Steve's Hospital Stay
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We are going to start from the beginning of this story.
In May 2017 Steve started displaying symptoms of paranoia and delusions that continued on and off for months. In October 2017 his symtpoms peaked and he was hospitalized and diagnosed with acute psychosis. Over the next 6 months he worked with a psychiatric team and never found the right balance of medication or a diagnosis. He went through multiple jobs and developed severe depression. In April he started a new job and went off his medication. For the next 6 months he was our Steve again.
In the beginning of October 2018 he started displaying symptoms of psychosis again, he was not eating or sleeping. On the morning of October 9 we thought he went to work, by that afternoon we realized he was at his Grandmother's house and his symptoms were out of control. I was planning on having an ambulance meet me to get him to the hospital. By the time we got to him he was on the kitchen floor, barely consious and could not speak. We called 911. He was soaked in sweat and very combative.
Upon arriving to the emergency room he was still combative and his blood work came back extremely abnormal, his sodium was low, magnesium was low and blood pH was high.
On the night of October 9, 2018 Steve was admitted to St Clare's Critical Care Unit and placed in a medically induced coma. He was heavily sedated and intubated. The doctors were pumping blood out of his lungs and stomach and he was putting out more urine then is normal to put out over the course of a few days. On day two he started running a fever and through cat scan the doctors found an injury in his neck. They determined they believed he had a seizure from how low his sodium was and the fall caused the injury.
We discovered that at his Grandmother's house he had consumed a very large amount of water over the course of the day. On Wednesday the doctors took him off the sedation and took the tubes out. Upon waking up he was still displaying symptoms of psychosis. He was diagnosed with psychogenic polydipsia which can be a symptom of psychosis that causes the person to have a mental complusion to drink water. He drank so much he caused his body to go into hyponatremia which is water toxicity. This caused his blood levels to be off resulting in the seizure and congestive lung failure. From how hard he struggled before he was intubated he caused damage to his muscles causing his CKs (muscle breakdown enzymes) to skyrocket. The doctors explained if they did not get these under control it could cause extensive kidney damage and had to flush his system.
Over the course of the next few days the doctors stabilized him, however in the midst of all this, the doctors had checked his heart and pacemaker due to his cardiac history and determined that within the next 6 months he would need to have an open heart surgery to have his aortic valve replaced, which we were not expecting so soon. He was discharged on October 15.
Over the next week he had many follow up appointments including with a new psychiatric team which are working on bipolar disorder as his diagnosis.
He returned to work on October 22 but has had to intermittently miss work for more follow up appointments regularly since.
He is currently working with his cardiac team to arrange all of the necessary testing to determine when exactly we will have to schedule his valve replacement.
Steve is the sole provider in our home. With all of the work he has missed over the last year we were already behind and now are desperate. We have been unable to pay our rent, $1525/month and we have a shut off notice on our electric as we owe $498.51. With the holidays approaching and knowing we have another little girl on the way it would be the biggest blessing to be able to catch up on our bills and be able start saving for when he will be out of work for his surgery. Any help is more then appreciated.
In sharing our story, we also hope to help bring an end to some of the stigma associated with mental illness. NEVER GIVE UP ON A PERSON WITH MENTAL ILLNESS. WHEN "I" IS REPLACED WITH "WE", ILLNESS BECOMES WELLNESS.
Blessings to all.
Heather and Steve Bryant
In May 2017 Steve started displaying symptoms of paranoia and delusions that continued on and off for months. In October 2017 his symtpoms peaked and he was hospitalized and diagnosed with acute psychosis. Over the next 6 months he worked with a psychiatric team and never found the right balance of medication or a diagnosis. He went through multiple jobs and developed severe depression. In April he started a new job and went off his medication. For the next 6 months he was our Steve again.
In the beginning of October 2018 he started displaying symptoms of psychosis again, he was not eating or sleeping. On the morning of October 9 we thought he went to work, by that afternoon we realized he was at his Grandmother's house and his symptoms were out of control. I was planning on having an ambulance meet me to get him to the hospital. By the time we got to him he was on the kitchen floor, barely consious and could not speak. We called 911. He was soaked in sweat and very combative.
Upon arriving to the emergency room he was still combative and his blood work came back extremely abnormal, his sodium was low, magnesium was low and blood pH was high.
On the night of October 9, 2018 Steve was admitted to St Clare's Critical Care Unit and placed in a medically induced coma. He was heavily sedated and intubated. The doctors were pumping blood out of his lungs and stomach and he was putting out more urine then is normal to put out over the course of a few days. On day two he started running a fever and through cat scan the doctors found an injury in his neck. They determined they believed he had a seizure from how low his sodium was and the fall caused the injury.
We discovered that at his Grandmother's house he had consumed a very large amount of water over the course of the day. On Wednesday the doctors took him off the sedation and took the tubes out. Upon waking up he was still displaying symptoms of psychosis. He was diagnosed with psychogenic polydipsia which can be a symptom of psychosis that causes the person to have a mental complusion to drink water. He drank so much he caused his body to go into hyponatremia which is water toxicity. This caused his blood levels to be off resulting in the seizure and congestive lung failure. From how hard he struggled before he was intubated he caused damage to his muscles causing his CKs (muscle breakdown enzymes) to skyrocket. The doctors explained if they did not get these under control it could cause extensive kidney damage and had to flush his system.
Over the course of the next few days the doctors stabilized him, however in the midst of all this, the doctors had checked his heart and pacemaker due to his cardiac history and determined that within the next 6 months he would need to have an open heart surgery to have his aortic valve replaced, which we were not expecting so soon. He was discharged on October 15.
Over the next week he had many follow up appointments including with a new psychiatric team which are working on bipolar disorder as his diagnosis.
He returned to work on October 22 but has had to intermittently miss work for more follow up appointments regularly since.
He is currently working with his cardiac team to arrange all of the necessary testing to determine when exactly we will have to schedule his valve replacement.
Steve is the sole provider in our home. With all of the work he has missed over the last year we were already behind and now are desperate. We have been unable to pay our rent, $1525/month and we have a shut off notice on our electric as we owe $498.51. With the holidays approaching and knowing we have another little girl on the way it would be the biggest blessing to be able to catch up on our bills and be able start saving for when he will be out of work for his surgery. Any help is more then appreciated.
In sharing our story, we also hope to help bring an end to some of the stigma associated with mental illness. NEVER GIVE UP ON A PERSON WITH MENTAL ILLNESS. WHEN "I" IS REPLACED WITH "WE", ILLNESS BECOMES WELLNESS.
Blessings to all.
Heather and Steve Bryant
Organizer
Heather Bryant
Organizer
Budd Lake, NJ
