I am an End-Stage Liver Disease Patient on Mayo Hospital's Transplant list. As are all Transplant candidates, I was sober and subject to random testing. I had been completely clean for 4 years. The Liver Disease was caused by Hep-C, which I had as a teenager in the 60's. Alcohol was not an issue in this.
Due to several factors which we can discuss later, I found myself extremely depressed, which is very unlike me. I called for help, but had to wait months for an appointment. During this time, I had a Liver can scheduled, which occurs every 6 months because I am proneto Liver Cancer due to the Cirrhosis. Liver Cancer is the only part of all this that truly scares me, again for valid reasons we can discuss. I had a terrible day, had this test the following day, and was fasting for the test, and I just had to get out of the house.
I went to a pool tournament at a local bar and had a few sodas. Then, stupidly, had a few drinks. Because my liver does not process alcohol, these just built up before I realized it. I got a DUI. Even the Officer remarked that he couldn't believe the reading and tried two different machines, because I just did not appear, or feel, drunk.
At Trial, both the DA and PD agreed to 10 days house arrest within 90 days, and if no such program was in place, suspend it for another 90 days, and keep doing that. Really. The Judge would not accept this provision and delayed the case to allow her time to investigate whether some form of house-arrest would be feasible anytime soon.
Upon returning to court for the next hearing, she told me there was no accomodation for house-arrest in Glendale; however, she had personally spoken to the Infirmary at Estrella Jail and had been assured my time could be served in a hospital setting, and all 10 medications could be provided. I have my copy of the 'order to report' paperwork, on which she wrote 'time to be served in infirmary due to Medical Condition'. I showed it to them when I reported, in my wheelchair and with a shopping bag full of medications, many unopened.
I was immediately put in 23-hour lockdown with no medications, in the NOC Pod (Nature-Of-Charges, inmates who's crimes had to do with minors, and a few 'overflow' guys, who were let out once the NOC guys had their
1-hour out each). I saw the Doctor at the Infirmary the following day and showed her the order; the Infirmary was basically a hallway with no beds. She went over my medication list and told me some could not be supplied, such as Lorazepam (anti-anxiety), temazepam (sleep - insomnia is a major symptom of Liver Disease, and lack of sleep leads to Encephalopathy, permanent brain-damage, brief description to follow), and hydrocodone (pain, severe osteoarthritis in lower back from lifelong degenerative disk disease), all of which were prescribed for years, and all of which are extremely addictive. Other meds were reduced or accomodated to fit their twice daily medication rounds. She was told, indeed was already aware, that I can not eat red meat, had Portal Hypertension (description to follow) leading to Variceal bleeding (to follow) and had 17 veins in my abdomen held together by rubber bands which could cause my death if they bled, or if another one burst; thus the wheelchair. I was sent back to lock-down. I had to serve 10 days.
Needless to say, I went into immediate severe withdrawal, with pain, sweats, chills, diarrhea, vomiting, shaking, and all the expected symtoms. This lasted about five days, and the other meds were inconsistant at best. Sometimes they forgot, or couldn't find them, or ran out. I was also given red meat daily, and rarely the med needed tocounteract it. During this I began to bleed into the toilet; if this were variceal, it would be fatal because their response was so slow. I finally got another inmate's attention by waving a bloody towel through the bars.By the time an ambulance arrived at the Infirmary, I knew it was an internal hemmorroid because of the pattern and color of the blood, the lack of vomiting blood, and the fact that I would have been either too sick to speak or dead if it was variceal. I asked for some hydrocortisone cream or a suppository, but could not get any. I bled on the toilet for 3 days. They asked why I was in such bad shape, and I told them withdrawal, inconsistant meds, no sleep for 5 days, red meat, bad back, etc. I was returned to my cell.
They called me down the next day for blood work for liver-function tests, I guess to see how much damage had been done, but did not have the right tube (for a frozen Ammonia test, for brain damage). It was eventually done three days later.
By this time the Encephalopathy was really a problem (symtoms enclosed). I was confused and disoriented, no memory, no sleep again, and lost a couple of days in there somewhere. During this, my wheelchair had broken, with the rubber coming off a wheel. I tried many times to get it fixed, or for something to fix it myself, but was ignored. Due to this and the lack of the meds for it, the Edema (enclosed) occurred, and my feet and ankles swelled up like big purple balls. They were checking my blood-pressure every night at the Infirmary to see if I was losing blood from any varices, and had to use my wheelchair as a walker, barefoot because my feet were so swollen. The guard told me to leave the chair in my cell because it took up too much room in the Infirmary.
By now, if I was having a medical problem, some of the guards (especially Officer Brown), I would say 'excuse me sir'... And he would put his palms up in my face and walk away as if I wasn't there. Some of the other Guards were letting me out with the 'overflow' guys sometimes.
All are willing to testify.
After about a week, my friends saw me fall over backwards, hit my head, and begin to flap in a grend-mal seizure. They called the guard, who took me to the Infirmary; I don't remember how. They took a lot of notes
and asked a lot of questions, but sent me back to my cell. This by now was covered with spread around blood and diarrhea, which is how Hep-C is transmitted, and so were my clothes (stripes), yet people came and went
all the time and it never did get cleaned out. I later found out that withdrawing from a benzodiazapine (both the Lorazepam and Temazepam are benzos) while taking wellbutrin (which I had been) causes grand-mal seizures. It even says it it wellbutrin's tv commercial.
Anyway, the next day and the day after, all of my meds reappeared, my wheelchair was fixed, and at 0400 a day early I was released.
I have optained copies of all medical records, which documents this very well. I also calculated my MELD score (Measurement of End-Stege Liver Disease), and it is 33% higher. It was stable at 9 for over a year, and is now a 12. Last week I had tests at Mayo, and they came up with the same results. As getting a Transplant in my case is extremely unlikely, they directly and neasurably brought me 1/3 closer to my death. My life has measurably and noticably changed from this. I can't find a lawyer to take the case, I tried to write our State House of representatives but their email address in wrong, I even sent it to the Dept of Justice. Nobody cares.
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