OperaTenor

[dai bread]

Hear, hear.

At least I now know what my trouble is:

Age-related changes, such as decreases in ... brain size...

My wife's brother still rides at 67, without trouble. His friend of a similar age came off his bike and was severely mangled. He's o.k now but it took a while.

[piqaboo]

OT has a friend, a former member of the opera chorus, who annually rides the Alps. He's serious business on a motorcycle.
He's also in his late 70's. Last year he was out of action for 3 months due to an accident; he fell, trying to put his trousers on, and broke a bone in his leg.
Life...

[piqaboo]

OT is in hospital with a very serious case of cellulitis. Outpatient treatment began Wed past, and was ineffective such that we got him admitted on Saturday, and it kept getting worse. Its compounded by the fact that the leg was swelling and not draining. This is the leg that was really messed up by the bike accident. On Sunday, a infection-type specialist came on board, did a thorough and very interesting history, then physical eval. The Da Man then informed the nurse we were going with really big guns antibiotics, starting right now, this minute (which was about 4 pm).
And so they did: 900 mg x 3x per day ... brain blank...., 300 gm 4x day Zosyn, and ? Vancomycin, 3x daily.
About 8 pm we think we saw some improvement, and this was confirmed this am by Da Man, but its still a long way out of the woods, and still very scary. Da Man has still not used words like 'when you go home'.
On the positive side, doppler shows OT still has a pulse in his ankle, inspite of that ankle swollen to 3x its usual size,
he still has sensation and movement in his toes. and tho the redness has spread well above the knee, there is no tenderness up there,
and they've found nothing in blood cultures (taken before or after the antibiotics). Fingers crossed these things stay true.
On the scary side (as if it needed another one), two of these meds are known to have occasional extremely serious side effects on the bowels, as much as months down the road.

[DavidS]

Best wishes to OT for a full and speedy recovery.
Never tell him again to break a leg.

[Trumpetmaster]

My prayers are with you for a speedy recovery.
Also, I am going to place you on my church's prayer list.

[Shapley]

He is in my prayers as well!

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Yikes! Gorillacillin, Tyrannosauracillin, and Whompacillin too! Can he have chicken soup? Should I make some chicken soup?

[Haggis@wk]

It seems to be the week for crips. The MRHYN had back surgery yesterday and will, hopefully, come home today. She apparently had a cyst pressing on her nerves that left her left leg in horrible pain. All very sudden, she first saw a doctor 1/12 week ago (GP) saw spine specialist Wednesday last week and he wanted to put her into the hospital that day. We negotiated that to yesterday and as of this writing she is resting in the hospital. The cyst was a slow growing one caused, apparently, by a fall on her butt skating on ice as a teenager; kinda slow growing until it started causing pain.

Regardless, it sounds as though OT got the worst of it as the MRHYN is already saying the pain in her leg is completely gone; now, as for that 3 inch incision on her spine......

Hmmmm, time to challenge OT to that footrace I've been planning.......

[Trumpetmaster]

Yikes! Gorillacillin, Tyrannosauracillin, and Whompacillin too! Can he have chicken soup? Should I make some chicken soup?

Chicken Soup!!!!

The best!!!

[dai bread]

I'm sorry to hear about O.T.'s infection. I'm glad he bit the bullet and went into hospital, even though he hates the system, and I hope he's well looked after this time. Infections have a habit of recurring if they're not cleared out properly. Good luck!

[piqaboo]

Thanks, all.
As OT put it today, he now feels confident he'll leave the hospital alive. We couldnt say that over the weekend.
He's full of praise for the medical treatment he's receiving. Every nurse (RN) has been terrific, and the CNAs too. There's one standout lady who is a pistol, who's especially dear to us. Today's young gentleman was another. The infection specialists is quite amazing too.

While I dread the copay and uncovered portions of the bill,
I'm glad we have some kind of insurance because he's getting red carpet treatment and its barely enough. I have been lax in checking where our coverage has gaps. I know we're not supposed to have single rooms, but he's in a 'wear gown and gloves to visit' room, so they cant exactly pair him up w someone else.

Time to put the small one to bed. Sometime this week, I need to go backto work too.
Again, thanks you all for the good wishes.

[BigJon]

Best wishes OT, get well soon!

