Speaker 1: Rube.
Speaker 2: I couldn't move my arms the way I needed to.
Speaker 2: My head was kind of like a bottlehead. I couldn't
Speaker 2: really control the muscles of my neck. He reminded me
Speaker 2: of kind of like a baby deer. The inabilities to
Speaker 2: control the balance for perception, the coordination, all the things
Speaker 2: in his lower body just wasn't there.
Speaker 3: And they told us when he first got sick that
Speaker 3: I would be a widow in about two months because
Speaker 3: whatever he had was progressive.
Speaker 1: How do you process that?
Speaker 2: And I just I was helpless. I was completely helpless. Yeah,
Speaker 2: she got these brand new babies at home, so need
Speaker 2: their father, and she needs her husband.
Speaker 1: How terrifying would it be to fight an unknown enemy,
Speaker 1: one you didn't recognize and didn't see coming. What if
Speaker 1: that enemy was coming from within a disease that even
Speaker 1: doctors couldn't identify. Nearly half of all Americans suffer from
Speaker 1: some chronic illness, and many struggle for an accurate diagnosis.
Speaker 1: These are their stories. I'm Lauren Brete Pchecko, and this
Speaker 1: is symptomatic. Trent Fielder, a seasoned insurance appraiser with a
Speaker 1: knack for problem solving, centers his life around his family,
Speaker 1: deep rooted faith and his service dog Gunner, a loyal
Speaker 1: Laborador Retriever. Dedicated and genuine, Trent is the kind of
Speaker 1: person you'd want in your corner, both at work and
Speaker 1: in life.
Speaker 2: The majority of my job was spent out in the field,
Speaker 2: so I was driving around down the coast of Florida.
Speaker 2: That was basically my job.
Speaker 4: What did you do?
Speaker 2: I supervised auto appraisers for an insurance company, So I
Speaker 2: had the best job ever. I loved it.
Speaker 1: After the loss of his first wife, Trent experienced a
Speaker 1: roller coaster of emotions. During this difficult time, his mom
Speaker 1: and sister stepped up to support him.
Speaker 2: I had a discussion with my mom, who is still
Speaker 2: in Texas, and told her, I said, look, I think
Speaker 2: I don't want to go down this road again. Suddenly,
Speaker 2: the next morning, my sister had shown up, you know,
Speaker 2: and I knew exactly what was going on. So we
Speaker 2: talked throughout the day and I had work and did
Speaker 2: their thing. But the next morning I needed to take
Speaker 2: her back to the airport, and so I went to breakfast.
Speaker 1: That's when Nicole entered the picture.
Speaker 3: It was a breakfast place called the First Watch, and
Speaker 3: it was super fast paced place you had your regulars
Speaker 3: and you knew their names and their faces, but everybody
Speaker 3: else they were just in and out so quickly.
Speaker 2: And as we're sitting there at breakfast and talking about
Speaker 2: that my mother had and concerns that other people would have.
Speaker 2: I was sitting there, the cherver came up and she
Speaker 2: asked us for we'd had a chance to look at anything,
Speaker 2: and that obviously was Nicole. And I looked up at
Speaker 2: her and lost my train of thought and lost my
Speaker 2: ability to speak, and that's not me. So when she
Speaker 2: walked away, my sister just looked at me and she said,
Speaker 2: you've never done that before, and I was didn't what
Speaker 2: she said? She completely she I floored you. You lost
Speaker 2: your train of thought, you couldn't say anything. I was like,
Speaker 2: let's just get back to what we're talking about.
Speaker 3: And you know, I was just doing my job and
Speaker 3: waiting tables, and then all of a sudden, the woman
Speaker 3: came back into the kitchen and I was like, hi,
Speaker 3: she goes the food was wonderful, the service was excellent,
Speaker 3: and my brother thinks you're cute, and I was like brother,
Speaker 3: I was like, uh okay, and she gave me his
Speaker 3: business card and then a couple of days later, I
Speaker 3: was doing laundry and just going through my pockets and
Speaker 3: I found his business card and then I was like,
Speaker 3: you know what, life's too short. I'm going to email him.
