Sunday, February 26, 2012

Mick McKellar Update -- Day +371


I am sitting here this morning, trying desperately to find something about which to smile. We've had weeks and weeks of wonderful travel weather. Tomorrow morning, early, we are supposed to get in our car and make the 400 mile journey to Rochester, MN for a full battery of tests and to begin my inoculations. Guess what?

Of Blizzards and MOASI

If you live here and looked out your window today, you can see our problem, and not much else. Officially, it's severe winter weather. We call it: blizzard. I have been outside, scooping and shoveling...trying to stay ahead of the steady accumulation. I have listened for the far-off sound of snow plow, but only detected a faint, distant laughter on the wind...mocking my picayune effort to prepare and maintain a "breakout" area in front of my driveway.

Snowing today would be inconvenient and leave us with only the worry that no snow plow will come and we would have to chance a breakout (with an old Focus, no less). But no, the storm will taper off this afternoon, and start up again after midnight, into tomorrow and because it will mix with lake-effect snow will worsen then. Lovely.

What else could spoil this idyllic scene? Friday evening, I was in the emergency room at Portage Health again. I could not move my left arm and could barely walk. My face was swollen around (and inside my mouth) so that I could not eat. My gums were so swollen it felt like all my (remaining) teeth were abscessed. My fever spiked to 101.5 degrees F. Oh yes, my rash returned to full bloom after weeks of losing ground to the steroid cream. What happened?

My doctor referred to it as the Mother of All Sinus Infections (MOASI). In the CT scan, it looked like there wasn't an open cranial cavity that was not packed tight. Little wonder I could not even let my teeth touch without sharp stabbing pain. I was in so much pain that my blood pressure soared to 205/92...a new high for me. My rash was literally on fire. When they tried the new temperature sensor, the one they slide over your forehead and by your ear to sense your temperature, it read 105 degrees F! When they double checked it with a sub lingual thermometer, it was a more respectable 98.7. My liver functions were tanking. I was a mess.

The treatment worked...

Tylenol (lots of it), intravenous antibiotics and fluids, oral prednisone, and finally two injections of some blessed, wonderful pain killer brought me down from a fiery flight into a maelstrom of pain...to a level tolerable by hypersensitive old curmudgeons like me. Then, they advised us that we needed to get to Mayo Clinic on Monday...as I need treatment unavailable locally.

Decisions, Decisions...

It is now near 10:00 PM and I had a long talk with the folks at Rochester Methodist. Final decisions on our departure tomorrow have been delayed until tomorrow morning, when I can talk to the physicians in the BMT Unit.

So, tomorrow morning, folks...the saga continues...

God bless and good night,

Mick

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