Nursing Unit Restores Kidney Failure Patient

When acute kidney failure sent Jim Lewis to USC-VHH, a team of compassionate nurses brought him back from the brink.

In 1948, Jim Lewis and his younger brother Larry were hospitalized for polio. Jim, only five years old at the time, developed paralysis and needed several months of rehab before getting to go home.

The effects of the illness would follow him for the rest of his life.

“As you get older, you develop what they call post-polio syndrome,” says Jim, 82, a La Crescenta-Montrose resident.

Post-polio syndrome occurs when small nerves throughout the body die off, causing muscle atrophy. It’s a painful condition, and one that Jim mainly felt in his back.

In 2018, his doctor at the time prescribed a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), as well as over-the-counter ibuprofen, unaware of the damaging effect they could have on Jim’s kidneys.

Long road to a sudden health crisis

In early Nov. 2023, Jim started to experience “shakes and shivers” and a loss of appetite.

“When I did eat, everything had a metallic taste,” Jim says.

His regular doctor had retired by then, but Jim’s wife Carol was a volunteer at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital, part of Keck Medicine of USC. She got him an appointment with one of their community doctors.

Before the month was out, Jim was told that his kidneys were functioning at only 7%. He had what’s known as acute kidney failure, a sudden and sharp diminishment of kidney function.

“I asked the doctor what was going to happen,” Jim recalls. “He said, ‘We’re going to put you in the hospital.’”

Jim asked when. He was told, “Today.”

As Carol went home to gather some things for her husband’s hospital stay, Jim found out that he was being taken straight to the 5 South nursing unit, which includes USC-VHH’s telemetry unit.

Preventing the need for critical care

As the nurse unit manager of 5 South at USC-VHH, Jo Gaerlan, RN, is used to explaining telemetry care to those who may not be familiar.

“Telemetry is for patients who aren’t quite sick enough for intensive care or critical care but need 24/7 monitoring and attention to keep them out of those units and get them on the road to recovery,” Gaerlan says.

For Jo and her staff, a major part of this task is taking care of the whole person.

“The first thing we think of is the patient’s condition, but close behind that is how we might treat the patient as a family member,” she says. “It all starts here.”

Gaerlan explains that there’s an innate connection between a hospital patient and their care team, due to the patient’s vulnerability.

“Even patients with the most advanced care won’t remember the science behind their treatment,” she says. “What they’ll remember is how we treated them as a person.”

This was the case for Jim.

When he says, “I had the finest care,” he doesn’t automatically refer to the treatments he received, including intravenous fluids, diuretic medication, frequent blood draws and a great deal of rest.

Instead, he remembers each nurse by name and credits them for their kindness, as “slowly but surely, they started getting my kidneys to function better.”

They helped him to eat despite his stomach pain and nausea, provided a walker so he could gently exercise and came to his room for regular visits, just to lift his spirits.

Life with kidney recovery

While Jim’s kidneys aren’t fully recovered yet, they’re in much better shape thanks to the care and education he received at 5 South.

“Taking care of your kidneys when they’re vulnerable requires a huge lifestyle change,” Gaerlan says. “The renal diet is pretty unpleasant, so we try to teach people about spices and seasonings they can enjoy and get their families involved so they get all the support they need at home.”

When all else fails, Gaerlan will redirect her patients’ attention to the kind of life they want to have.

“We go back and ask, ‘What is it you want to do? How do you want to live?’” she says.

As for Jim, he’s focused on appreciating the simple things in life. Aside from time with his family, he also loves a parade.

On Memorial Day, 2024, Jim wanted to carry a sign for the local parade, so he commissioned his wife Carol’s artistic talent.

It read, “USC Verdugo Hills Hospital Saved My Life.”

They attached it to the back of Jim’s scooter, which helps with his post-polio mobility complications, and he “went all the way down and back in the parade.”

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