I know it took me a long time to write this update, but last week was crazy, and while this week was not as bad, it was still somewhat busy and I spent the part that wasn't busy trying to recover.
So on Wednesday (the 3rd) my mom had the angiogram. Afterward, the x-ray tech told her that they needed her to stay around and wait for the results in case they needed her to do any more x-rays or goodness forbid go to the hospital. After they got the results they had to confer w/the doctor and if all was clear my mom could go. We were told it wouldn't take long. So we went out in the waiting room and waited. And waited some more. The tech walked by. He walked by again. He walked by again and asked us if we were still waiting and we said yes. He said he'd find out what was going on. Then he walked by two more times before saying it would just be a few more minutes. Then he walked by one or two more times. A few minutes in doctor time is half an hour. Finally, a receptionist called my mom's name and said, "it was negative, you can go." So she DOES NOT HAVE A BLOOD CLOT IN HER LUNG! THANK GOODNESS!!!
BUT TWO HOURS LATER. A RECEPTIONIST. Not a DOCTOR. Not even an X-RAY tech. A RECEPTIONIST. NO EXPLANATION of the results or why we had to wait two hours. Just..."it's negative, you can go." While that's great news, the longer you wait, usually the worse the news. And hell, just the longer you wait, the more it sucks! Waiting two hours sitting on uncomfortable waiting room chairs with nothing to do sucks!
We got home sometime after 5pm and noticed that my mom was started to turn red. Yup, even though they did the steroid prep to keep her from getting a reaction to the contrast fluid, she did anyway. It wasn't as bad as in previous times though, when she looked like a lobster and was pumped full of Benadryl all day. She took two Benadryl capsules and I told her to call me if she got worse and if she was okay enough, we'd call the doctor in the morning. I called her later on that night to check on her and she said she'd been having really bad chills and ended up using an electric heating blanket in order to warm up. She said she felt better, just a little nauseous, and I told her to call me if she felt ANY worse.
In the morning we had an appointment with my parents' mortgage handler. When I got there my mom was still red, not too bad, but she looked awful. She said she had no appetite and had some chills again in the middle of the night. I called her doctor and his medical assistant said she'd consult him and call back. About half an hour or so later she called back and said to bring my mom in for a blood test. So we did that and I also had to run some other errands. After I got home I got a call from the doctor's MA. She said that my mom's kidney levels were elevated and my mom was to drink a quart of water (that's only 4 cups) between that day and the next morning, and to bring her in for another blood test no later than 9am. She also said she'd look into why we had to wait so long b/c that was unacceptable. She told me later that we had to wait b/c no one told them that we were waiting, so no one came out to tell us the results!
Soooo we get to...Friday the 5th. I picked up my mom and took her to get the blood test. On the way there she told me that her back had been hurting. The alarm that went off in my head was...SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH HER KIDNEY! She only has one kidney, but she said her back hurt all the way across, which was weird, b/c lower back pain on one side is what can indicate a problem with a kidney. We went and got the blood test and since we were already there I thought I'd run up to the pulmonologist and, even though we didn't have an appointment, I thought I'd let the front desk person know what was up. She said to go to nephrology (kidney specialist) and I told her that the pulmonologist was the one who had given her the test that elevated her kidney function and ordered the blood test. So she called his nurse to see what she had to say. A few minutes later she let me know that the doctor would be in in about 15 mins and could see her then.
The doctor felt around her kidney area and didn't seem to be too concerned, and also listened to her breathing. He got her blood test results from that day and the day before and her levels were pretty elevated. The two main important chemicals that regulate kidney function are the BUN and creatinine. The BUN should be between 7 and 18. On the 4th it was 43 and on the 5th it was 42. Creatinine should be between 0.6 and 1.3. On the 4th it was 1.8 and on the 5th it was 1.6. The doctor told her that the contrast fluid most likely elevated the levels and made her sick and gave her some stronger itch medicine and some prednisone to help with the reaction. He also told her to drink water and come back on Monday for another blood test.
So Monday rolls around and of course those of you who read my earlier blogs know that Archie also fractured his leg sometime Sunday night and had to go to the vet on Monday, which took up a good deal of the day. But we did manage to get my mom's blood test in. She felt better over the weekend after taking the meds, and her levels are back to normal for the most part. Her BUN was down to 23 (remember it should be no higher than 18), which is normal for her b/c it's usually a bit high due to her only having one kidney, and her creatinine was 1.2 (should be no higher than 1.3). So now all is good in that area.
On Wed (the 10th) my mom had a pulmonary function test because they are still trying to find out what is causing her breathing problem since it is not a blood clot and she is still having shortness or breath. It seems to have gotten a LITTLE better since the doctor increased her Advair to 500mg in the AM on the Oct 25th, but it is definitely not normal. Anyway, this test looks at how well the lungs take in and exhale air and how efficiently they transfer oxygen into the blood. I got to go in and watch my mom take the test. It took about an hour and consisted of my mom breathing in and out of a bunch of different apparatuses. Anyway, her breathing didn't sound very good, and the test sure didn't look like fun. She is seeing the pulmonolgist on Monday to find out the results.
So that's where we stand now. What a week last week was! This one was a bit more tame, but next week we have four appointments so that's gonna be fun. Oh, and Archie goes in to get his pain patch removed tomorrow. Something ALWAYS pops up though. It's not just four appointments (and there's one every day except Wed), but something new always happens so that we have to go here or there on this day or on the same day and end up being out all day. But I am thankful that my mom does not have a blood clot in her lung. I just wish we could find out what is causing her breathing problem, and I hope it's nothing serious.
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