198 replies to this topic

[Ogul]

I figured I'd take this holiday season to tell a story, with a sad start, but a happy ending, I'll let you know that in advance.

You may have read about my dad's medical problems earlier this year. Not a week after retiring from the State department at the age of 70, he went in for a fairly routine prostate biopsy, and this gave him a severe resistant strain of e.coli. He went into a local clinic for a checkup the next day, since he was having chills and fever, but the doctors there said he should be ok on the anti-biotics he'd been taking already (that were intended to head off this sort of thing, but it was resistant to them). He went home, but several days later he was still getting chills, and finally they got bad enough that they would practically paralyze him for over a half-hour, so we called an ambulance and got him to Frederick Memorial Hospital. As it turned out, by this point he was in septic shock (which only like 70% of people his age survive) and they were really concerned about him, but they were able to stabilize him well enough, figure out what drugs would hopefully be effective over the next few days, and keep him going. He was in fairly good outward shape within a week or so, but they kept him in the hospital for about a month until they were sure that the infection was no longer active within him.

At this point he was allowed to go home, but with what's called a "picc line," which is like a semi-permanent iv port in his arm that we could use to give him thrice-daily anti-biotic regimens. We had to give him these treatments for another six weeks or so, with periodic nurse visits, but he seemed to be getting better and was largely mobile, although he expressed a slight weakness and started to complain of some back pain, which was attributed to having been in bed for most of the last couple months. They took some x-rays, but didn't see anything of concern, and sent him to a physical therapist who had him run some exercises to help rebuild his leg and core muscles, believing their weakness to be the problem. Bare in mind that while he is a bit overweight, and never in peak health, he had been before walking at least six blocks or more a day without difficulty, so he was by no means as frail as some 70 year olds might be. After a few weeks of this though, he was getting profound weakness in his legs, to the point he could barely hold his weight, so his physical therapist contacted his general practitioner and insisted he get an MRI, which showed a mass in his lower back.

As it turned out, this was a mass of bacterial matter that had accumulated while he was sick, and sort of congealed around his lower spine, deteriorating it and compressing the nerves there. It hadn't been a problem at first because it was in a relatively safe position, but something had caused it to shift into a position that caused problems. He had immediate surgery to remove the infected tissue, spent another couple weeks in the hospital, and returned home, again on an antibiotic regimen, although they were fairly sure that the mass was already dead bacteria and no longer growing. While at home he was barely able to move about the house with a walker, spent most of his time either in bed or in an easy chair, and could barely do anything for himself. Without my mom around to help out we would have been in a lot of trouble. He had nurses and physical therapists come in every few days and try to help him out, but he was in immense pain at this point, taking a morphine-based patch (similar to nicotine patches) and also Vicodin, and still describing the pain as being significant. His legs did not seem to be recovering any strength, and on the same day that a wheel chair we'd ordered came in, his nurse insisted that he go to the hospital, which he did, and a second scan showed some damage they didn't get the last time.

He had one surgery immediately to again clear out that area, but they wanted to go back in and rebuild some structural support to repair the damage done to the discs. At this point my mother was getting a bit concerned at the level of work being done, and called in a contact we'd acquired at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, which is a fairly well known local hospital that we'd had good results from before. They agreed to treat him and shipped him over. He had surgery there, during which they put some metal screws and stuff in there, and he spent a week or so in recovery, and then he applied for and was admitted to their rehabilitation program, which we found to be very well designed. From there he's made rapid recovery, able to use a walker without too much difficulty while at the hospital, he only had to use the wheelchair a few times to get in and out of the home, and that was more precautionary than necessary. He had to spend several weeks after leaving the hospital on IVs again, but that's over with now, the picc line's out, and he's been slowly reducing the level of the pain medication to the point that he should be off it entirely soon. He also had to wear a chest brace, which I said made him look like Tony Stark, for a few weeks after coming home, but that's off now too.

His movement is also greatly improved, he can get around the house just fine with a walker, pretty much at a standard speed, he can stand freely if necessary but is still a little off balance, and can use a standard cane to get around and to go up and down stairs, but at the moment only with his therapist nearby to monitor him, but hopefully soon he should be able to move freely with just the cane, and they're quite hopeful he won't even need that after a while! He still has some weakness in his legs, but given his minimal lower body exercise over the past six months, and that he's still rebuilding the nerve pathways from the surgery, he's made remarkable progress. Hopefully, that's the end of the trouble, and it'll be all to the good from here on out, but the moral of the story is, don't get a prostate biopsy, they're dangerous. For the record, the biopsy came up negative anyways.

[garjones]

Glad to hear he's on the mend Ogul.

[Ogul]

It's also worth pointing out that through all of this he was on Medicare and his government-supported Blue Cross health care, without which we'd be down hundreds of thousands of dollars by this point. God help anyone who has something like this occur without a good health care plan, it certainly wasn't anything we'd planned on happening, and the alternatives to getting the best care possible would have been death in the early stages, and likely complete and permanent lower-body paralysis in the latter phases.

