The past five days, to say the least, have been rough on our whole family -- especially Hunter. Both of his elbows, wrists, forearms and the backs of both hands are black and blue from IV's and blood draws. The last IV bubbled up overnight so the nurse removed it this morning and because we had received word he would be going home today they didn't have to reinsert it. Yeah, Hunter!
His last Lithium level was .5 so it has almost completely cleared his system. We will not be giving him Lithium anytime in the forseeable future because I just can't put him through that again. A few people have asked why his p-doc wasn't doing blood draws regularly and my answer is "I don't know." If anybody should know about the importance of Lithium levels, it's me because I took it once-upon-a-time. Yeah, I've about beaten myself to death over it. The guilt has almost consumed me.
On the downside, there is still large amounts of blood in his urine and all the information I have received on the possible reasons why has been conflicting. One doctor, in particular, told me Lithium does not affect the kidneys then later the same day told me it does. Today he told me it does not. He also told me the bleeding should stop within the next two weeks then he told me it could take six months. The Nephrologist that FINALLY came to see us (I had been asking for three days) today told me Lithium can affect the kidneys and that in a month or so the damaged cells would be replaced with new cells and the blood should disappear from his urine. Yeah, I'm shaking my head, too. The internet, surprisingly, is of little help in this matter, too. And I'm an internet search wizard.
Tuesday morning Hunter was carrying on quite an animated conversation with a zebra walking across the wall and a spider behind the chair in the corner of the room. There were various other animals involved, too, but I only remember the zebra because he was talking to the zebra about his stripes. Tonight Hunter walked down to his dad's house (we live a stone's throw apart) for dinner and when he came back an hour or so later he was completely out of breath. It was obvious he had been running but he told me he was running from somebody following him and that that person had followed him into our house and sleeps in his bed. Yeah, I'm shaking my head here, too. My jaw dropped when Hunter told me he wish he had a gun so he could shoot the guy who followed him home.
So, tomorrow I need to get him an appointment with a new p-doc (the same one I'm seeing for my VNS) for a full evaluation.
His last Lithium level was .5 so it has almost completely cleared his system. We will not be giving him Lithium anytime in the forseeable future because I just can't put him through that again. A few people have asked why his p-doc wasn't doing blood draws regularly and my answer is "I don't know." If anybody should know about the importance of Lithium levels, it's me because I took it once-upon-a-time. Yeah, I've about beaten myself to death over it. The guilt has almost consumed me.
On the downside, there is still large amounts of blood in his urine and all the information I have received on the possible reasons why has been conflicting. One doctor, in particular, told me Lithium does not affect the kidneys then later the same day told me it does. Today he told me it does not. He also told me the bleeding should stop within the next two weeks then he told me it could take six months. The Nephrologist that FINALLY came to see us (I had been asking for three days) today told me Lithium can affect the kidneys and that in a month or so the damaged cells would be replaced with new cells and the blood should disappear from his urine. Yeah, I'm shaking my head, too. The internet, surprisingly, is of little help in this matter, too. And I'm an internet search wizard.
Tuesday morning Hunter was carrying on quite an animated conversation with a zebra walking across the wall and a spider behind the chair in the corner of the room. There were various other animals involved, too, but I only remember the zebra because he was talking to the zebra about his stripes. Tonight Hunter walked down to his dad's house (we live a stone's throw apart) for dinner and when he came back an hour or so later he was completely out of breath. It was obvious he had been running but he told me he was running from somebody following him and that that person had followed him into our house and sleeps in his bed. Yeah, I'm shaking my head here, too. My jaw dropped when Hunter told me he wish he had a gun so he could shoot the guy who followed him home.
So, tomorrow I need to get him an appointment with a new p-doc (the same one I'm seeing for my VNS) for a full evaluation.
1 comment:
rob sleeps with a baseball bat next to the bed, he has a crowbar close to the door in the basement, and he keeps his tire iron right next to the driver's seat in his car. it scares me that he has weapons close to him all the time - but he would be too paranoid to give them up.
you're probably aware that i put all the kitchen knives under my own bed. as long as hunter is hallucinating and paranoid, you may want to lock down all the possible weapons he has access to.
it's impossible to not feel guilty if you feel guilty carrie - but i'll say it anyway - please try not to feel guilty. we're all just doing the best we can here.
good luck at the doc!
Post a Comment