I had coffee with my mother today who suffers from heart issues (COPD), edema (excess fluid in the body) and several other medical issues and in our get together she mentions that during the past several days she has add four pounds to her weight. Since just before her double heart valve replacement surgery when it was determined that mom had excess fluid in her body which began in the legs and moves up, moms excess fluid was to the point it was pressing on the bottom of her lungs and had actually penetrated her left lung and she required surgery to remove the fluid. During the surgery it was determined that mom had scale build up on the inside of her lung from smoking for some forty years and that it had to be “Scrapped Off.” Not only did she have to endure the fluid removal, the scale scrapping but on entering the lung a rib broke. We knew going in there was a large chance that this may happen, it didn’t help with mom’s recovery being every breath she took was extremely painful.
Since then we have been told that if for any reason she gains either 3 lbs. overnight or 6 lbs. in a week she is to call immediately or go into an emergency room. During our coffee mom explains that she in fact has gained 4 lbs. in the past three days, not so bad but then I’m told that in the past two days she has had water seeping out of her skin (legs) because they are so filled up with excess fluid. Last time she was admitted for this same thing was a month ago and she had gained 15-20 lbs. of pure water weight. One reason for the coffee date was so I could pick up Taffy (mom’s lap dog) because she cannot walk her, for one her fake knees are hurting her and she is running out of breath during the walks. Both of which are symptoms of excess fluid build up pressing on the exterior of the knees and on the bottom of the lungs, you have less space for air so your breathing is compromised. I ask repeatedly and even insist at one point (with no luck I may add) that the last time this happened and she hadn’t even broken a valve that time, that they admitted her for a IV of Lasix which is a water removal medication. I was repeatedly told that she is waiting for a call from her cardiologist’s office as well as her knee doctors office. The knee doctor? I didn’t know about this appointment. Side Note: Apparently she had an appointment and they requested an x-ray of her right knee, which she has fallen on several times over the years and as mom puts it the x-ray tech says something to the fact of, “How long ago did you say you broke this?” Oh great, edema on top of a possible mildly broken knee, if there is such a thing. I am told about the edema that once she is called she will call me with the details.
We have finished dinner and still no call from mom so I start calling her. Nothing only receiving her voice mail and you know how that goes, your mind starts racing with all these various things that may have happened. I call and leave three messages, I then call both my little brother Jimmy and mom’s sister, Susie, their both only minutes away to where I am 20-25 minutes away. Great I only receive their voice mails. Finally around 6:30 pm. Jimmy calls me and he happens to be working late for a deadline project and can’t make it. I decide to drive over myself and hopefully she just removed her hearing aids and can’t hear the phone. I make it about 1/2 and at a red light try her again, she answers and sound tired. She was sleeping, I explain I’m heading over and “We Are Going to the ER.” I get the best words I could get, she had spoken to the doctor, then laid down and forgot to call me. Her 
cardiologist suggested she stop her potassium, double up on the Spironolactone which are both water retention medications and “Will” increase her fluid release. In the morning she has to do lab work for kidney and liver functions and then contact the Heat & Lung department at noon.
Knowing that this has happened in the past, except for the seeping I’m not so concerned about it. These are the same steps that were taken the last few times this happened. For now its hurry up and wait to get the results of the kidney and liver test as well as the knee x-ray.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.
– Kreisler
“Pain without Humor is just Painful”
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