David's sick
I think most people have gotten the news from other channels, but David is sick right now. He has meningitis, though we don't know if it's viral or bacterial yet.
Basically, last week, he got sick - nasty fever, chills, headache, achy. He slowly started improving Saturday. We thought that it very well might have been a reaction to a steroid treatment he was getting for his thumb (he has a hurt tendon). By Saturday night, Sunday morning, he seemed to be well on the mend. Then Sunday night, he got the headache again and his fever came back up. It was really bad overnight, so when he got up, he called the doctor and went in. At the doctor's, they sent him home & told him to go to the ER. They wanted him to get tests done which they couldn't easily do. So I came home from work (Kris is watching the kids during all of this) & took him. At the ER, they took every fluid known to man & analyzed it, did a CAT scan to make sure he didn't have tumors in his head or anything, & did a spinal tap. The spinal tap came back positive for infection, so they immediately started him on antibiotics & transferred him to inpatient care at a different hospital. He's still on the antibiotics, plus pain medication (morphine, vicoden, etc) for the head, and various other things (sleeping pills, anti-inflammatories, etc). He's also was limited to laying on his back all last night, due to the lumbar puncture.
For the next 2 days, they are keeping him in isolation (you have to wear a gown, gloves, & mask to see him) until they find out if it's bacterial or not. Since bacterial meningitis is so nasty, and fairly easy to transmit (like a cold), they want to be very cautious about exposing anyone to it. To that end, those of us who have been exposed (Gary, Kris, my parents, the kids, and myself) are keeping to ourselves (no work, no visitors) until we find out. If it is bacterial meningitis, then we'll have to take prophylactic antibiotics. Those with more tenuous contact (people at the birthday party, anyone who has seen him since Wed or Thursday of last week) should just be aware and if they do get sick in the next few days, mention to their doctor that they have been exposed. Symptoms to be concerned about: fever, headache, stiffness/soreness, especially the neck. Again, the only reason for the caution is not because it's super contagious, but because getting it is really nasty and the earlier you catch it, the better.
All this being said, the doctor really thinks it's viral. If that's the case, then all of the precautions are unnecessary. It just means that a normal cold virus or something managed to make it's way into his spine; there's nothing that would make that same cold virus go into your spine even if you caught it. He has a slightly suppressed immune system right now due to the steroids he's been taking for his hand.
So for the next 2 days, Gary and Kris will be helping me take care of the kids and visit David in the hospital. If it's bacterial, life gets more interesting (meds for us, he'll be in the hospital for 7-10 days, we'll all need to be in isolation for longer). If it's viral, then he'll be able to come home as soon as he can manage his pain without the IV pain meds. He'll still be down for the count (at least a week). Once we are cleared that it's viral, I'll be a lot more interested in having people come over to help and/or keep us company. For the next two days, I don't want to expose anyone else, just in case. If you are so inclined, easy cooked food would be appreciated; David is our dinner cooker and we are going to get really sick of precooked HEB chickens. I'm going to be taking at least the next couple of days off of work & likely longer until he's out of the hospital & feeling healthy.
I think that's the scoop. I wanted to give everyone the full story. Now I need to go wake the kids & head into the hospital when Gary or Kris can come down and watch them. They have wi-fi and I know David will be jonesing for it now that he's on good meds and can sit up again.
Basically, last week, he got sick - nasty fever, chills, headache, achy. He slowly started improving Saturday. We thought that it very well might have been a reaction to a steroid treatment he was getting for his thumb (he has a hurt tendon). By Saturday night, Sunday morning, he seemed to be well on the mend. Then Sunday night, he got the headache again and his fever came back up. It was really bad overnight, so when he got up, he called the doctor and went in. At the doctor's, they sent him home & told him to go to the ER. They wanted him to get tests done which they couldn't easily do. So I came home from work (Kris is watching the kids during all of this) & took him. At the ER, they took every fluid known to man & analyzed it, did a CAT scan to make sure he didn't have tumors in his head or anything, & did a spinal tap. The spinal tap came back positive for infection, so they immediately started him on antibiotics & transferred him to inpatient care at a different hospital. He's still on the antibiotics, plus pain medication (morphine, vicoden, etc) for the head, and various other things (sleeping pills, anti-inflammatories, etc). He's also was limited to laying on his back all last night, due to the lumbar puncture.
For the next 2 days, they are keeping him in isolation (you have to wear a gown, gloves, & mask to see him) until they find out if it's bacterial or not. Since bacterial meningitis is so nasty, and fairly easy to transmit (like a cold), they want to be very cautious about exposing anyone to it. To that end, those of us who have been exposed (Gary, Kris, my parents, the kids, and myself) are keeping to ourselves (no work, no visitors) until we find out. If it is bacterial meningitis, then we'll have to take prophylactic antibiotics. Those with more tenuous contact (people at the birthday party, anyone who has seen him since Wed or Thursday of last week) should just be aware and if they do get sick in the next few days, mention to their doctor that they have been exposed. Symptoms to be concerned about: fever, headache, stiffness/soreness, especially the neck. Again, the only reason for the caution is not because it's super contagious, but because getting it is really nasty and the earlier you catch it, the better.
All this being said, the doctor really thinks it's viral. If that's the case, then all of the precautions are unnecessary. It just means that a normal cold virus or something managed to make it's way into his spine; there's nothing that would make that same cold virus go into your spine even if you caught it. He has a slightly suppressed immune system right now due to the steroids he's been taking for his hand.
So for the next 2 days, Gary and Kris will be helping me take care of the kids and visit David in the hospital. If it's bacterial, life gets more interesting (meds for us, he'll be in the hospital for 7-10 days, we'll all need to be in isolation for longer). If it's viral, then he'll be able to come home as soon as he can manage his pain without the IV pain meds. He'll still be down for the count (at least a week). Once we are cleared that it's viral, I'll be a lot more interested in having people come over to help and/or keep us company. For the next two days, I don't want to expose anyone else, just in case. If you are so inclined, easy cooked food would be appreciated; David is our dinner cooker and we are going to get really sick of precooked HEB chickens. I'm going to be taking at least the next couple of days off of work & likely longer until he's out of the hospital & feeling healthy.
I think that's the scoop. I wanted to give everyone the full story. Now I need to go wake the kids & head into the hospital when Gary or Kris can come down and watch them. They have wi-fi and I know David will be jonesing for it now that he's on good meds and can sit up again.