Speaker 3: And so I emailed him. This is my name and
Speaker 3: this is who I am. So if you want call me.
Speaker 1: What was it about her once you got to know
Speaker 1: her that made you realize you were going to break
Speaker 1: that vow you made to not get married again.
Speaker 2: Nicole has and I'm sure deny it all the time,
Speaker 2: but she has a natural light about her that is undeniable.
Speaker 2: And it's fun to introduce her to additional people or
Speaker 2: to watch her kind of under element and see how
Speaker 2: people respond naturally to her. They naturally want to open
Speaker 2: up to her, and they naturally feel better no matter
Speaker 2: what their circumstances are.
Speaker 1: And for people who don't know Trent, how would you
Speaker 1: describe him?
Speaker 3: He's just a one tough son of a gun. And
Speaker 3: you know, it's like, don't tell him he can't, because
Speaker 3: he's going to and he will do it, maybe just
Speaker 3: despite you. He's very tenacious.
Speaker 1: To set the stage for the battles. Trent would face
Speaker 1: ahead after a whirlwind romance and wedding, the couple discovered
Speaker 1: they were expecting twins. However, complications arose in the womb
Speaker 1: when their daughter Nevah began taking nutrients from her brother Logan,
Speaker 1: putting both at risk.
Speaker 2: It became very dangerous. So, I mean we went from
Speaker 2: the joyous moving along the process to suddenly realizing something
Speaker 2: was wrong, and it kicked everything into overdrive. And from
Speaker 2: the moment of our first I guess realization is something
Speaker 2: was wrong. Within two weeks, the doctors came in and said,
Speaker 2: we have to take them. We had to take them now.
Speaker 2: Logan was a great risk and Avaiah was as well,
Speaker 2: and then if things didn't go right, then the risk
Speaker 2: was Nicole and I just had to button up and pray,
Speaker 2: but keep her excited and energize that you know you're
Speaker 2: going to be a mom.
Speaker 1: Logan was born weighing just too pounds five ounces and
Speaker 1: Navajah at three pounds eleven ounces. Both babies spent their
Speaker 1: first few months in the nick you fighting to grow stronger,
Speaker 1: a stressful start for the new family. At the time
Speaker 1: you started exhibiting symptoms.
Speaker 2: The symptoms actually came months later, but they started piling.
Speaker 2: I mean, I was definitely I was wearing down my body.
Speaker 2: I was wearing down emotionally and spiritually fast because Logan
Speaker 2: was in the hospital for about almost three months and
Speaker 2: he had multiple times where there was possibility that he
Speaker 2: wouldn't make it. You know, they took us into that
Speaker 2: room that's in a hospital, or a room that's in
Speaker 2: a nicku that no parent ever wants to go into,
Speaker 2: and they're telling us that your son is dying. It
Speaker 2: was a lot to handle. And Nichol's very strong, but
Speaker 2: at the same time, I had to be stronger.
Speaker 1: And at this point you began to experience symptoms you
Speaker 1: couldn't quite explain. Take me back to that moment.
Speaker 2: The first ones, they were very obvious to me. I
Speaker 2: guess they didn't make sense, but I at the same
Speaker 2: time I was justifying why they were happening. December sixteenth,
Speaker 2: twenty eleven, was the day that everything went south for good.
Speaker 2: I was actually underneath a car and was trying to
Speaker 2: work an estimate on a vehicle. I'll never forget the
Speaker 2: vehicle either, Toyota, camer and Gray and at a body
Speaker 2: shop that wasn't very friendly. And while I was under there,
Speaker 2: after I was done, I was trying to get out
Speaker 2: from underneath it, and my legs wouldn't hold my weight
Speaker 2: to be able to pull my body.
Speaker 1: Out, something you had done a million times before.
Speaker 2: Right I was worried I was gonna be stuck under there.
Speaker 2: It was the first moment I think I felt far
Speaker 2: that was distinct as to what is happening.
Speaker 1: Attempting to shake off the awkward maneuvering, Trent took over
Speaker 1: two hours to drive just six miles home, struggling the
Speaker 1: whole way to control his eat on the pedals.
