Vacation Thrills

As I mentioned in my past blog posting, my brother's visit to Las Vegas is a dream come true for our parents. This is some sort of a family reunion for us. When they were still on their way from the Philippines, my dad and I put up some plans as to where to bring my brother and his family to maximize their vacation stay here. Our first itinerary was to visit Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Last April 26 right after my work, we headed to Anaheim, CA and stayed at Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites. We went to Disney's California Adventure first on the day we arrived and spent the whole day of Day 2 at Disneyland. We tried almost all the thrill rides in the park and my nephew was having a blast.

During this time, we noticed that the health of my brother was deteriorating. He developed some kind of swelling on his legs and he was coughing. We thought it was caused by his less functional kidneys due to his diabetes. My brother was diagnosed with this disease when he was still 30 yrs old and since then he was focused on controlling his diet specially his intake of sugar. He regularly monitored his blood sugar level. Before he left the Philippines, his doctors were more focused on his creatinine levels to determine if his kidneys were functioning properly. Creatinine by the way is a breakdown product of creatine phosphate in the muscle. Creatinine is filtered out from the blood by the kidneys therefore its level in the blood is an indication whether the kidneys are working efficiently.

On our 3^rd day stay in California, we went to Universal Studios. My nephew had some fun trying all the fun rides as well as touring the back lot studios where all sets for the filming of major movies and television shows took place. All this time, my brother was obviously very tired. Aside from the swelling not getting any better, he was already suffering shortness of breath. We decided to cut short our vacation and move back immediately to Las Vegas to see a doctor. I drove from Anaheim to Las Vegas for just 4 hours flat which normally takes 5 to 6 hours. We immediately checked him at UMC (University Medical Center) and all the tests were being performed. He was diagnosed with pulmonary edema, a fluid accumulation in the lungs. It leads to impaired gas exchange and may cause respiratory failure. That was the reason why he had a hard time breathing. His kidneys were no longer functioning properly that it was no longer able to control the flow of fluid in the body. Because of this, the lungs were affected. Checking my brother's creatinine levels was dangerously high that it was recommended that my brother should undergo a series of dialysis. Dialysis is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function due to renal failure. He underwent 4 series of dialysis treatments to replace some of the kidney functions through diffusion (waste removal) and ultra filtration (fluid removal). After all these dialysis treatments, the swelling and edema of his lungs as well as on his extremities subsided dramatically.

After four (4) days in the hospital, my brother was discharged and he was getting better. With regular treatments, ample rest and very controlled diet (food and fluid intake), he should be ready to continue his disrupted vacation. According to my mom, it was a blessing in disguise that this all happened here in America as he was able to avail of the best medical care possible, but the fact remains that my brother would regularly undergo dialysis treatments to help clean his blood for the rest of his life.