@vonny,
Dear Crew
Updates on our Danny.
I've spoken with Anna a couple times since I last wrote but had to get this straight. KP's also spoken with Anna so this is great.
There’s a little hope in that, with oxygen, Danny’s breathing is just slightly improved and his BP has just raised a little bit...
I know that anything written here can be read by anyone, so I’m trying to choose my words carefully, honestly – but fairly measured. Black and white words sometimes get lost in translation. Anna doesn’t use the computer but Danny’s grandchildren may.
Danny’s been here since 2005 – ha, such good times at the beginning of this thread in 2008 – what a laugh we were having... and it still makes me laugh every day when little bits of info fly through my so called brain. Danny’s a part of many folks lives on a daily basis and I know folk are worried about him so, we'll keep you informed.
Y’all know that Danny’s heels were bad (they're still not good) and that he had picked up a (golden) staph infection during his time in hospital
(grrrrrrrr). He was being treated for 6 weeks with IV antibiotics in his home... but somehow, over the holiday period, this stopped and to my knowledge, he then wasn’t given the prophylactic antibiotics which he’d been told he would need to be on for his lifetime. I asked Anna about this on Sunday... and she didn’t know why he hadn’t been given them. So, long and short, the toxins in his blood aren’t able to be controlled – the previous antibiotics won’t touch the bug going around his body. I’m very aware of the reality of the “S
epticemia” word, which much loved crew members who will read this, have been affected by when another A2Ker had this. Possibly this may be, probably is, the cause of why his heart just can’t work properly.
The doctors have started some new antibiotics on Monday.
They’ve also made another suggestion that Danny will not allow, but that I don’t wish to talk about that here. So it’s a bit of a waiting game to see if the bug is resistant to these new meds or whether they will help.
Next week they’ll put a camera (ultrasound) into his heart to see if there is damage and make a decision depending on what that shows.
Meantime, Anna is remaining strong for him and doing what she has to do to get through this time.
Danny is struggling and he wants to make sure things are in place – which is terribly hard for loved ones to accept, especially his lady. He’s not inviting the inevitable that we all will reach eventually – but what our spring chicken is doing, I believe, is getting his eggs in the basket.
There is nothing more, right now, that I would like to see, than Danny jumping aboard and saying “this ‘ole codger is bavk, start scrubbing the decks”... in reality, this isn’t going to happen in the immediate future.
Much depends on the antibiotics and his breathing improving. If they can get a grip on the bug, though they can’t rid his body of it, but if his breathing improves to allow him to at least be able to take a few steps ... if he can then go home and get the right sort of care to keep him comfortable and to help Anna too, then that is what I hope will happen.
KP (Foundy) is hoping, if possible, to visit with Danny on Sunday or Monday, so if any of his friends would like to send him a note or a poem or a picture or anything, a few words of encouragement... then please do PM FoundSoul.
KP is struggling as I am here... so I just wanted to say a big thank you to her for being our eyes and ears in Oz and the support she’s giving to Danny and Anna, which is tremendous. She will hold his hand for me when she visits and let him know how loved he is... and when everything is said and done, if you can feel that love from family and friends, then you can be at peace.
I know this won’t sound all hopeful and promising and all... but I simply can’t do that – I can only say it how I see/feel it.
I’ll continue to hope and pray and send all the strength in the world that Danny will improve and be able to go home and be with his wife. That's what I'm sending my healing thoughts for...
NOW – I wrote all that earlier and won’t change it...
BUT... I just spoke with Danny – and I have to say, he sounded better than he did on Sunday. He is very breathless but he’s has absolutely no pain whatsover. That is so good to hear. He physically can’t do anything but lay/sit in the bed; he has only good things to say about how wonderful the nursing staff are, how dedicated they all are and how they are looking after him. He’s seen that many doctors and no-one’s coming up with a fix... they are going to put a tube in his arm so that he they can give him all the meds they need to.
It’s going to be 42degC in Adelaide today – last week at 40 degrees Danny was still wearing a jumper – he’s very cold but being in the cooler hospital now, his heart won’t be working hard because of the heat. He’s having visitors during the day so that is really, REALLY good (good, not sure that's the right word) news – if y’all remember last year, he had stopped all visitors at one point – so I’m taking that as a really positive sign that he is more at peace now. I asked him how he was feeling in his head and he said that, today, he was OK – he’s just frustrated at not being able to do anything at all and that breathing is such an effort.
I can’t tell you how reassuring it was to hear his voice.
My thoughts haven’t changed from everything I wrote earlier – now though, well, just being able to tell your friend that you love them and know that they heard you, makes my heart more peaceful.
Anna and I just had a chat too and she’s sounding stronger – she has a wicked sense of humour (toilet seat stays down!)– she’s frustrated with all this too – she says if they could just do something so that he was able to go for a coffee somewhere or just walk a little bit... then his quality of life would be better.
However, I’m rambling and as KP knows, I’ve been doing a lot of rambling today, sorry ‘bout that – so I’ll shall sign off ship to shore now and we’ll keep you all posted.
((((((((((((((((((((((((((Crew))))))))))))))))))))))))x
