health and illness: March 2005 Archives

Update: As of Friday afternoon, I am about 30% improved. I am still off work until Monday, and I am still under orders to go directly to the ED if things get worse. But I think it has turned the corner. Thank you for your prayers. My dh and I are going to try to get to the Perpetual Adoration chapel later to pray for the Holy Father and all the other things demanding prayer.

I hope this isn't too self-centered, but would you all oferr a quick prayer for me? Around noon today I noticed that I was having trouble seeing out of my right eye and that the lid felt puffy. John came home from work early and took me to the urgent care, where I was diagnosed with peri-orbital cellulitis. That's an infection in the tissues around the eye - my eyelid is bright red and swollen like a birthday balloon. A CT scan was done to make sure that it wasn't actually in the bones around the eye, and that showed that I also have a slight inflammation in my ethmoid sinus. I was on an antibiotic for a UTI - that has been d/c ed and I am now on a different antibiotic that should cover infection at both ends. I am also taking benadryl and will shortly be collapsing into bed.
My instructions are to get some sleep - if it gets any worse overnight I am to go to the ED, if it doesn't improve I go back to the doc tomorrow, and only if it is basically gone will I be able to go to work tomorrow. I am also supposed to be on call Saturday amd I don't know if that will happen either.
Please pray that I be given the ability to cope with this and that God be glorified in it. I'm in some pain - not much, but the fear is worse. The problem with being in the medical field is that I know too much sometimes and so fret over the zebras, instead of taking the reassurance that the hoofbeats are really just horses.
Please pardon any typos or grammar errors in this. My depth perception is shot and the benadryl is starting to kick in - and it usually completely knocks me out.

Comments from a radiologist.
Too bad this has been greatly ignored.
The question that I have that has not been answered (and may not be answerable).
What kind of malpractice did Michael allege that got the huge settlement? Was Terri dropped on her head in the days after she was found unresponsive? Was she given the wrong medications (like insulin instead of glucose) because someone had a dyslexic moment reading the labs? Was there actually no malpractice but rather a reflexive 'let's settle this' response from the insurance companies involved?
I realize this is all seemingly moot given that Terri is dead now, but I think that we need to keep hounding the authorities and finding the facts - something that apparently the courts totally refused to do.
The fact that the legal system has refused to carry out one of its prime directives. I was told when I reported for duty on the Grand Jury last year that our job was to evaluate the evidence and to try to determine what the facts of the situation were. We were then informed what the letter of the law was (actually it was read to us from the statutes) and only if the facts, by a preponderance of the evidence, supported the assertion from the DA that the law had likely been violated, were we to return an indictment.
We need to have the facts.