Friday, July 2, 2010

A Modern Day Samaritan

As in the previous post I mentioned that Craig my super, tough, husband had been suffering mightily over the past six weeks! One time I actually took him to the Emergency Room! He had been to the clinic a couple of times with his aliments. They ran some blood work to see if they could pin point the Auto Immune disease that he had. When the test results came back they pointed strongly in the direction of Lupus. He has been so sick and every time he'd get a new boil on his chin he'd end up with a new, and bigger battle with Lupus. Every time you have an episode your internal organs are at risk. That is what Lupus does, it doesn't recognize that your organs are good, so they are under attack and can be destroyed. So YES I was panicked!!!!!!!! We talked to our Family Doctor, a man who goes to our church. He said that he'd call and try to get Craig into a Rheumatologist, by the name of Dr. Steven Call. Well, Craig was so sick, not sleeping, eating (he lost 12 pounds in 2 weeks!), suffering with swollen hands, and feet, along with extreme muscle and joint pain, along with MRSA! He was so miserable that he ended up calling Dr. Calls office. They told him they'd move his file to the front, and try and get him in. When he came home early from work (yes he went to work!!!!) I called the office again, and talked with Bonnie. I said, "sorry but I'm going to cry", and through tears I told her what was going on with Craig. She told me that he had an appointment on the 12th of July. I begged for something sooner. Bonnie told me that if I called my family doctor, who will remain un-named that they could possibly get him in sooner! I called and asked him to call me back. His nurse called Craig and asked if there was a problem. He explained to her what was going on. She said she'd talk to the doctor and get back with him. The very next day we got a call from Bonnie at Dr. Call's office, she said that Craig could come in at 4:00 that very day, we were elated! So thankful for a doctor who cared. The next day we got to Dr. Calls office, while there Craig got a call from the family doctors receptionist, and was told that the doctor had reviewed the appointment date, and had decided that the 12th was the soonest that Craig would be able to get in! I bet she was surprised to hear that Craig was already in Dr. Calls office! Dr. Call spent an hour with Craig they took more tests and he is to go back in on the 15th to see if it is really Lupus, or something else.

While I am so surprised at the complete apathy that was shown to Craig by our family doctor. I am so thankful for Bonnie and the care and concern she had for me, a complete stranger in need! I can never in a million years let her know how thankful I am for her, and others like her, who really are modern Good Samaritans!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Stupid Staff for a Staph Infection!

My sweet, kind, never complaining husband, has been suffering terribly for the past 6 weeks. About 13 years ago he was diagnosed with an auto immune disease, Sjordroms Syndrome, with the expectation of something bigger to come down the pike. He had a few minor flare ups over the years, fever, aches and pains, along with a dry mouth and eyes... In the past 6 weeks he has had three major, very scary episodes. He also has had a couple of bouts with Staph Infection both on his chin, something on its own to be concerned about! The second time around he ended up with a growth about the size of a baseball on his chin. I went to the doctors office with him. I asked if they could take a culture of it to see if it was MRSA. The doctor laughed (grrrrr) and said since he'd already been on antibiotics it probably wouldn't show up. He'd only been on them for one day! He was going to stick a needle into it to see if anything would come out. I asked if he could lance it, again a laugh with a roll of the eyes! Since I am of no use in a needles, and blood situation I left the room. In my absence they found out that a needle wouldn't do anything, and then decided to lance the boil. And needless to say they got a ton of infection out of it! So much that they had to pack the hole that they had cleaned it out of. They also decided to take a culture and send it to the lab. About five days later the test results came back and what was it? MRSA the worse type of Staph Infection!