Speaker 4: What did you initially chalk that up to?
Speaker 2: I just thought I was tired. You know, we were
Speaker 2: coming up on Christmas. I had saved all year for
Speaker 2: Christmas time off so that we get spend our first
Speaker 2: Christmas with family, and I just thought my body was
Speaker 2: really a step ahead of me wanting to go on
Speaker 2: vacation a little early. And it was Nicole who said,
Speaker 2: this is not exhaustion, this is something else, and she
Speaker 2: called the position. She did all of this, so I
Speaker 2: would have continued just to write it off. And then
Speaker 2: he said I need to see him right away.
Speaker 1: And even in the midst of newborn twins with challenges,
Speaker 1: your wife took one look at you, and it was
Speaker 1: blatantly obvious to her.
Speaker 2: And she was not going to accept my answer if
Speaker 2: you're just tired.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you go to the doctors the next day.
Speaker 2: I did, and he could tell something was obviously wrong,
Speaker 2: but you know, it's kind of hard to diagnose just
Speaker 2: in a primaries office. So they sent me over to
Speaker 2: a facility that's just next door to get a seat
Speaker 2: exam done. And after it was all done, they said, okay,
Speaker 2: you can go, and I just looked at them and
Speaker 2: I said, I can't. I can't get up.
Speaker 1: And you know, the.
Speaker 2: First response was okay, that's sometimes that's normally been laying
Speaker 2: down for a while, and so we'll set you up.
Speaker 2: Was they're trying to sit me up, I'm still going backwards,
Speaker 2: so I can't move my arms the way I needed to.
Speaker 2: My head was kind of like a bobblehead. I couldn't
Speaker 2: really control the muscles of my neck. So they realized
Speaker 2: something was wrong in contacted ems. Then everything just cascaded downhill.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but that's it sounds like a horror movie.
Speaker 1: You can't wake up from.
Speaker 2: Very much, so because you're suddenly completely dependent on everybody else,
Speaker 2: and you don't know why.
Speaker 1: Trent suddenly began losing control of his motor skills. With
Speaker 1: no family nearby for support, Nicole had to stay home
Speaker 1: with the kids, receiving updates from Trent only when he
Speaker 1: had the energy, which made the uncertainty overwhelming.
Speaker 3: I was probably in disbelief, like, they'll figure it out.
Speaker 3: This is weird, just acutely paralyzed. It was kind of
Speaker 3: like he couldn't feel his arms, and then he couldn't
Speaker 3: feel his legs, and I was like, what is going on,
Speaker 3: and they'll figure out something, but they never did.
Speaker 2: So, yeah, spinal tap, reflex exams, strength testing, trying to
Speaker 2: figure out how spasticity. They were doing everything they could
Speaker 2: and nothing was spastic. It just wouldn't move. The main
Speaker 2: neurologist there, he was fantastic. So what he did. It
Speaker 2: brought in other neurologists. I think there were five or six,
Speaker 2: and they all came up with essentially the same diagnosis.
Speaker 2: But what was interesting is the first time I knew
Speaker 2: I was really in trouble was I noticed that they
Speaker 2: pronounced it a different way, each one of them, and
Speaker 2: so I just asked him point blank, I said, you
Speaker 2: don't see this very often? Do you, And he said
Speaker 2: most neu all just will go through their entire career
Speaker 2: and never see this like wellish comfort. And that was
Speaker 2: when it started to set in that something was really wrong.
Speaker 1: Trent soon found himself paralyzed from the waist down and
Speaker 1: losing feeling in other parts of his body. Doctors diagnosed
Speaker 1: him with Guyan Beret syndrome or GBS, a rare autoimmune
Speaker 1: disorder where the immune system attacks the nervous system, specifically
Speaker 1: the spine, causing muscle weakness and paralysis.
Speaker 3: And they told us when he first got sick that
Speaker 3: I would be a widow in about I think it
Speaker 3: was two months.
Speaker 1: Honestly, tell me exactly what they said and how.
Speaker 4: You process that?
