"What we've got here is failure to communicate" -- Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Another episode with confusion, another visit to the ER.  But this one turned out a bit differently...

This time, the local ER was busier, so I certainly would have understood if things moved a bit slowly.  However, I was in for a real surprise.  The staff took me back, and I gave my short, concise, and to the point explanation of my condition, as I described in an earlier post (or at least as best as I could do given what was going on with me at that point).  They started an IV, ran a quick heart test, and took blood for testing.  About 2 hours later, the results came back...

We knew right away that something was going on, given the look on the Doctor's face.  They explained that my Potassium levels were extremely high (6.9), and they were causing other complications.  These were:

1. Dehydration -- Turned out to be the least of my concerns.
2. Acute renal failure -- That's right, my kidneys were shutting down...
3. Irregular cardiac rhythms -- Needless to say, the most disconcerting of them all.

I was told  that they were going to have the hepatologists come right away to get their opinion, and that they were very concerned about lasting damage to the kidneys or heart.  As such, I was being admitted to the Intensive Care Unit to watch the levels until they stabilized.  But that wouldn't happen for a while.  Meanwhile, there were more surprises to be revealed in the ER. 

It was at this point that the communication issues began to show themselves -- and it really began to get ugly...