If there's anything that Steve and I look forward to, it's our Sunday outing for a movie and dinner - courtesy of the Metro Access Bus, of course.
But today, our date was cancelled; we had too much medical management to attend to. Specifically, Steve has been accumulating fluid - a lot of fluid - in his torso.
Peritoneal Dialysis adds fluid into the abdomen, contributing to a fullness in the belly that can be uncomfortable.
But this was much more than discomfort. Somehow, Steve was kilos behind on eliminating fluid. While we usually yielded 1500 cc/day, Friday saw only 180 cc! The rest was left to accumulate not only in the belly, but in Steve's neck and back. His breathing was labored. And where movement has been difficult for Steve since his diagnosis of Critical Illness Myopathy, the extra pounds made movement that much harder. Additionally, it was becoming harder for me to move and care for Steve - now about 20-30 pounds over his normal weight, and over a period of just one to two weeks.
The answer - at least for the short term - is additional dialysis. Not only did we add extra Peritoneal Dialysis Treatments; we added a Home Hemodialysis treatment as well!
Steve was a trooper as I sunk the fifteen gauge needles without xylocaine. But the extra treatment probably kept Steve out of the hospital, at least for today.
We understand there are a variety of tricks we can try with Peritoneal Dialysis as Steve equilibrates - and as we understand the kinetics of his peritoneal membrane.
Additionally, we are tangling with the variabilities in blood sugar - made more tricky by the fact that the dialysis solution that pulls off the most fluid is the one with the highest sugar concentration!
Today's blood sugar low was 31! And we treated it with juice - the fluid volume of the juice partly negating the gains we'd made with dialysis.
But, tomorrow is a new day - hopefully, a better day. Hospitalization is not out of the question, as we take this process one day at a time. We are grateful for the coaching of Angela, the on-call PD Nurse, and that of Steve's nephrologist, Dr. Thakur.
Steve and I will schedule that date for next Sunday.
Take care,
Linda Gromko, MD
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