Speaker 3: I mean, they said that his disease was progressive and
Speaker 3: that he wasn't going to make it and to prepare,
Speaker 3: you know, how do you process that? I think the
Speaker 3: only thing that I like, truly, really vividly remember is
Speaker 3: the grocery store down there is a Publix. I just
Speaker 3: remember being in like Aisle five of publics and then
Speaker 3: I have a little mental breakdown and I cried for
Speaker 3: about thirty seconds, and then I was like, Okay, put
Speaker 3: in my big girl pants in day by day. You
Speaker 3: just gotta do what you gotta do. That's like the
Speaker 3: one thing that I vividly remember from the whole thing,
Speaker 3: because all of it is just a blur, honestly.
Speaker 1: Once moved to the ICU, Trent's lungs began to shut
Speaker 1: down and he started losing more control of his bodily functions.
Speaker 1: Doctors acted quickly to prevent further damage. They attempted to
Speaker 1: regulate his immune system with steroids. Plasmaphoresis a process that
Speaker 1: filters harmful antibodies from the blood and replaces the plasma
Speaker 1: and intravenous immunoglobulin an infusion of antibodies, often called ivig.
Speaker 2: I needed to help give my body something else to
Speaker 2: fight instead of fighting itself. So the steroids did one
Speaker 2: good thing. They kept my lungs functioning, even though the
Speaker 2: rest of my body was getting worse. I was able
Speaker 2: to breathe independently. I was trying to move my body
Speaker 2: by trying to do what I could to move whatever
Speaker 2: would move like. I fell out of the bed a
Speaker 2: number of times, just trying to get some sort of
Speaker 2: function back. I just I didn't understand what was happening.
Speaker 1: The doctors were able to get Trent breathing on his
Speaker 1: own again, but regaining feeling in his limbs took more time.
Speaker 1: Once his GBS was under control, he was transferred to
Speaker 1: a rehab hospital to start rebuilding his strength. Do you
Speaker 1: remember the first time you saw in a coal?
Speaker 2: I saw in a coal right before they were going
Speaker 2: to transfer me.
Speaker 4: Do you remember the look on her face the first
Speaker 4: time she saw you in the hospital?
Speaker 2: What I remember? And I wish I could get the
Speaker 2: memory out of my head, but I remember being at
Speaker 2: to see through the doors of the ambulance and see
Speaker 2: her in my car behind the ambulance, and she could
Speaker 2: just kept wiping her eyes. She was going And I've
Speaker 2: never talked about that before, and I just I was helpless.
Speaker 2: I was completely helpless. Now she got these brand new
Speaker 2: babies at home that need their father, and she needs
Speaker 2: her husband. And that was what I broke. That was
Speaker 2: the first time I broke Ah, Trent. I felt like
Speaker 2: maybe I just needed to see her, Maybe it would
Speaker 2: give me a better perspective of what she was going through.
Speaker 4: Have you ever told her about that?
Speaker 2: No, that's literally the first time I've ever talked about it.
Speaker 1: So where were you on day one, had you lost
Speaker 1: all mobility?
Speaker 2: I was able to move my neck around, I couldn't
Speaker 2: really lift it very well, so I'm trying to get
Speaker 2: my neck to do that. That was difficult, but I'd
Speaker 2: learned is to compensate by trying to start turning on
Speaker 2: my side or helping somebody to turn on my side
Speaker 2: where I could look from different angles. But I tried
Speaker 2: to start building my hands back.
Speaker 1: Trent struggled to comprehend how he had lost his mobility
Speaker 1: so rapidly, even more daunting. He had to focus on
Speaker 1: building the resilience to fight through whatever recovery he could achieve.
Speaker 1: Are you being given options in terms of treatment at
Speaker 1: this point.
Speaker 2: No, This hospital had only seen it once or twice.
Speaker 2: The neurologists and some of the physicians, even the physical
Speaker 2: therapists had read about it, but they never treated a
Speaker 2: patient with this condition. And they were very honest about
Speaker 2: that fact, saying we're going to learn as we go,
Speaker 2: and that was a comfort to me. I was afraid
Speaker 2: that there was nobody I had to talk to, but
Speaker 2: for them to make that specific, I guess goal in
Speaker 2: mind that we're going to work on this together and
Speaker 2: figure this out together. That was incredible.
