Morning All! I got a PM from HBManOfTheCorseDude. Here is what he had to say about his dad:
Dad is going better since I got here, then little brother got here, then Dad's best friend of 50+ years got here, then tonight his cousin.
Seems like each visitor brings more good vibes.
As far as I'm concerned, we are still on a razor's edge, but:
1. His white blood cell count has come back all the way down to a "normal" & "healthy" range of 10-12. No longer in the 160,000 range it was four days ago, or the 50,000 range of two days ago.
2. His body temp has stabilized for just over 24hrs, under 100*F. It's been an average of 105 since he went in. The doctors and nurses say this means the septic shock/sepsis is losing its grip.
3. They believe he has an MSSA type staph infection, and they think they've found the point of entry. An unassuming ..... on his finger from a splinter he got a day or two before he collapsed and was taken to the hospital. Treatment for this is responding normally. It's just hard considering everything else.
4. As of now, the diagnosis contains permanent kidney damage, which means dialysis multiple times per week, for life. This remains to be finalized.
He also said he's been lurking but his ability to post from the hospital is very limited. One thing he wanted everyone to know was how PROUD he is of the Provarinati for banding together to get USMC a Radius. I join him in his pride, even if some may question whether he was deserving of this or not.
Now my update on my brother:
My Sister in Law is from Brazil and her English is not the easiest to get. But she called this morning and said they were transferring my brother to another area of the hospital. Turns out the bad bacteria he got in his blood is E-Coli. And it became so virulent, it shut down his kidneys, so he may have kidney issues for the rest of his life, like HB's dad. The E-Coli likely got in his blood after a routine urological procedure he had, which involved inserting a catheter. I've done some research this morning and was surprised to learn we all have E-Coli bacteria in our intestines. Typically, it's not harmful to us in any way. But if we have a compromised immune system and it gets in our blood, often via urinary entry, it can be fatal. My brother does have a compromised immune system after having Leukemia (even though it is in remission).
The prognosis for my brother is still good, but they will be putting the medicine directly into his heart for the next 10 days. I won't breath a sigh of relief until that course of treatment is finished.
I hope everyone has a good Sunday
Ps: Cable, Telephone and Internet is all up and running smoothly this morning. Maybe, just maybe this Fios stuff is going to work OK!