HELL AGAIN OR STILL THERE!!

[Guest guest]

Hey My Family!

First off, you guys are the greatest! I really appreciate the responses to my

last.....Kirk, I do like your approach of putting the idiot up against the

wall!! You are a wild man! But I love you brother and will stand by your side

in this fight!! I think that day in the ER, i was stunned to be in the presence

of such stupidity!! And , yes I would like to meet you as well....but

until.....hang on and in there.....this is the best damn group and family on the

planet!!!!!!

Last Monday, i visited my GP who has practically taken over all areas of my care

due to the incompetence of others...he truly is a godsend.....i have had this

foul cough since early December.....my broken ribs have not been able to heal

because of it.....well, he listened and diagnosed me with a nasty case of

Pneumonia.

Just damn! Apparently, I have had it since early December.....actually, Patty

had told me several times that she thought that was what i had....so i get shot

in the butta and then doc gives me some same high power antibiotics to

take....OK fast forward to yesterday.....I was up less than an hour....had some

breakfast.....my meds......you guys know the daily routine.....i went to open

the front inner door so i could enjoy the view and sunshine through the glass

outer door.....BAM...crack, crack crack! Yeah. more BROKEN RIBS....just

Damn!!! And all i did was open the door with my left hand and nearly went to

my freakin knees from the pain....no kidding, i nearly threw up it hurt so damn

bad.....front left side.....the three ribs still broken from mid-December are on

the back left side, beneath my scapula.....my body needed a freakin matching set

i guess.....so, anyway, i managed to get myself into my recliner.....got the

phone and called my doc's nurse....she said to go to the ER right now......so, i

hung up....called Patty who was already at work an hour and a half

away.....bless her heart...she does not have any time left to take off because

she has already used it all for things in the past few weeks for me....in fact

she had to borrow comp time from this month already to use in

December.....anyway, i call my Dad who comes to take me to the local

ER.....Patty calling me and texting me every 10-15 minutes to check

progress.....after all is said and done with xrays taken and consult with the ER

doc (this dude is truly awesome....he was familiar with Stills and my meds.

especially dear old Prednisone).......after a look at the xrays, he came into my

little room, sat down on the gurny beside me and said he saw " Multiple

Fractures " .....just Damn again!!!

He said the Pneumonia was not effusing and it appeared the antibiotic is doing

it's job......but, in the new area on my left anterior and anterolateral chest,

he said I had several fractures....in fact one rib was caloused from where I had

broken it before....and it broke in the same place....under " ordinary "

circumstances, a healed fracture is stronger than the surrounding bone, so that

it is very difficult to break a break.....well, hell not for me it

isn " t........he asked if i had tried tapering the prednisone....yes, and every

time I go below 30mg., this damn wicked inflammation sets in and causes

fractures like in mid December...when i said that it looked like 30mg was my

" functional " level, you should have seen the look on his face....it was like a

big " oh shit!! " ........so, that is where i am today.....my left rib cage pretty

much all broken up....on 60mg of Pred.....on Oxycontin 20mg. and Oxy IR 5mg PRN

and BOTH are not touching the pain......and the Pneumonia cough is truly

excruciating....it feels as if the ribs are sometimes cutting away the tissue

around them....i'm just worried they may puncture something really

important.....ah hell....so that's my story this week..........again, if i

offend anyway with my language....forgive me...i am just soooooo damn freakin

frustrated that i seem to be breaking and there does not seem to be a solution

in sight....i am going back to my PCP next week and ask for a referal to the RD

dept at either Duke or North Carolina, Chapel Hill.....I am about at the end of

my freakin rope....

Thanks for " listening " to me ramble on!

I truly love all you guys and you are very special to me!

Take Care everyone!!!

Larry B.