[brucegray666]

'king hell, that sounds mad Ogul. Glad to hear your old boy is ok and hope he continues to get better at the speedy rate he's alreay been recovering at.

[Ulf Imwiehe]

My best wishes to your dad and your family, Ogul.

[garjones]

It's also worth pointing out that through all of this he was on Medicare and his government-supported Blue Cross health care, without which we'd be down hundreds of thousands of dollars by this point. God help anyone who has something like this occur without a good health care plan, it certainly wasn't anything we'd planned on happening, and the alternatives to getting the best care possible would have been death in the early stages, and likely complete and permanent lower-body paralysis in the latter phases.

Which is why I have my avatar. Free healthcare at point of service should be a basic human right.

[Russell H]

God bless the NHS.

[Stephen G]

My left thumb nail saved me from a trip to the hospital, today. I am...however...missing 1/4 of my nail & all the nerves in my left thumb are shot, for awhile. Good times....

[Ogul]

My left thumb nail saved me from a trip to the hospital, today. I am...however...missing 1/4 of my nail & all the nerves in my left thumb are shot, for awhile. Good times....

There's a story in there, somewhere. . .

[brucegray666]

There's a story in there, somewhere. . .

I wonder if it's connected to all the gun pics he posted on Twitter yesterday...

[Mike]

I just sneezed so hard all the muscles in my right arm are aching. I think I heard someone in the next door flat say 'Bless you' too.

[al-x]

Hello:

I've been chastised by some of you for not coming forward
with personal stuff. Now I will come clean…

I am starting to feel stressed out between demands at work,
family, and other day in day out stuff. Constant demands on
me and my time to help out with errands, work tasks, and so
on and if I say no I get labeled a you know what.

I started noticing it when I got frustrated at the stores for being
in long lines that don't move fast enough and not getting to sleep
because of intrusive thoughts of the days events.

I am not having much time to do what I want.
Sure, I go on MW and play games sometimes but that is not
enough. I see this as a rough stretch and after the holidays
hopefully it will subside.

It makes me wonder about how you all handle stress with work,
school, family etc.



Al...

[Steve Sensible]

It makes me wonder about how you all handle stress with work,
school, family etc.

I go out at night and kill random strangers.

[Todd Gross]

I go out at night and kill random strangers.

I prefer to kill sequential strangers.


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[Steve Sensible]

I prefer to kill sequential strangers.

That's because you have OCD.

I'm more CDO. It's like OCD, but the letters are in alphabetical order.

[Russell H]

That's because you have OCD.

I'm more CDO. It's like OCD, but the letters are in alphabetical order.

I was told I have COD, but there's something fishy about that...

[Arjan Dirkse]

Hello:

I've been chastised by some of you for not coming forward
with personal stuff. Now I will come clean…

I am starting to feel stressed out between demands at work,
family, and other day in day out stuff. Constant demands on
me and my time to help out with errands, work tasks, and so
on and if I say no I get labeled a you know what.

I started noticing it when I got frustrated at the stores for being
in long lines that don't move fast enough and not getting to sleep
because of intrusive thoughts of the days events.

I am not having much time to do what I want.
Sure, I go on MW and play games sometimes but that is not
enough. I see this as a rough stretch and after the holidays
hopefully it will subside.

It makes me wonder about how you all handle stress with work,
school, family etc.



Al...

I don't handle stress...at all. I am the least stress resistant person I can imagine. So some situations I have to avoid altogether, especially places with lots of people and noises. What happens is that my thought processes start going all wonky, like a car with a drunk driver. It's a bit of a handicap, but it's something I've learned to live with.

[garjones]

It makes me wonder about how you all handle stress with work,
school, family etc.

I don't do it as much as I should but physical exertion helps, not necessarily the gym or a training program but just putting on your iPod and going for a brisk walk that works up a bit of a sweat (although in this country you can sweat just sitting down but you know what I mean). It really does help clear all those thoughts buzzing around and help you sleep.

[brucegray666]

I don't do it as much as I should but physical exertion helps, not necessarily the gym or a training program but just putting on your iPod and going for a brisk walk that works up a bit of a sweat (although in this country you can sweat just sitting down but you know what I mean). It really does help clear all those thoughts buzzing around and help you sleep.

Yeah, I do this most days too. I always get off the bus on the way home and walk 10 minutes to a bus stop further up the road. I'm going to start running again in the new year - I always find that's a great unwinder too.

[stephanie familiar]

I don't handle stress...at all. I am the least stress resistant person I can imagine.

ya, i totally break down and shut down when stressed. you will find me in bed, sleeping for 24 hours straight, when i am stressed or experiencing anxiety.