She’s doing fine, just blown out from her very bad day.
I wondered how they planned to transport D to the city. [The big town about 50 miles away] is in the middle of a whole lot of nowhere for hundreds of miles all around, and it shows in the helipad right out front of the oversized hospital where two helicopters are always ready for action. You don’t see that in every big town/small city. The cost of getting a ride in one of those things is ruinous, as Darrel the Former Cop found out when he got his ride in one. He ended up in bankruptcy over it, and that’s what set D off yesterday. But having learned from DtFC’s experience, they have insurance covering that specific thing.
I did wonder, though, how they were planning to fly him on one of those little choppers to a city that’s currently in the middle of a monumental storm, according to the news. Turns out they also have these newfangled things called aeroplanes, so it wasn’t the problem I anticipated.
Anyway, I heard from L. He’s now in a big hospital in a big city, has been since yesterday evening, and his vitals are reported to be a whole lot better than they were when I saw him. So I’m provisionally feeling a little better about the situation.
Though to be honest, I’m still confused. Antibiotics are antibiotics and why would it make any difference which hospital he’s in? It’s not like he needed a particular neurosurgeon. They can either treat the condition or they can’t. Right? What am I missing?
There are thousands of different antibiotics, and they come in many different forms. The doctors have to know which to use, the optimal dose and how to deal with the effects produced. Many bacteria excrete serious toxins when they die, so giving antibiotics is a balancing act and the doctors must know how to deal with and eliminate these toxins as well. In sepsis, there are bacteria and toxins present in most tissues, and those toxins are what damage the organs.
There are also a good number of other treatments and environmental factors involved in dealing with sepsis. The skill of the doctors and other providers is apt to be greater in the larger hospital, because they have to treat sepsis a lot more often. The big hospital will have more professionals available, and more modern equipment and more recent training. There IS a downside to any hospital admission, but this case seems to be one that absolutely requires hospitalization, at the highest level possible.
So glad they’ve got the insurance. What an additional nightmare otherwise.
First of all, thanks for the update! Perhaps we can dare to be cautiously optimistic?
As for why he was transferred, we simply aren’t in a position to know and likely never will be. Ideally it’s done when a patient might benefit from some higher level of care that’s available in another hospital. Unfortunately sometimes hospitals do it for reasons that have little or nothing to do with the welfare of the patient.
Thanks for the update, Joel. I’ve been just sick with worry for D&L. And thanks, ML, for the voice of medical experience.
Yes, if D’s life was in danger (and multiple organ failure a possibility, I presume), the whole business is a lot more complicated than just administering antibiotics. You’d need doctors and equipment suitable for handling the worst and most unexpected eventualities.
And as ML says, clearly even antibiotics are complicated enough all by themselves. (I’d gotten some hint of that from having the pooches treated for various ailments over the years; different antibiotic for darned near everything that ails ’em.)
Yes indeed… the administration of antibiotics is very complex, and unpredictable even with the best medical people involved. Which is why home administration of “fish” antibiotics is so very fraught with danger. It’s a risk that most people are simply not even competent to measure. I most certainly wouldn’t try it, and I have a degree in pharmacology!
If, for some reason, a person had such stuff and the choice was ONLY between using it and certain death, hoping you had the right stuff and could guess the dose/route… the chances are very slim that the outcome would be better than not having the stuff at all. You might survive the infection, but the wrong dose or the wrong antibiotic could kill you instead. Honest…
Just doesn’t make any sense in our current lives, when there are people who actually can figure out what is truly needed (though some are better than others, of course) and know how to administer it with a good outcome likely, if not guaranteed. There are no guarantees for any medicine or medical procedures, but you can get much better odds than with “fish” medicine.
I have to agree with ML on the antibiotics. I suffer from chronic Lyme Disease and and couple of its fellow travelers. The Lyme in particular are very nasty when they blow up. The toxins are a witch to deal with and cause as many issues as the bacteria themselves.
If I were dumb enough to treat myself I would invariably kill myself. Then there are lots of people running around who are alergic to certain antibiotics and many will find out the hard way when they try treating themselves.
Thanks for the update, Joel. Let them know they’ve got lots of support out here in cyber land.
Heartfelt support from here too, Joel. I only met them once or twice, but I certainly remember how tough and kind and hardworking D&L are. Best to you all and a swift recovery to D in particular.
I agree with MamaLiberty above – its the specific antibiotic that can make the difference. Last summer, my wife had lasic eye surgery in both eyes. One eye turned out fine, the other developed a horrible infection that almost cost her the vision in that eye. The surgeon that treated gave her the ‘recommended’ antibiotics and stuck the course. After a month of negligible results, she went to San Antonio where she was sent to a specialist at Houston hospital (Baylor University) campus. That lady doctor was fantastic – she specified a medicine which really kicked recovery into high gear.
A good example… Just going to “a” doctor is no guarantee of success, so one may have to look farther than the first one. But self treatment for serious infections has about the same potential for a good outcome as doing your own eye surgery. 🙂
Joel, have you had your own infection control issues looked at and taken care of? Before you shrug it off, see MamaLiberty’s information above on sepsis and self treatment. And oh BTW are all of your immunizations up to date – pneumonia, hep A & B, tetanus, etc. Just saying… Your county health department may do it really cheap or free.
Thanks For the update Joel, and Mama, for your wisdom.
Hoping he’s on the mend.
My Brother got septicaemia about 20 years ago. He was in shitty (literally, both cow and sheep shit) work clothes when our mother spotted the characteristic red rash of broken blood vessels. He wanted to get a bath and changed before going to hospital – which was only 5 miles away in those days.
He got a shock when the medical staff had him in a wheelchair and an anti biotic drip plugged into his arm within 5 minutes of walking through the door.
A&E is now at least 45 minutes away, when the roads are quiet. We’re all big contributors to the local air ambulance charity (which the .guv extorts taxes from!)
Food’s food, but the guys at your local greasy spoon might be sub-par at producing, say, Swedish haute cuisine. Similarly, the folks who make those hyper-advanced meatballs might not stay in business very long if they took over a diner in rural America. It’s all in what you’re used to… (/trained for /equipped for)
I’m a nurse at a rural hospital in Arizona, the largest hospital in my county. They still don’t have all the specialties available in either Tucson or Phoenix. If there are potential problems due to the location of the source of the infection, a specialist would be needed. It would sound like your own local (ish) large (ish) hospital would have similar difficulties to Sierra Vista in luring specialties to work there.
I’m just starting to read your blog after reading your article in Self Reliance magazine, and loving it. I also live in the middle of nowhere, Arizona, and I love it out here. Rattlesnakes (Mojave and Diamondback), javelina, mesquite and cat’s claw with the most wicked thorns ever, and the ever present coyotes threatening my goats and my Chihuahuas, but I open my front door to a breathtaking view of the Chiricahuas every day.
Welcome, CrazyDogLady!