Yesterday I’d made plans to get together with two good friends to create a video of my Mom. I wanted to create some memories of her talking and laughing. One of my friends brought her small, very calm dog. She would be a great therapy dog — she will gravitate to the person most in distress and calmly cuddle with them.
Yesterday that person was me.
I had blood drawn three days prior. Because they are looking for cancer markers in addition to the normal bloodwork, they took 6 vials of blood.
Normally that is not an issue for me but I was struggling with several issues this week and I wasn’t staying hydrated enough. In 106 degree weather, this is not great.
One warning sign that I should have paid attention to — super low blood pressure. While I tend to run low, I was even lower yesterday. Another warning sign — I had a headache that kept getting worse as the morning progressed. By the time my friends had gotten to my house, I had had more than the recommended dosage of Tylenol, yet the headache did not go away.
The I started to feel dizzy and to slur my words.
My wonderful friends who took care of me yesterday. Photo by Shefali O’Hara
My friends did the “skin pinch” test on the backs of my hands and seeing how slowly the skin bounced back — they knew I was dehydrated.
They immediately made me lie down and fetched me Pedialyte and got my cell phone so I could call for help, because dehydration is not something to joke about.
Dehydration happens quickly. If not dealt with in a timely mannter, it can lead to organ failure and death.
I had first called my palliative care nurse to see if they could give me fluids. I explained my symptoms to her, including my slightly elevated temperature and the fact that I was urinating less, but she said that I needed to make sure I had tests run before they could administer fluids because of my history of brain cancer.
“We can’t do at the necessary tests at your house,” she explained.
I then called my oncologist’s office and talked to the nurse.
“We can give you fluids,” she said. “But if other tests need to be run, we would need to send you over to Urgent Care anyway.”
So it was off to Urgent Care that my friends took me. The one who was driving was the one with the dog, so she dropped us off at Urgent Care before taking the dog home since it wouldn’t be allowed in the hospital and we were obviously not going to leave it in a vehicle in 100+ degree heat. She would come and pick us up after we were done.
Where my friends took me for care. Photo by Shefali O’Hara
I had a battery of tests run on me due to my having a history of brain cancer and my other symptoms.
These included an EKG, bloodwork, a urine test, and a CT scan of my brain.
Because the Urgent Care was so crowded that day, they couldn’t get me into a room, so I was parked on a cot in the hallway. It was actually fairly comfortable — it was a regular hospital cot with rails that the nurse could put up or down and it allowed me to set the incline. It also had a privacy curtain.
They immediately hooked me up to a saline drip as well as to a monitor that periodically checked my blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen levels.
My friend kept me company throughout the 5 hours we spent there.
One nurse told me that normally it wouldn’t have taken so long to run all the tests but they were super crowded that day.
One woman on the other side of the hall had several broken ribs. Another man was brought in on a stretcher after a stroke. Seeing their situations along with several others made me feel grateful, particularly after the CT scan results confirmed that I hadn’t any blood leaks in my brain.
They’d been worried about that due to my having had brain surgery and cancer.
The doctor looked very pleased when he came to me with the scan results. He also confirmed that everything else looked fine — and that they would post the test results from my blood work, EKG, etc., online either later that day or the next so I could take a look.
During this time, except when they were running tests, I had been getting constant fluids, and I felt a lot better.
My friend said I was visibly very different by the time we left than when we arrived. I had been pale, disoriented, and had a hard time keeping my balance. By the time we left, my color was restored, I was animated, and I was walking much better.
Generic lunch sack
It also helped that after 4 hours, the nurse offered us turkey sandwiches. We eagerly accepted.
We each got a paper lunch sack with a sandwich, yogurt, chips, a cheese stick, and a small can of soda.
By the time we finished our meals, they were ready to discharge me.
The nurse who came with the discharge papers explained that it the CT scan or EKG had showed troubling results, I would have been kept overnight, in which case I would have been moved to a room as soon as one became available. I might also have gotten a hot meal depending on the timing.
My friend who sat with me in the hospital told me a story about one of her aunts who lived in England. Apparently the woman needed gall bladder surgery, but when she arrived at the hospital, the surgeon had left on vacation. He wasn’t back for three weeks, and during that time she had to stay on a cot in the hallway. They just did not have any rooms available.
Thinking about that made me very glad I’d only had to spend a few hours in a hallway!
However, as my friend pointed out — the healthcare in Great Britain is free, whereas I would be charged. One reason I’d tried to see if there were options besides Urgent Care was due to mounting medical bills.
Medical bills affect most cancer patients. According to a survey from the American Cancer Society, more than 70% of patients had to make significant lifestyle changes to afford their care. Some depleted their savings, some went into credit card debt, and others borrowed money from relatives and friends. Over half of patients had significant debt to pay off even after treatment was completed.
A few (3%) declared bankruptcy. Patients in this situation are 80% more likely to die despite successful treatments due to the stress of the situation.
Regarding dehydration — I am much more aware about it now, after my experience.
I am making more of an effort to stay hydrated, forcing myself to drink throughout the day instead of waiting until I feel like it. I am adding minerals to my water carefully. I am watering my garden first thing in the morning, when it’s still reasonably cool outside and avoiding going out later in the day.
I am also adding a little honey to my lemon water, because apparently glucose helps your body to rehydrate. I was trying to avoid sugars due to my cancer, but in the Texas heat, I need to add a little bit, along with a dash of sea salt, into my lemon water.
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This post was previously published on Shefali O’Hara’s blog.
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The post Dehydration Is No Joke appeared first on The Good Men Project.