Speaker 1: At thirty seven was seven month old twins at home.
Speaker 1: Trent faced an unexpected and terrifying new reality. His vision
Speaker 1: of fatherhood turned on its head. The fear and uncertainty
Speaker 1: were beginning to feel insurmountable.
Speaker 2: I was overwhelmed. I remember that one as I could
Speaker 2: not get my heart to slow down because I was
Speaker 2: now farther away from my children and farther away from
Speaker 2: my wife. The only things that I could think about
Speaker 2: were the negative things. I couldn't think about the opportunity
Speaker 2: that was there in front of me with the people
Speaker 2: that were part of my support team, and my focus
Speaker 2: was on what I lost. You know, it was am
Speaker 2: I going to be able to go back to what
Speaker 2: I used to do? Not like this? It was very
Speaker 2: much wrapped up in the I can't do this anymore.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back with Symptomatic a Medical Mystery Podcast.
Speaker 1: Now back to Symptomatic a Medical Mystery Podcast. Trent's life
Speaker 1: suddenly changed when GBS caused him to lose control of
Speaker 1: his motor skills, landing him in the ICU with failing lungs.
Speaker 1: Doctors work to stabilize him with treatments like plasmaphoresis and IVG,
Speaker 1: eventually getting him breathing on his own again. However, feeling
Speaker 1: and mobility did not return, leaving his recovery uncertain. At
Speaker 1: thirty seven, with seven month old twins at home, Trent
Speaker 1: and his family were desperate to rebuild his strength and
Speaker 1: adapt to this new reality.
Speaker 3: He was in this motorized wheelchair. We were living in
Speaker 3: a two story home at the time. He was never fat,
Speaker 3: that he was a lot heavier than he is now,
Speaker 3: and just being able to not use his hands fully.
Speaker 3: I mean, our life was like a shit show for
Speaker 3: like a very long time because we got the infants
Speaker 3: and then they're in their little bumbo chairs and then
Speaker 3: their little bouncy chairs, and there's like bottles everywhere and
Speaker 3: the dog running around, and then this motorized wheelchair that
Speaker 3: was like a behemoth, and he couldn't really use his
Speaker 3: arm so much, and then we had to physically restructure
Speaker 3: everything in the house because he couldn't reach things up
Speaker 3: in the cabinet.
Speaker 1: Feeling overwhelmed, Trent and Nicole decided to move from Florida
Speaker 1: to Texas. Being closer to Trent's family meant they would
Speaker 1: have the extra help and support they truly needed.
Speaker 2: And literally the first day we moved back to Texas.
Speaker 2: The next day my father died and so we were
Speaker 2: short of a huge part of my support system because
Speaker 2: he had really come through and been there to help
Speaker 2: me try to get back up on my feet. So
Speaker 2: we navigated a lot of grief and a lot of
Speaker 2: difficult situations.
Speaker 1: Thankfully, through seemingly in surmountable challenges came a glimmer of hope.
Speaker 1: Trent's new physical therapist decided it would be beneficial to
Speaker 1: involve his family, including the kids, while establishing a strength
Speaker 1: building routine. This was especially meaningful because his son, Logan,
Speaker 1: born prematurely and delayed in his development, was still learning
Speaker 1: how to move and walk.
Speaker 2: A lot of the physical therapy movements were trying to
Speaker 2: get at core strength, so it puts you on a
Speaker 2: big medicine ball rolling back and forth. Logan was laying
Speaker 2: next to me, and so somebody went and got a
Speaker 2: small medicine ball and put him on the medicine ball.
Speaker 2: Here's this little baby who is learning how to walk
Speaker 2: the same time his dad is. It gave me such
Speaker 2: an inspiring view as to my relationship with my kids,
Speaker 2: because I felt like I was losing that because I
Speaker 2: was away from them. It was beautiful. He got stronger, stronger, quicker,
Speaker 2: and quicker because we spent that same time together.
Speaker 1: Oh, does he have any idea how much he inspired
Speaker 1: you through those dark times?
