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Another Medical “Watch Out”

Here’s a scary thing–my father was in the passenger seat being driven home from an event by his caregiver, and he suddenly started to appear to be having a stroke. He turned blue, his eyes were rolling back, the whole thing. She totally freaked out (understandably), called me in a terrible panic, and rushed him to the Emergency Room.

There, they gave him oxygen and wisely took some blood for testing and rapid lab work. The result: they discovered a severe potassium deficiency, the result of the kidney dialysis he’s been having (which resulted from an adverse reaction to an antibiotic, which caused his kidneys to fail in the first place).

Yes, kids, it’s important to understand these things are often interrelated, there is a cause and effect syndrome which often is not discovered or immediately understood by the medical practitioners (as I’ve written about before), but which by your giving the doctors and nurses the data and clues, can make the difference between life and death in just a (pardon the expression) heartbeat.

Please be vigilant with the care being received by your parents, it makes all the difference. Stay well–

Richard

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