The 125 process has begun... Pictures!

[Micki]

Thanks jnarowe and gkarshens. It's been a bit of a rough road but I'm hoping things will get bettter soon.

 

[Micki]

UPDATE:
It hasn't been easy the last four days. I called the Dr. office last Friday to tell them Russell is better and lets get this scheduled. Apparently the Dr. never charted that he wanted to do the biopsy so they couldn't schedule it until they talked to him. Of course he was off Friday then he didn't get to the chart until this morning (Tuesday). Needless to say I have made several phone calls to his office and made known I wasn't too happy with putting this off any longer. Russell finishes his antibiotics tomorrow and my guess is has a week or less before he starts getting sick again (if history repeats itself). But they were able to get him scheduled for this Friday morning. I don't know that we will know much until next Tuesday or Wednesday when the biopsy report is back,but at least it's a start to finding out what is going on. This has certainly been a test of my patience! Russell has dealt with this much better than I have.

 

[jnarowe]

keep on 'em Micki!

 

[melev]

Argh. Hang in there, and keep making those calls.

 

[Micki]

Thanks guys. I made 2-3 calls each day. I'm sure they were very tired of hearing my voice, but that's too bad. I'm a stubborn girl and I don't give up easily!

 

[Micki]

Update on my son: Russell had the bronc and biopsies today. He tolerated the procedure well. We of course won't know the out come of the biopsies until Tuesday or Wednesday. the Dr. did say that his lungs look like that of a 60 year old man. He also said they are very very weak. He had many many pockets of mucus that needed to be cleaned out and he did that. He said he will most likely need to have this done possibly as much as once or twice a year. He also has to stay on prednisone for another month. Once he is at his peak in terms of lung health they will do some lung function tests for a base line. They will do lung function tests 3-4 times a year to see how his lungs are doing in terms of deterioration. If he can hold his own we can wait for aggressive treatment. If however he shows a rapid decline we may have to look at some drastic measures including lung transplant. He will also have another CT in the next 2-3 months to compare with what we have seen on the last two. He is also very susceptible to any infections. The second he feels like he is getting sick we are to get him on an antibiotic and steroids. Of course he cautioned us with the use of the steroids. He also will have to do at least 4 breathing treatments every day for probably the rest of his life.

 

[jnarowe]

wow...not much I can write. he's lucky to have you supporting him. I guess my brain damage woes are lightweight compared to what Russell is dealing with.

 

[Hop]

Well my family's thoughts and prayers are with him and your family!

 

[Micki]

Thank you both. Prayers are always needed and appreciated. Russel will do OK. He has had to deal with one thing or another for his entire 23 years. I get tired of thinking of everything he has had to deal with in his young life. But he just "deals" with it and moves on. This will be a challange but we will get through it. It can always be worse.

We will be starting to build his house next month and he is looking forward to that. We also get to buy all new furniture and house "stuff" so that will be fun for him (and me) as well. I'm just thankful he lives close so we can help him out. His brother and our daughter in law and grand kids live just a few houses up on the other side of where his house will be so he always has someone to turn to.
Thanks again...

 

[Micki]

For those interested... We have had more of a battle with the Dr.'s providing sign language interpreters than we have batteling our son's health. As some of you know he is deaf and uses sign language. While I am an interpreter it is not approriate for a family member to interpret. There are several issues with to me the most important being the fact that I can't interpret and take everything in that I am hearing plus be there for my son. It's just not possible and it's not approriate. So the first pulmonologist is doing everything by phone so he doesn't have to pay for an interpreter. The quality of care our son is getting went down fast. So I made an appointment with our fmaily DR. to find a different Dr. He said he would consult with the other Dr.s in the practice to get a Dr. they thought was good enough to take care of Russell. They called today with an appointment with another Dr. Long story short, I called this Dr. office to make sure there would be an interpreter at the appointment. The lady in the office was very RUDE! She said they don't do that and would have to page the Dr. to see if he would but she was sure he wouldn't. Of course he said no. She then called my family Dr. back and was RUDE to them as well and cancelled the appointment. I then called them back and asked questions to get a for sure answer that they cancelled his appointment because he is deaf and needs an interpreter. She said that's right! I said ok here's the deal we are prepared to file a law suit because that is discrimination and against the law. I would like for you to call the Dr. and let him know that we are prepared to do that and WILL do that if necessary. I wanted to give him one more chance. She called the Dr. then called me and he still said no. She said because he hasn't seen him he has established no relationship with him and they have the right to refuse to accept a new patient. I said that's not true. You scheduled an appointment with him and blatantly cancelled it because he is deaf. I very calmly said I was sorry to hear that and I had hoped for some good quality care from these Dr's because I've heard good things about them. I then said I will call my attorney tomorrow.