Speaker 2: I let him know that. All the time people ask
Speaker 2: me who your hero is or who gives you the
Speaker 2: most strength? And my kids do. And I told Logan
Speaker 2: from the beginning, I said, people think I'm a fighter, said,
Speaker 2: they don't know your story. I said, when they hear
Speaker 2: your story, they realize where my strength comes from. And
Speaker 2: I said, my strength comes from comes from you, Bud.
Speaker 2: And you can see the mile creep in on this
Speaker 2: little teenager face.
Speaker 1: A smile I got to see. So you guys learned
Speaker 1: to walk together. Basically, Yes, that's amazing. Do you know
Speaker 1: what he told me? What he told me that you
Speaker 1: are his hero?
Speaker 2: He is also my hero. So started to see some improvement.
Speaker 2: We reached a point where I was able to use
Speaker 2: a walker with some AFOs, the ankle foot orthosis, which
Speaker 2: for those that don't know, it's basically a brace that's
Speaker 2: right on top of your calfs and your legs and
Speaker 2: designed to give you some stability. So I was able
Speaker 2: to reach the point where I was able to function
Speaker 2: that way. I couldn't drive or anything like that, but
Speaker 2: I was able to get some movement. And then about
Speaker 2: ten months later I started going downhill again.
Speaker 1: And when it came back, what were the symptoms? What
Speaker 1: did that look like?
Speaker 2: The pain was immense, the spasticity was just out of control.
Speaker 2: The best explanation is, if you get the right treatment
Speaker 2: and your body starts to restart, because basically your body
Speaker 2: is shutting down, you have a really good chance for
Speaker 2: the nerves to start connecting the way they should. In
Speaker 2: my case, they didn't, so it sparked sharp pains. The
Speaker 2: spasms were brutal. The spasms were so bad at some
Speaker 2: point in my neck my neck would try to snap itself.
Speaker 2: I couldn't keep it in control, job would pop. It
Speaker 2: was very painful. So as the pain continued, the depression
Speaker 2: kicks in, the fear kicks in at that point. From
Speaker 2: what you read is that it's extremely rare for gallmbre
Speaker 2: to come back, and if it does, it will typically
Speaker 2: come back worse. But this was very similar.
Speaker 1: So you now have a great team caring for you.
Speaker 1: Are they testing you now? Are they questioning your initial diagnosis.
Speaker 2: They weren't necessarily questioning the initial diagnosis, but the longevity
Speaker 2: of what I was going through, so GALLMBRE. Typically, whatever
Speaker 2: damage it's done is done towards the beginning and next
Speaker 2: days in your system, usually typically around two years. But
Speaker 2: min had gone well beyond that, and I'd seen such
Speaker 2: a drastic quick decline on the second go ROUNM that
Speaker 2: that's when they went in and took a look at it,
Speaker 2: and they said, okay, well, whatever was in the beginning
Speaker 2: may have been so, but what fit much more broader
Speaker 2: base in terms of what I was going to face
Speaker 2: for the rest of my life was CIDP.
Speaker 1: Due to the prolonged duration of the symptoms, doctor's corrected
Speaker 1: trench diagnosis to CIDP chronic inflammatory demielinating poly neuropathy.
Speaker 2: Maybe the best description I was given about CIDP is
Speaker 2: your nerves have a covering on top of it, and
Speaker 2: the covering is a milin sheath. And what happens that
Speaker 2: your body is attacking that mile in sheet that's attacking
Speaker 2: your nerve endings. So as it goes through the mile
Speaker 2: in sheath, and your nerves are kind of exposed, and
Speaker 2: so if they're exposed it becomes more difficult to do
Speaker 2: the things that you would normally do. Your body can't recover,
Speaker 2: it doesn't function the same way you know where. It
Speaker 2: might affect your gait, It might affect your breathing, It
Speaker 2: might affect your ability to pick things up, your dexterity
Speaker 2: that could be very frustrating. In a similar form is
Speaker 2: the GBS. Basically, your body is constantly attacking itself. So
Speaker 2: it's another autoimmune situation.
Speaker 1: And I'm assuming you'd ever heard of it before.