[jamiebk]

OT...hope you are back on those feet SOON! We're all thinkin' about you.

[piqaboo]

There was visible progress since yesterday, and the highlight of my day happened at 6 am when Dr Sunshine arrived (not his real name, just his timing and temperament).
He used words like "start to think of developing a plan for mananging this when you rejoin the community".
The infection has been beaten back to about its mid-Friday levels. There is a long way to go. OT appreciates your concern.

Altoid came to visit last night and asked what was in the IV bags. He told her "Chocolate, Nutella, and banana". She loved it (and then she asked him "No, dad, Really. Whats in them?")

[Schmeelkie]

Best wishes to OT! Sounds like Altoid is handling it well - it can be so hard on the little ones when a parent is hospitalized. I know my nephew (6 yrs old) had a hard time of it when he witnessed his grandpa fall off a ladder and get taken away by ambulance. Both are fine now (don't think grandpa will be playing squash again even now 5 months later), but sister-in-law had a lot of work keeping calm around her son and reassuring him, trying not to lose it in front of him.

Haggis - I like your race idea! I avoid running like the plague, so that would be my kind of race!

And we can always stage a 'get OT back on stage' fundraiser if the bills are truely out of control! And talk to your work about some kind of medical help leave if necessary...

[piqaboo]

Schmeelkie, good info. thanks.
Am meeting w HR today, and one question is how do I bill my time M-W, when I was at his bedside.

Progress overnight, tho not as fast as the Dr expected. WBCs rising still, indicating perhaps a localized pocket of infection isolated from the antibiotics. So far they cant find it tho, neither by MRI, Xray, ultrasound, nor palpitation.
Yesterday and today, some talk of outpatient treatment. Antibiotics changed this am. Depending on how he responds, could go outpatient as soon as tomorrow. OT now has orders to take many short walks thru out the day. This is painful, so its good that the nursing staff overall is so delightful, because they have to nag him and then prep him and then follow along w the IV stand.

[Giant Communist Robot]

Sorry to hear about OT's illness. Hope all goes well and he gets better soon. Get him out of that hospital before he catches something else!

[piqaboo]

WBC count down yesterday, leg still improving slowly.
Got a little side infection (c. difficile) from the antibiotics, so he's getting to 'do shots' - they put vancomycin in a syringe without a needle, and squirt it into his mouth. Apparently its completely horrible tasting. Fortunately it doesnt have an aftertaste. The process provides us much sophmoric amusement, 3x a day.

OT's ready for discharge to a skilled nursing facility if they can find one that can provide him a single room for isolation.
The caseworker tried for 6 hrs yesterday and couldnt, so OT gets the luxury of more time in the expert hands of the hospital.
Lest you wonder, from my POV this is a good thing.

He'll lose at least two operas this season as rehearsals begin next week and he's not allowed to spend time sitting for at least two weeks.
Oh the other hand, it seems he's keeping the leg, so we can deal, y' know?

Not much mobility. He takes frequent walks - they are about 25 steps long, then its back to being flat w leg in air.
Phone calls, texts, and visits much appreciated as he is well now, except for the leg.

[Shapley]

Tell him he has my very best wishes!

[Haggis@wk]

WBC count down yesterday, leg still improving slowly.
Got a little side infection (c. difficile) from the antibiotics, so he's getting to 'do shots' - they put vancomycin in a syringe without a needle, and squirt it into his mouth. Apparently its completely horrible tasting. Fortunately it doesnt have an aftertaste. The process provides us much sophmoric amusement, 3x a day.

OT's ready for discharge to a skilled nursing facility if they can find one that can provide him a single room for isolation.
The caseworker tried for 6 hrs yesterday and couldnt, so OT gets the luxury of more time in the expert hands of the hospital.
Lest you wonder, from my POV this is a good thing.

He'll lose at least two operas this season as rehearsals begin next week and he's not allowed to spend time sitting for at least two weeks.
Oh the other hand, it seems he's keeping the leg, so we can deal, y' know?

Not much mobility. He takes frequent walks - they are about 25 steps long, then its back to being flat w leg in air.
Phone calls, texts, and visits much appreciated as he is well now, except for the leg.

Oops! ignore my PM, you've updated me