Since I'm getting caught up, I decided to make a related medical post - this time about my mother. I figure it will give an update to any family reading this, and is medical in nature, so fits generally for everyone else.
(Note: mom gave me permission to put this post up.)
For the last few months my mother has been experiencing some respiratory issues. She was getting winded very easily, appeared a bit unsteady on her feet (and shaky even when sitting), and was losing weight. This last part is pretty critical since her top weight in the last few years was 105. The condition escalated slowly for some weeks, until it reached a point two weeks ago where she couldn't walk more than a few feet without sitting down, and climbing stairs caused her quite a bit of respiratory stress.
I insisted she go to the doctor. You can't imagine the drama this caused. My mother is 76 and NEVER goes to the doctor! She also takes no medications. Considering she's been a heavy smoker for 60 years, she's generally quite healthy. Most of this 'good health' has to be attributed to her good genes, because she smokes, drinks Pepsi, eats very little, and she NEVER drinks water! It's amazing, all things considered.
At any rate, drama aside, I insisted and dragged her to urgent care, since she had no primary care physician. They did an EKG, chest x-ray, and blood work. The doctor thought she could hear a slight heart murmur, but otherwise couldn't see anything obvious, except for the respiratory distress symptoms, which still persisted. What worried me was her weight - 93 pounds. All of this was worrisome to them, of course, and they sent her to the ER. You can only imagine the argument she put up over that, but I insisted yet again.
Once at the ER they repeated those tests, and said they wanted to keep her in the hospital for some additional ones. A few of these were the Pulmonary Function Diagnostic, CT scan and echo/ultrasound (I describe these tests in my pre-transplant and milestone test pages). A bunch of specialists came in over the course of the evening and the following morning as the tests were being run, and here were the results:
1. Blood work all normal except for a high creatinine level, which indicates kidney issues.
2. Lungs clear except for 1 nodule (they want to do another CT scan in 3 months).
3. Normal pulmonary function (?!)
It was all very odd. They finally were left with the by-default conclusion that 60+ years of smoking was taking its toll and she could be showing the preliminary signs of Emphysema/COPD. However one thing I noticed was that the symptoms were diminishing during her hospital stay. She thought it might mean that she had an animal allergy (she lives in close proximity to a dog and 3 cats now, when she didn't before) while I thought perhaps the IV fluids they'd given her had corrected some dehydration.
We scheduled a visit with a primary care physician for a week later, but during that week I asked her to do three things:
1. Cut down on smoking.
2. Start drinking water.
3. Eat more high calorie foods.
Amazingly enough she did all of these things. She cut her smoking more than in half (to half a pack a day - still way too much, but an improvement), and started drinking 30 oz. of water daily. She fills a 30 oz. container at the start of the day and keeps it with her. Because of this fluid intake, she's almost quit drinking Pepsi, although she still drinks 1-2 cups of coffee a day.
Here's the thing about dehydration that I've learned during the course of my own illness: Only water counts as water. Non-water beverages, almost without exception, have chemicals that have to be processed differently through your digestive system and kidneys. Water, on the other hand, flushes out your digestive system and kidneys so that it can do its job easier. A healthy intake of water for any person daily should be the equivalent of half their weight in ounces. Since mom weighed 93 pounds, she should be drinking around 42 ounces of water a day. She's not there yet, but 30 is a big improvement over zero!
The other thing about non-water beverages and dehydration is that for every cup of these chemically-laden or dehydrating beverages (caffeine and alcohol are dehydrating to your tissue) you should drink two extra cups of water to flush it through your system. So since she drinks 2 cups of coffee a day, she should probably be drinking at least 42 + 16 oz. of water daily, for a total of 58. She's only at half of that, but it's a start.
And the result?
She hasn't had a bad bout of respiratory distress since then, although she does get short of breath pretty easily. I think the correct conclusion is that she may indeed be exhibiting the early stages of emphysema/COPD, but the symptoms were severely aggravated by dehydration. Since she began drinking water she says she's hungrier and has gained weight - she's almost up to 100 pounds now. If I can get her back to 105 or 110 that would be fantastic. She's trying to continue to cut down on cigarettes, and that's particularly amazing because she's never shown the least inclination to do that in the past. If she can stay at half or less for now, that's good, but I'd love to see her get down to at least 1/3rd of her peak consumption. Zero would be best of course, but baby steps...
So the lesson learned? Don't smoke and drink lots of water! I know, I know, it's pretty self-evident, isn't it?
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