By-the-bye,

and how I find myself right back where I started . . .

May began with Mom finding herself on the floor with hypotension, (low blood pressure).

After a short hospitalization and tests, the Doctor's solution was to remove ONE of the blood pressure lowering drugs and to place her on a sodium sparing hormone (florinef) to RAISE her blood pressure by increasing fluid volume.  (Ok, this is going to get ugly fast . . . just warning you!)

Mom and I are both prone to swollen ankles, (--from sitting, hot weather, or too much sodium . . . which we both avoid like the plague!  We have both had dopplers done of our legs and our vessels appear to be fine.), so I warned my brother to be on watch for increased fluid elsewhere and to especially watch her breathing.  Exactly one month later, Mom called him in a panic about her ability to catch her breath.

Back to the hospital

Lung sounds clear, need 4 liters of oxygen to maintain sats, some fluid on x-ray, don't think it's Pneumonia, but we will put her on Rocephen anyway, and we will do a thoracentesis in 3 days.  (it was a weekend)  They then removed 1600 cc of fluid from her left chest.  (Yes, that's almost a 2 liter bottle!)  

So now the Doctor removes the OTHER blood pressure lowering med and puts her on a CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE MED, (also lowers BP).  (She has never had a diagnosis of CHF.)  The Doctor does not get rid of the Florinef.   (that caused the fluid build-up and CHF!)

This is her Cardiologist of many years.  It's left me scratching my head.  I had the opportunity to talk to the treating Pulmonologist . . . and he didn't seem to understand either.  

We now appear to have gone Through The Looking-Glass! 

or right into the Twilight Zone.