I got the day right but missed the time. Last week I had to pick a time to get the car serviced and hoped to combine activities, thereby having to make one less trip to Yakima. So, I said to the man, “Sure, lets do it Wednesday.” Then I estimated they would discharge Nancy right after lunch and picked a 10 A.M. appointment with the service shop.
There was a problem. Magnesium (Mg). This element is used by the body in many chemical reactions. It is an important electrolyte along with sodium, calcium, potassium, and chloride. The last is discussed here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloride
Magnesium is discussed here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium
… where it claims it to be the 11th most abundant element by mass in the human body. Scroll to “Biological role” more than half-way through the page. Well, the point is that the doctor decided Nancy was a quart low and as long as she was in the shop, why not just top-er-up some. Why not indeed?
Time is why. Slower is better. Look at this: “Supplementation with 1 to 4 g of MgSO4 over 1 to 4 hours is usually adequate, depending on the extent of deficiency; the administration rate should be slower for infusing increasing amounts in nonemergency situations to avoid hypotension.”
http://www.heart-disease-bypass-surgery.com/data/articles/35.htm
Hypotension simply means abnormally low blood pressure. Sure thing we don’t want to do that to Nancy, so slow it is. So, over lunch and into the afternoon Nancy was infused with antibiotics and then switched to a slow drip to bring her Mg level up to the “full” line.
Long-story-short: She exited through the front door at 4:05 P.M. and we were home at five o’clock. She is feeling good. Sleeping.