Sometimes the world changes suddenly. Friday, I was getting all set to write a blog post about how great therapy was going and how my PT and my personal trainer, Sam, had met with me and we did a trial workout including Sam helping me down to the floor and back up without assistance. That was not to be. I fell asleep while eating breakfast. Woke up and shortly after, Rachel was trying to rouse me. My blood pressure was 68/45. Not good. Rachel convinced me to go to UT Health ER and we agreed by our own van was best way to do that. The ambulance would want me to the closest ER with BP that low.

I got “OK” pretty quickly but we were up against two problem: we did not know the cause and it was the weekend. The lead neurologist for the weekend was Dr. Padrick, who happens to have been involved in my case almost since day one and is one of my two main neurologists. I am special. I probably have more neurologists than anyone you know.

We pretty quickly became comfortable that my fungus was not causing new problems. Yay! Unfortunately, my liver function tests were high. This led us to briefly consider that the anti-fungal might be the cause, but for now we are comfortable continuing that at current dose. There is some possibility that the cause is autonomic, so we are going to work on some outpatient testing. Unfortunately, it is hard to get a definitive diagnosis of dysautonomia so not sure what will happen. Still working on drug elimination to see if that helps.

Happily, while I was hospitalized we finally removed inferior vena cava filter that has been inside me for almost a year. Currently, the FDA recommends that IVC filters be removed within 25-54 days of their implantation. Oops.

Finally got discharged today and I feel ready to get back to therapy and working out. Have five hours of occupational and speech therapy tomorrow, and 90 minutes of physical therapy on Friday. Sam will be back for another session on Friday. Back in the saddle.