My saga with St Anthonys did not end
on the day of surgery. Man, I wished it had… or that the only time we had to
return was for follow-up appointments for Matthew but that is not the case.
Matthew came home on the day of surgery, and I got him settled into bed before
heading to the pharmacy to pick up the meds the doctor prescribed. The first night,
he pretty much slept most of the time…. He
needed rest and always got good sleep at home. Thankfully, I had the weekend left
to stay home with him while he recovered.
We didn’t have many plans over the
weekend other than Matthew resting. I ended up getting a migraine on Sunday, so
he went to church without me. He was doing pretty well and felt optimistic about
the recovery. After church, he spent the rest of the day in bed resting.
I decided to go to work on Monday morning
since he was doing so well. Part-way through the day, they called to let me know
that Matthew wasn’t doing as well. He was more out of it than normal and his
body was jerking causing him to fall. My parents and Cooper were home with him though,
so I didn’t have to race home. By the time I got home from work, I noticed a
change in him from the day before and the symptoms were progressively getting
worse. That night, after he took his evening meds, I realized that the only
thing that was different than pre-surgery was one of the meds the doctor
prescribed so I looked to see if it reacted with any of his regular meds and
noticed it could have a reaction so I decided not to have him take it anymore
and see how things went.
On Tuesday, I went to work again and Matthew
was going to call the surgeon to get an appointment to be checked out… especially
since he had fallen so many times, he opened the stitches and wanted to get it looked
at. By the time I got home from work on Tuesday, his symptoms were so bad that
he had no control over his arms. The jerking was so bad, he could not feed himself…
so I fed him his dinner and helped him drink from his water bottle.
My Dad was going to take him to his
follow-up appointment on Wednesday but overnight the jerking threw him out of
bed multiple times. It was so bad… and I was so anxious I decided to just take
the day off work and go with him. I was pretty convinced that he would end up
being admitted to the hospital. He was super out of it and was experiencing mood
swings. I wanted to make sure the medical staff new every symptom he was
dealing with… it was similar to when he had the kidney infection but a lot
worse. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t freaking out myself. I tried to convince
him to use the wheelchair to get to the car, but he was convinced he could walk…
it only took a few steps for him to fall and realize he couldn’t walk and the wheelchair
was the only way he was getting to the car. Thankfully my Dad was able to help
me load him into the car and Cooper and I headed to the hospital.
It did not take long for the doctor to
determine that Matthew needed to go to the emergency room for the symptoms he
was experiencing. Of course, first he looked over the arm and determined that
he couldn’t do anything to the stitches that came undone. Instead, they
re-wrapped it and sent us down the hall to the ER.
I wasn’t sure if the over-dose during
surgery is what caused the symptoms or the new med that the doctor had
prescribed… since it was the only thing that was different from before surgery…
but while we waited, I started researching the medication and found out it was
a prescription does of Motrin and they told him to alternate between Ibuprofen
and Tylenol for pain. I didn’t know if the anesthesia/overdose played any role in
the situation, but I was confident that he was told to take too many ibuprofen-based
medications that had affected his kidneys. When I mentioned my concerns to the
ER doctor, they didn’t want to hear it. After running some labs, they claimed
that he was in Kidney Failure due to dehydration and would need to be admitted to
the hospital.
Of course, I had people start praying
for him, as the symptoms were 10 times worse than when he had the kidney
infection. He couldn’t even hold a water bottle to take a drink. Thankfully,
Mariah offered to bring out food for us since we hadn’t eaten all day. She came
just in time for Matthew to go to more tests and then be transferred into his room.
She then volunteered to drive Cooper home so I could spend the night with
Matthew, and my mom would keep an eye on Cooper.
When I originally told the nurse that I
was going to stay the night they were concerned and told me I would have to
sign a waiver. I laughed since I spent weeks at this hospital in years past
without any problem. I guess the waiver states that I won’t do anything crazy
like go streaking down the hall-way… which means they must have had problems in
the past. Of course, half-way through the night, the nurse thanked me for staying
since I was able to help calm Matthew back down.
The staff were so concerned about
Matthew that he did not stay in his original room for long. Not only did they want
eyes on him 24 hours (which meant a camera with a nurse on the other side).
Anytime he started doing anything like messing with his arm bandage the machine
would ask him to stop. If he didn’t stop, the nurse on the other end would get
on the camera and start talking to him. Finally, if he didn’t stop, it would
set off an alarm, and nurses would come running into the room (ask me how I know…hehe).
They also wanted Matthew next to the nurses station, which is the other reason
why he didn’t stay in the original room since it was too far away. It made me a
little nervous that they were so concerned about needing him so close and
having this much supervision.
The next few days, Matthew was
attached to IV Fluids to give the kidneys rest and rehydrate them. I constantly
questioned the staff on why he dehydrated when he drank so much water
constantly. I also told every staff member about my concern about being prescribed
too many ibuprofen-based meds post-surgery. It got to the point where I was
convinced that they didn’t want to be liable for anything and wouldn’t admit to
it. Often, they would agree with me verbally, but nothing would be in writing.
Slowly, but surely, Matthew’s kidney
function started improving. It did not happen as quickly as we all wanted it to,
so he ended up spending a week in the hospital. I was able to stay with him half
the time. I did have to head into work on Friday for a few meetings that I had
scheduled and testing that would have been a pain to re-schedule, but I was
able to go home beforehand, shower, and re-pack to head back to hospital for
the weekend.
The weekend was a little more
relaxing, as I was better prepared and not as anxious. His symptoms had decreased
quite a bit they were just waiting for his kidney function to stabilize before
he could go home. It was funny to think about how back in the day I used to
have to pack and bring food with me to the hospital, and while I still do that to
some extent, I can now afford to buy food too. I didn’t get back into walking
like I wanted too but I did have some good times doing my Bible Study and
Matthew and I were able to watch some shows together.
It was hard to leave him on Sunday night,
but he wanted me to get a good-night of sleep before work on Monday. Unfortunately,
that was his worst night of all. The nurse he was assigned was not a good fit
and he was starting to feel better and getting more anxious about being in the
hospital. Thankfully, on Tuesday, I got the call that he was being released. Supposedly,
with home-health and a referral to a kidney specialist. We never got a call
from the kidney specialist, and the home health was out of our area so that
also didn’t pan out. He did get an online appointment with his regular doctor,
so he was able to start the referral process for us.
After all was said and done, Matthew
was told that he has Stage 2 kidney disease which was never identified but has
been present for years. I learned a ton from this experience… especially identifying
the symptoms of kidney failure which will help me be ready in the future if
they start failing again. I also know that I need to check every medication
that is prescribed prior to giving it to him. Finally, I learned that I am not
letting him use NSAIDs again… since I value his life too much.
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