Monday Update

Duds started the day with a blood sugar level of 119 - yeah! He had a good breakfast and we headed to physical therapy. Since I found the therapist, I have to take responsibility for my selection. As we pulled into the strip mall parking lot and Ren started to mock my choice, "Excellent, he can get a latte and go straight to therapy. Is there a proctologist in this mall because on Thursday he can really multitask." We walked into the empty office and after meeting the beefy moron who mans the front desk, Duds headed off with the therapist whose parting words to us were let's rock and roll. An hour later we picked him up. He felt great but since the hour was spent stretching because the PT was worried about his causing his rhabdo to flair up (moron). I called Westlake Hospital this morning and they have a great PT facility and take his insurance so we are moving away from the strip mall and back to therapists who didn't get their licenses online.

Duds in the ICU

Our story started three months ago when my father in law was admitted to a hospital in Florida in a diabetic coma. He was treated with a medication that is used to treat gout and in this case was used to reduce his uric acid level. He was released from the hospital two days later. He returned home where his condition deteriorated over the following days until he was no longer able to walk. He was admitted to the ICU at Westside Regional Hospital in Florida (I am calling out the hospital because it might not be your first choice if you need emergent care while living or vacationing in Fort Lauderdale). Following his admission, he continued to deteriorate and after being evaluated by a neurologist, his nephrologist and his primary care physician, everyone remained stumped by the breakdown of his body. They knew what was wrong but couldn't diagnose him. My husband (who was in Florida at this point) called one night and read his lab results to me. I spent an hour searching the web with my 13 year old daughter and together we decided that he has rhabdomyolysis which is an acute breakdown of muscle tissue caused by actute traumatic events and serious drug interactions. Since there had been no traumatic event, we concluded that this was being caused by a drug interaction, specifically the combination of Uloric and his statin. His medical team started dialysis that night and after several weeks of twice daily dialysis his condition started to slowly improve. We moved Duds to Austin next week to stay with us until the end of the school year and our goal is to help him gain some of the weight he lost during the last two months and take him off of the rollercoster of insulin and dangerously low blood sugar. I want to get him to Tai Chi and feed him organic foods and get him back to feeling like he is 70 again. Six weeks and counting.