Event #2: The Black Pee Incident

We were still trying to learn how to force feed Jax and administer subcutaneous fluids using an IV bag (at this point on a daily basis) when another major event occurred that further derailed my blogging.

One day in early May of 2016, my step-son, Travis (who was 22 at the time) came downstairs to the kitchen and said, “Mom, does my chest look swollen to you?”

It was beyond swollen.  It was as if he was trying to be silly and look like he had boobs – only the left side was way bigger than the right side.  I said, “Yeah, what the hell?”  He told me that he had worked out really hard the day before and he could barely extend his arms away from his body.  I told him to drink lots of water and take ibuprofen.  No big deal, I thought.

Later that night he yelled down from upstairs, “Mom!  Could you come look at this?  Is this bad?  This is my pee.”  He was holding one of our drinking glasses, which was filled with a black liquid.  I blinked a couple of times and stood there in a stupor for a good minute.  I was having trouble processing the information I had just received and didn’t know whether to be more shocked by the fact that he had just peed into one of our drinking glasses, or the fact that his pee was as black as Coke.  My maternal instincts finally kicked in and I focused in on the fact that something was very wrong with his body.

A trip to the emergency room revealed that he had rhabdomyolysis.  (“Rhabdomyolysis is a rare condition that occurs when muscle cells burst and leak their contents into the bloodstream. This can cause an array of problems including weakness, muscle soreness, and dark or brown urine. The damage can be so severe that it may lead to kidney injury.” Source: www.health.harvard.edu/blog)  Travis’ creatine kinase (CK) levels were the highest in the hospital’s recorded history.  He was sort of proud of that.

He was admitted to the hospital and put on IV fluids for 7 full days while they watched and waited for his CK levels to come down to normal.  [Of note, my advice to him earlier that first day was only partly correct.  It was good for him to drink water, but ibuprofen is NOT recommended because it may worsen kidney function.  Source: www.health.harvard.edu/blog]

His CK levels did eventually come down, he returned home, and we resumed our “normal” life until August of that same year…