Fred
Retired Staff
My grandfather is in his eighties. No longer a spring chicken. Old age brought its share of troubles, but he was holding up pretty well, enough so that he could look out for my grandmother, whom is a bit addled ever since she suffered a cardio-vascular arrest. He was able to look out for the lot of us.
Until recently, when we became aware of an issue that greatly aggravated his condition.
A few days ago, he missed out on our Christmas celebrations because he started ailing from shingles. The shingles got him in an area that was pretty inconvenient: his lower back, buttocks and groin. The pain was enough that he stopped being able to go to the bathroom to relieve himself, and his appetite went away with that too.
We went to the emergency room to get him treatment (and my grandfather is a prideful man that never likes seeing the doctor and usually bottles in hardship; his easy compliance was a telltale indication for us of oh, this is serious). We got antibiotics for our efforts and he started taking them.
This seemed on an upswing there, but then we slid into a much larger issue.
The medication against shingles is usually fairly safe, but the dosage is not meant to stay in the human body; we evacuate it out through urine and then maintain the dosage by taking in more medication. But my grandfather didn't end up being able to urinate, so the first dosage of medication stayed in and he kept taking his daily dosage on top of that.
That ended up endangering his life and he returned to the hospital.
We discovered, after relieving him with the use of a catheter, that his kidneys were in poor shape, apparently filtrating only 30% of what an healthy adult kidney would usually do. My grandfather was not big on liquid intake, usually just settling for the half-glass of water he needed to ease taking the pills that relieved his arthritis. That made it so that his kidneys gradually got so 'clogged' to become largely ineffectual.
So, right now, he's being kept at least overnight (for how long is unknown), with catheter in to help relieve his bladder, while still on medication to try to keep the shingles in check, while connected intravenously to a saline solute to try to put more liquid in his system to keep him hydrated and at the same time attempt to 'scrub out' his kidneys. Though the doctors were clear on that it was perhaps too late on that account, and that he might require dialysis (like people with diabetes do) to compensate for that for the rest of his days.
I figured I'd post about it to raise awareness on the issue. I drink a lot of liquids, enough for my urine to be rather clear, and that's apparently very healthy. Of course, on the web, we hear contradictory opinions on whether taking in a lot of liquid can be good or harmful for the human body. I figure everything is better in moderation.
But the takeaway is that if my grandfather had the habit of drinking more liquids, he wouldn't have this issue making things difficult for him in his elder years. So, I figured I would share this and you people can make up your own minds on the issue.
Until recently, when we became aware of an issue that greatly aggravated his condition.
A few days ago, he missed out on our Christmas celebrations because he started ailing from shingles. The shingles got him in an area that was pretty inconvenient: his lower back, buttocks and groin. The pain was enough that he stopped being able to go to the bathroom to relieve himself, and his appetite went away with that too.
We went to the emergency room to get him treatment (and my grandfather is a prideful man that never likes seeing the doctor and usually bottles in hardship; his easy compliance was a telltale indication for us of oh, this is serious). We got antibiotics for our efforts and he started taking them.
This seemed on an upswing there, but then we slid into a much larger issue.
The medication against shingles is usually fairly safe, but the dosage is not meant to stay in the human body; we evacuate it out through urine and then maintain the dosage by taking in more medication. But my grandfather didn't end up being able to urinate, so the first dosage of medication stayed in and he kept taking his daily dosage on top of that.
That ended up endangering his life and he returned to the hospital.
We discovered, after relieving him with the use of a catheter, that his kidneys were in poor shape, apparently filtrating only 30% of what an healthy adult kidney would usually do. My grandfather was not big on liquid intake, usually just settling for the half-glass of water he needed to ease taking the pills that relieved his arthritis. That made it so that his kidneys gradually got so 'clogged' to become largely ineffectual.
So, right now, he's being kept at least overnight (for how long is unknown), with catheter in to help relieve his bladder, while still on medication to try to keep the shingles in check, while connected intravenously to a saline solute to try to put more liquid in his system to keep him hydrated and at the same time attempt to 'scrub out' his kidneys. Though the doctors were clear on that it was perhaps too late on that account, and that he might require dialysis (like people with diabetes do) to compensate for that for the rest of his days.
I figured I'd post about it to raise awareness on the issue. I drink a lot of liquids, enough for my urine to be rather clear, and that's apparently very healthy. Of course, on the web, we hear contradictory opinions on whether taking in a lot of liquid can be good or harmful for the human body. I figure everything is better in moderation.
But the takeaway is that if my grandfather had the habit of drinking more liquids, he wouldn't have this issue making things difficult for him in his elder years. So, I figured I would share this and you people can make up your own minds on the issue.
