Rambo

June 18, 2010.

Just before leaving for our 3,000 mile cross-country-trip-of-the-century, just for giggles, we thought we'd stop here:

Pick up one of these:

and visit this patient:

To keep him company and shower him with love!

Ben spent 3 days in the hospital in June recovering from Rhabdomylosis...which I think should be called RAMBOmylosis & you'll see why in a second.

Fun facts:

Rhabdomyolysis is the rapid breakdown of skeletal muscle due to injury to muscle tissue. The muscle damage may be caused by physical (e.g., crush injury), chemical, or biological factors. The destruction of the muscle leads to the release of the breakdown products of damaged muscle cells into the bloodstream; some of these, such as myoglobin (a protein), are harmful to the kidney and may lead to acute kidney failure. Treatment is with intravenous fluids, and dialysis or hemofiltration if necessary.

 How in the world does this happen you ask?!

Just a few crazy causes for rhabdomyolysis are:

• Traumatic compression of muscles: crush syndrome (e.g., in earthquakes), car accident, confinement in a fixed position (e.g. after a stroke, due to drunkenness or in prolonged surgery), physical torture or abuse
• Excessive muscle strain or activity: extreme physical exercise (particularly when poorly hydrated), delirium tremens (alcohol withdrawal), tetanus, prolonged seizures or status epilepticus
• Electrical: lightning, high-voltage electric shock, including electroshock weapon injuries
• Doing Rambo type things and/or the Incredible Hulk type things aka 'Hulking Out'

I did NOT make any of those up (well, maybe the one about delirium tremens, but the rest are just straight up facts.)







Crazy stuff huh?! So here's the story:

Well, Ben's military training was coming up quickly and he needed to start working out so he joined me at the gym one day, but he had never lifted weights before and he didn't really know how his body should be feeling....pain is good right?! Turns out it was not the good kind of pain. This time the old saying "No pain, no gain" was a lie;) I had been going to this class for a few months & had gotten used to it and over that time I gradually increased my weights. Ben thought he'd be fine lifting slightly more than me because he was already pretty physical, since he lifts and squats when he's working at UPS. Other than that he just doesn't work out, period. He just doesn't enjoy it. Needless to say he completely (hulked out) over did it at the gym & a few days later found himself feeling awful & headed to the doctor. when he got some test results back the next day the first thing the doctor said on the phone was "How are you feeling?" in a surprised, freaked out tone...not comforting! He told Ben to get to the emergency room asap to get his blood tested because his kidneys were at risk for failing. SCARY. Luckily he only had to do some IV therapy & never needed dialysis & his organs thankfully weren't damaged. I credit that to the wonderful priesthood blessing our sweet friend Glenn gave him while he was in the hospital. Thank you Glenn (and Chris!). Ben explained to the doctors that we needed to be on the road (like 3 days ago) because he had to catch a plane in CA in a few days (to go to AL for Air Force training) So they reluctantly let him go on the strict condition that he drink crazy amounts of fluids and see a doctor the minute we set foot in CA. DEAL!!! While Ben was in the hospital the kids & I were in an empty home waving goodbye to our moving truck while all of our earthly belongings left without us! Thank goodness for friends who fed us, gave us a place to play & sleep & the many air mattresses that were borrowed!!! We miss you Philly friends! Couldn't have made those 3 days without you!!! Stay tuned: next post ROAD TRIP!!!!

One of the many wilderness potty breaks for my boys:) (They're totally matching...so dang cute!)