We won’t take time to polish this letter at all, although we do have some exciting ministry updates to share with you soon!
Bill just spent 5 nights in the hospital on IV antibiotics for a very serious cellulitis infection on his lower left leg. Doctors were able to grow a culture of the bacteria from his blood (not good), but his blood is clear now (good).
He’s been home since Thursday Nov 6. He is still on heavy doses of oral antibiotics for at least two weeks.
There’s a lot of redness on his leg, and quite a bit of swelling. This is causing him a lot of pain.
His lower back has even more pain. This may or may not be directly related to the infection. The back pain may be caused by a cyst in his lower spine. He’s having to take some pretty heavy pain meds for all this, which he is usually able to avoid.
PLEASE PRAY for healing, elimination of pain, and that he would soon be able to return to work.
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“TMI” DETAILS:
FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED
We were in Morro Bay, 6+ hours north of San Diego, on the way home from a ministry trip up north. We had gone to bed and our plans were to head home to San Diego the next day after breakfast.
About 2 a.m. on Sat Nov 1, Bill developed fever and severe chills which lasted until about 5:30.
We skipped our plans for breakfast, packed the car, and headed south.
At the gas station, Bill noticed a red circle (~5” in circumference) near the inner ankle bone of his left leg.
On the way south, Bill called and made a video-consult appointment with Express Care for 1:30 p.m.
By time 1:30 rolled around, Bill’s entire lower leg was a very dark “angry” inflamed red, and the affected area was already about 8” high. The Nurse Practitioner saw his ankle in the video and said he needed to make an in-person appointment. By this time, we were in Thousand Oaks, about three hours north of San Diego.
We drove as quickly as was legal and safe down to San Diego and arrived at the in-person Express Care in North County San Diego, and got there right before they closed. They took one look at his leg and told Bill to go to the ER right away. So, we went straight to the new UCSD ER near our house (what used to be Alvarado Hospital). He was admitted and put on strong IV antibiotics, in addition to oral antibiotics. By this time, the redness had reached the top of his calf! Everyone was concerned by the rapid expansion. The ER staff drew lines with a Sharpie marker to help determine if the redness expanded any further.
And…. TESTS! Oh, my goodness. Almost immediately, they did an EKG, followed by a CT scan, and an ultrasound scan of his leg. Eventually they did a 2D-Echo of his heart, an MRI of his whole leg, and an MRI of his lower back.
The MRI showed a cyst surrounded by some swelling between two vertebra at the base of his spine. This is actually he most painful part of this health crisis right now.
They did about 35 blood tests (including follow-ups), and 7 tests to culture his blood, looking for bacteria.
We were blessed by several visits from several of Bill’s “guys’ group” friends from church!
After 5 nights the hospital cleared him to go home and switched him to only oral antibiotics.
Since he’s been home, he’s had multiple phone calls, in-home visits, and in-clinic appointments. They are really taking this seriously!
It is a mystery what caused this. Apparently, bacteria live on our skin and can get inside if we have a cut or scratch or bite. We weren’t aware of anything like that happening, though. Maybe Bill got an insect bite on his ankle that he didn’t see or feel? The bacteria in this case was a type of Streptococcus. We don’t know yet if the back pain is directly related or not.
So we greatly appreciate your prayers!
