Sidetracked

Wow, I haven't done a post since Sunday! But, I have reasons.

First, The Oldest and her husband and six kids were over for the day on Monday. While her kids could really never be thought of as bad kids, there ARE six of them. And in a house that seems small (at times) for only two people, having an extra eight is quite overwhelming. I LOVE seeing them, but I don't cry when they leave, either. ;)

K woke up on Monday with a very sore toe/foot. He said he couldn't remember hurting it, so he did nothing. All day long, the pain gradually got worse and I thought he would go to see the doctor on Tuesday, as most normal (read that as female) people would. Of course, he didn't go to the doctor's, even though he could barely hobble from one room to the next. As a matter of fact, he couldn't move without holding on to something and then all he could really do was shuffle along. After he went to bed, I mentally made a vow that he was going to get looked at on Wednesday, even if I had to hog-tie him and drag him there myself. But I didn't have to make good on that promise.

Around 2:30 on Wednesday morning, he came into the kitchen. From the look on his face, I knew there was no way I would have to convince him to go to the ER. All I had to do was tell him to get ready and we were out of here. I KNEW he had to be in a lot of pain, as he didn't fight me over it at all. And the pain was so bad that he couldn't even put a shoe on his foot, much less walk very far, normally, or quickly.

The doctor came in less than a half hour after we got to the ER--and by the look on his face, I knew that HE knew what was wrong before even examining K. Turns out, K was/is suffering from gout. YIPPEE!!!!!!!! Just ANOTHER thing we have to worry about. See, gout is caused by an over abundance of uric acid in the system--something the kidneys filter out and get rid of. K has kidney disease and has lost a lot of the function of his kidneys. So, this probably means another visit to his nephrologist--at least he has to call the office and see what he needs to do next. We will have to figure out what, if anything, he is doing wrong that caused this. His diet may need to be changed, among other things. More happy times.

Anyway, to help 'cure' this attack, K was given HUGE amounts of prednisone at the hospital. And he is taking the same amount for three days at home and gradually going off for the five days following. While prednisone has some nasty side effects--or could--it is probably as close to a miracle drug as you could think of in this case. He had his first dose around 4:00 AM Wednesday. We came home and he went to sleep. By that afternoon, his pain had lessened to what it was on Monday and he was walking very close to normally. On Wednesday, he was able to leave the house and he even went to the grocery store. (HIS decision, NOT mine.) It looks as if he will get through this long before he needs to go back to work. (He is off till next week Thursday--long weekend combined with a couple of vacation days.)

While researching gout--as I do EVERYTHING, thanks to the interwebz--I found out that gout isn't quite as uncommon as I thought. Over 5 million people suffer from it. It is something that can recur and there is no definitive reason for it occurring in the first place. Diet may be a factor, but medications can be, also. Sometimes, the root cause will never be known. And gout IS a form of arthritis--something that was VERY surprising to me.

The bottom line for us, of course, is the probability this has something to do with K's kidney failure/disease. And we thought he was doing so much better after his last nephrologist visit. His numbers (whatever they look for in the blood) had improved a bit--which one doctor said would NEVER happen. Hopefully, this isn't a setback. But, whatever. We will get through this as we have every other curve in the road for the last 36 years.