A few hours later the business manager at our family Dr. called back us and said Dr. Sickingers office called and said they had contacted their attorney and they will see Russell on June 26th as planned. I have to be honest, I'm concerned about the care that he will now get from this Dr. There are no other Dr.’s around that my family Dr. feels comfortable sending him to. We are basically between a rock and a hard place now.

 

[Micki]

For those interested... We have had more of a battle with the Dr.'s providing sign language interpreters than we have battling our son's health. As some of you know he is deaf and uses sign language. While I am an interpreter it is not appropriate for a family member to interpret. There are several issues with to me the most important being the fact that I can't interpret and take everything in that I am hearing plus be there for my son. It's just not possible and it's not appropriate. So the first pulmonologist is doing everything by phone so he doesn't have to pay for an interpreter. The quality of care our son is getting went down fast. So I made an appointment with our family DR. to find a different Dr. He said he would consult with the other Dr.s in the practice to get a Dr. they thought was good enough to take care of Russell. They called today with an appointment with another Dr. Long story short, I called this Dr. office to make sure there would be an interpreter at the appointment. The lady in the office was very RUDE! She said they don't do that and would have to page the Dr. to see if he would but she was sure he wouldn't. Of course he said no. She then called my family Dr. back and was RUDE to them as well and cancelled the appointment. I then called them back and asked questions to get a for sure answer that they cancelled his appointment because he is deaf and needs an interpreter. She said that's right! I said ok here's the deal we are prepared to file a law suit because that is discrimination and against the law. I would like for you to call the Dr. and let him know that we are prepared to do that and WILL do that if necessary. I wanted to give him one more chance. She called the Dr. then called me and he still said no. She said because he hasn't seen him he has established no relationship with him and they have the right to refuse to accept a new patient. I said that's not true. You scheduled an appointment with him and blatantly cancelled it because he is deaf. I very calmly said I was sorry to hear that and I had hoped for some good quality care from these Dr's because I've heard good things about them. I then said I will call my attorney tomorrow.

A few hours later the business manager at our family Dr. called us back and said Dr. Sickingers office called and said they had contacted their attorney and they will see Russell on June 26th as planned. I have to be honest, I'm concerned about the care that he will now get from this Dr. There are no other Dr.’s around that my family Dr. feels comfortable sending him to. We are basically between a rock and a hard place now.

I'm not one to file law suits. I think it happens way too many times as it is but I can't let this stuff go on any longer. It's just not right and it's against the law.

 

[Micki]

On other news... I have the 150 back up and running. It's on it's own system. I have a few of the fish back and they are doing great. In a few weeks I'll get my tang back.

 

[jnarowe]

wow...that is indeed screwed. I would hope that the care would be top-notch since there has already been a problem and they know not to mess with you. Perhaps if you approach the Dr. at the beginning of the appointment and explain that you just didn't have a choice and your son needs to see the best Dr. he can. That will massage the Dr's ego a bit and take the chill out of the room.

 

[gkarshens]

Wow! What a mess! I hope it gets better soon!

 

[Micki]

jnarowe I actually considered that. I guess I'll see how it goes. I may still search for another Dr. even if we have to go even farther away from home. This will be long term so it needs to be a good environment. I may even try to contact his retired pediactric pulmenologist to see who he might recommend.

gkarshens it has to get better right???

 

[Micki]

Back to some tank news: I tested the new tanks water and it is in the middle of the cycle which is exactly what I wanted. The fish and eel that are in there are doing GREAT! I guess Joel knew what he was talking about when he said they would tolerate the cycle just fine.

 

[Micki]

Update on my son: For those that are interested... We were back in ER last week. He was fine at 1:00pm and when I got home at 5:00pm he had a 102.8 fever and could hardly breathe. Some IV antibiotics and steroids and we were on our way back home. I think the key will be the second he feels sick we get an IV. Good News! We have a date to see a Dr. at Ohio State University!!! We go on July 26. I'm hoping for good things to happen from that appointment!

 

[arbee]

Hi Micki
I'm glad to hear your son will be able to see a specialist at OSU. Will keep sending you both my thoughts and prayers for them to be able to help him.
Have you taken any pics of your tanks lately? I would love to see the progress.
I haven't bought much for my tank since the ich episode. Right now I have it in stablizing mode and dosing 2 Part to get CA up so I can get some sps corals soon. I haven't bought any fish either, just downright scared to add any new livestock after that mess in Feb.
Keep us updated~
Rita

 

[utdrmac]

nice design on that carbon filter. could you do the same thing with phosban?

 

[Micki]

utdrmac, I would think you could, however, it would hold a LOT of phosban. Probably over kill.

Thanks Rita, we spent 6 hours in ER again on Friday night. He averages having to go to ER about once every 2-3 weeks.

Do you have a QT set up now? If everything is stable I would go for it.