Speaker 2: I had no idea what it was.
Speaker 1: CIDP is a rare disease, often misdiagnosed as GBS. While
Speaker 1: GBS comes on quickly and intensely, CIDP develops gradually over
Speaker 1: time and becomes chronic, making it a long term challenge
Speaker 1: to diagnose and treat. And Trent was hit with both
Speaker 1: in just a few years. Were you given a prognosis,
Speaker 1: were you told what you should expect?
Speaker 2: So we did ibig. So that is a really kind
Speaker 2: of a go to treatment protocol for people with CIDP
Speaker 2: in most cases, especially the ones that are more severe.
Speaker 1: Due to the similarities between GBS and CIDP, both conditions
Speaker 1: are treated with the same methods over different periods of time.
Speaker 1: Trent's IVIG treatment was reinstated in hopes that it would
Speaker 1: be more effective over a longer deraation.
Speaker 2: It gives your body something else to fight, so your
Speaker 2: body that's become very confused and is attacking itself will
Speaker 2: start to attack the medicine to where your body can
Speaker 2: start to rebuild that mile in sheath, so there's a
Speaker 2: small shelf life. Ten days into the treatment, you could
Speaker 2: feel it, you could fill. Your body starting to get weaker,
Speaker 2: and it becomes harder to push a wheelchair. You start
Speaker 2: dropping things and get much more exhausted quicker.
Speaker 1: By twenty thirteen, two years into his fight, Trent faced
Speaker 1: a new challenge CIDP. The progress he had made in
Speaker 1: physical therapy was slipping away, and painful flare ups had returned.
Speaker 1: Seeing this, Trent's doctors decided it was time to take
Speaker 1: more drastic measures to stop the deterioration and repair the damage.
Speaker 2: I went to a particular doctor that I'd heard of,
Speaker 2: and he recommended that I get an implant put into
Speaker 2: my spine. So I agreed. I was nervous, but having
Speaker 2: something that was really stuck with me for the rest
Speaker 2: of my life, but it made sense the way it
Speaker 2: was explained. But something went wrong. So in the surgery,
Speaker 2: there were some decisions made by the surgeon that went
Speaker 2: against protocol for what she would do with that implant,
Speaker 2: and he ended up cutting into my t ten vertebra.
Speaker 2: So I didn't know what had happened. I knew before
Speaker 2: I had weak and kind of the tingly feeling of
Speaker 2: my legs that's really annoying pins and needles type feeling.
Speaker 2: Suddenly I went to I couldn't feel them at all.
Speaker 2: And then it wasn't until twenty fourteen where I realized
Speaker 2: just how bad of the mistake he had made.
Speaker 1: On next week's season finale of Symptomatic, we continue Trent's
Speaker 1: story as the consequences of the failed surgery quickly push
Speaker 1: him to the brink of death.
Speaker 2: I ended up having two embolisms by back. The second
Speaker 2: one actually killed me, and I wasn't gone very long
Speaker 2: and they sat down and they said they needed to
Speaker 2: talk to me. That's never a good starting point to
Speaker 2: a conversation when it's a doctor. And they said, there's
Speaker 2: not anything more that we can do for you.
Speaker 1: But Trent refused to let his dire prognosis to find
Speaker 1: his future. Determined he would discover a treatment that would
Speaker 1: not only restore his mobility, but also place him on
Speaker 1: a path to becoming a world championship athlete. As always,
Speaker 1: we would love to hear from you. Send us your
Speaker 1: thoughts on this episode or share a medical mystery of
Speaker 1: your own at Symptomatic at iHeartMedia dot com. And please
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Speaker 1: We'll see you next time. Until then, be well. Symptomatic
Speaker 1: is a production of Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia. Our show
Speaker 1: is hosted by me Lauren Bret Pacheco. Executive producers are
Speaker 1: Matt Romano and myself. Our EP of Post Production is
Speaker 1: James Foster. Our Supervising producer is Cierra Kaiser. Our writers
Speaker 1: are John Irwin and Diana Davis, and our editor is
Speaker 1: Sierra Spreen, with additional help from Matt Stillo.