His fever has broken. The last surgery, the surgeon was encouraged to find that there was very little necrotic tissue, so it seems the spread has slowed.
My husband had a transport to the hospital so he went to see him, and said he was alert and looking much more coherent. Cherie/Fael said he is 100% improved.
The doctors are very encouraged, and the surgery that is scheduled for today (I should hear in about an hour or so) will tell them if it is indeed slowing down.
The infectious disease specialist said that the way things are heading now, he may not be in for as long a stay as originally thought. He also stressed that getting to the hospital and getting IV antibiotic therapy within 15 hours of the incident is the reason things are going so well now.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Oh, and I finally got the full story of the catfish.
It was a filetted catfish, someone had apparently caught it, cleaned it, and thrown the remains overboard.
They are almost positive he impaled his arm on the dorsal fin spine of the dead catfish. The size of the puncture corresponds to the size, and it just makes sense, since there was nothing else in the area, ya know?
So...the doctor said "This is a one in a million freak happening."
What are the odds skiing in a lake the size of Logan Martin, and hitting a filetted catfish corpse in the right way as to force the spine into your arm?
Ick.
And yes, it was the pain that drove him back to the hospital that night. The first hospital told him it wasn't broken and to go see his doctor in town if it didn't feel better by Monday.
If he had followed that advice, it could have turned out much differently, because delaying the start of antibiotics apparently can make a huge difference in these cases.
Not only that, the admitting physician called in the surgeon and infectious disease specialists on Sunday. She was convinced it was serious enough to warrant their attention right away.
It appears that everything worked right - he did the right thing by coming back in, the doctors did all the right things.
Now, I am just praying we don't have any setbacks and he continues to improve at this rate.
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O_o WTF. Wow, Belle. That's insane. I'm really glad to hear that he's better. I pray that he makes a complete recovery.
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Well, in surgery today, everything looked so good, they closed the arm up!
They will keep him a bit longer, to make certain he's okay, but unless something unexpected happens he will be going home if a few days.
They had a plastic surgeon close the wound, and he was able to stretch the skin enough to not even need any grafts. He's off all meds except antibiotics and pain meds.
All in all, it was amazing, that he has done so well, a true testament to the wonderful doctors there on staff, and definitely a good cautionary tale - if you're in pain, seek help immediately. Getting treatment so fast helped keep this from being a much worse outcome.
Thanks everyone for the prayers and well wishes, I truely believe in my heart they helped.
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Glad to hear things are going well ~~~~Gratitude~~~~~
