Musculoskeletal and Neurologic System

Using the South University Online Library or the Internet, research about the conditions affecting the musculoskeletal and the neurologic systems. Based on your research and understanding, answer the questions that follow each scenario:

A 58-year-old female is admitted for a work up for a complaint of neck and low back pain. During admission, you discover that she underwent a renal transplant six years ago. The patient also had blood work collected. When you review the findings, you notice that her serum calcium is elevated at 13.9 (Normal values range from 8.5 to 10.2 mg/dl), her CBC shows a hematocrit of 33%, and hemoglobin of 11.1 g/dl (normal adult female hematocrit Range: 37-47%, normal adult female hemoglobin range: 12-16 g/dl).

• What does this mean and what could be the underlying cause of her pain and her abnormal lab values?
• What other assessments would be helpful?

A 12-year-old female is admitted with severe pain in her spine. While checking history, the patient and her mother state that several weeks ago the patient was treated for an upper respiratory infection. The infection subsided after several days of taking antibiotics. However, several days later, the child complained of joint swelling and pain in her right elbow, which subsided, but then seemed to migrate to her left knee. A week later, today, the child began to complain of worsening back pain. The mother has been treating the pain with over the counter pain medication and heat and ice packs, but this did not seem to help.

• What are the possible causes of the pain and how you would proceed?

A 33-year-old Hispanic male is admitted and complains of a tingling sensation in his left leg, vertigo, and loss of balance. When you begin to perform intake history, you notice that his speech is slurred, his teeth are in need of repair, and he seems to be very drowsy.

• What other findings may you find in this individual?
• What would you think is the underlying cause of this patient's complaint?
• How would you proceed with your assessment specifically for this patient?

A patient is admitted to the unit. He is a diabetic on chronic hemodialysis. He has an Arteriovenous (A-V) graft, which is annulated each time he undergoes dialysis treatments. You notice an area on his graft arm that is red and warm to the touch. He states that he has had this on his arm for several weeks. He asked the dialysis staff about the area, but they told him to apply warm compresses to the site. The staff at the dialysis center continues to use the graft, but they are careful to avoid the area when they cannulate for his treatments. Now the patient presents with extreme low back pain, fever, nausea, and swelling of his lower extremities. On checking his fasting serum glucose, you notice that the reading is 159 (Normal fasting blood glucose range 64 to 110 mg/dl), and his white blood cell count is 36,000 (normal range is 4,500-10,000 white blood cells/mcl). He states that his sugars were normally well controlled, but in the past ten days he seems to be requiring more insulin.

• How would you proceed with this patient?
• What could be the underlying problem?