much as an eternal smart-ass (with a heart of gold, of course o:-)).
ReplyDelete[P-{|]=
ReplyDeleteGrumpy Robopirate with a handlebar mustache.
Just thought I'd interject something since I haven't made a new post in a while.
I miss our long im's of just making different faces at each other
ReplyDeleteMe too.
ReplyDeleteI'll tell you what. Tell me when you're avaliable for a few hours and I'll drive to Big Boy and steal their Internet. How does that sound?
AMAZING!!!
ReplyDeleteIsn't sassy the abbreviated version of Smart ASSY?
ReplyDelete