The Rest of the Story
I believe we have the rest of the story in regard to the last four weeks of Dennis’ pain in his right hand. The fluid draw that was done on Dennis’ hand has an indication of crystals. Crystals indicate a high amount of uric acid in the system, aka: Gout.
Gout may be caused by consuming high amounts of red meat in the diet, excess alcohol or excess sugar consumption. The first two are not in the equation. The last option, I do believe is what may be the cause. Dennis likes sweets.
I am the one who purchases the groceries. I am the one who does make sweets available within our home. I am not the one who forces anyone to overdue on what is on hand. Jelly beans is one of Dennis’ favorites. Four jelly beans is equivalent to a teaspoon of white sugar. Who counts when jelly beans are taken out of a container? I think we will need to be counting a lot of items. Reading labels is the answer. When the number behind the sugar is given, divide that by four and you have a teaspoon of sugar represented. It is very scary.
We have not been given any direction from our doctor in regard to any prescription. I took my time this afternoon and looked up medications that are prescribed for Gout. I wouldn’t stick anyone of them in my mouth. The side effects are numerous and not pleasant.
I visited with JoAnn this afternoon as she had been curious as to what we found out about Dennis. JoAnn recounted a situation about a surgeon that she had worked with who had Gout. At a time he had gone off of the meds and a surgery had to be postponed due to Gout in his hands. What I took from that was . . . if a doctor went off of a med who did surgery, the side effects must not be pleasant for such consequences to be chanced.
I believe we will be taking this one day at a time and weaning Dennis off of some of his surgary favorites. An example of his fondness: when we eat out, I enjoy a veggie omelet, Dennis will have pancakes as he loves the apricot syrup and the maple syrup and the wild berry syrup.
Two of my family members have had cancer. A third member has had a stroke. Though none of these are connected to one another, the cancer cells know where the weak link is. The blood clot that lets loose will do so where an artery is restricted. I do watch what I eat and I don’t eat what I have always enjoyed; baked goods, french fries, and desserts. I still falter, but I know not to overdue it very often.
I would hate to see Dennis go through again what he has this last month. Can I prevent it? No. Will I pay a high price if he looks the other way in regard to his food intake? Yes! Usual and customary care is normal. Care that comes from and for such a painful debilitating issue in not pleasant.
Time will tell. Dennis is going to have to wear his glasses a lot more often than he has as those darn fool labels are printed really small.