Thursday, January 20, 2011

January 20, 2011

Dr Chris Hake and Mom; May 2010
So what we thought was going to be a quick in-and-out at the doctors yesterday ended up being a all-day event.  They took some blood from mom and got her hooked up to IV fluids. They knew by just looking at her that she was dehydrated.  I felt bad - honestly, I'm suppose to be watching her.  I saw signs of it about two days earlier but I think I was in denial. Then by day two Mom was in denial.  By day three - reality check and that's when I called the doctor.  Anyway - the good news is that we got her in there on time. They also noticed that her potassium levels were way low AGAIN.  If you've been following along you know this has been a particular difficult area to control.  But guess what?  Our brilliant doctor, Chris Hake finally figured it out.  It's Mom's medications.  For YEARS mom has been on the very popular blood pressure medication hydrochlorathizide, also known as HCTZ.  Well guess what.  It seems that chemo and radiation can make positive changes in the body chemistry and Mom's blood pressure has been affected for the better.  It's low!  What does HCTZ do exactly?  It lowers blood pressure, it removes water (a diuretic) AND, get this, it sucks up potassium!  So by removing mom from HCTZ, she should no longer be loosing water and potassium.  PHEW.  What a journey.  They are monitoring her very closely and we take her blood pressure every single day to be alert to any sudden changes.
So what started out as something negative turned in to something positive.  I adore Dr Hake and mom does, too.  He practices what I try to practice everyday - let's not look for problems, let's look for opportunities.  Thank you Dr Hake and Paula and the nursing staff in medical oncology.  Once again you all proved to be angels walking among us.

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