I should really buy more Lottery tickets

[Peter R]

If this article is correct I would be number 12, in 30 years!!! I think the number is higher as the Dr. quoted said he was personally involved with 10 cases... how much higher is another question; the reporter seemed to have just added the recent case where the unfortunate man died. The Dr. quoted was not my surgeon.

I am about 95% better. My skin donor site got infected twice, in mid-November and again by end December. I went to Florida for a month, stayed with Paul M., and saw a doctor there who sorted me out. I still have an open area on my donor site, but it is fairly small (1" x 1/3" approx.) compared to the entire site which is most of my upper left thigh.

I returned to T&T yesterday as the Dr. there said the next he sees me is hopefully in a bar somewhere. I still have issues with my right leg; stiff ankle, no feeling in some areas, swelling etc. but I can walk. In another couple weeks my left thigh should be, by the grace of God, mostly healed. I no longer have to have it bandaged and I can take a shower and run water over etc.

I thank all my family, friends and health care workers who were there , and still are, for me.

See the article here: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/...282503841.html

[Exile]

Give thanks. Only when a man is down we realize the fragility of life.
We can't do with your intellectual discussions and poor stand up comedy.
Will link u this week. Have to be prepping house for the onslaught next week.

[Don1]

If this article is correct I would be number 12, in 30 years!!! I think the number is higher as the Dr. quoted said he was personally involved with 10 cases... how much higher is another question; the reporter seemed to have just added the recent case where the unfortunate man died. The Dr. quoted was not my surgeon.

I am about 95% better. My skin donor site got infected twice, in mid-November and again by end December. I went to Florida for a month, stayed with Paul M., and saw a doctor there who sorted me out. I still have an open area on my donor site, but it is fairly small (1" x 1/3" approx.) compared to the entire site which is most of my upper left thigh.

I returned to T&T yesterday as the Dr. there said the next he sees me is hopefully in a bar somewhere. I still have issues with my right leg; stiff ankle, no feeling in some areas, swelling etc. but I can walk. In another couple weeks my left thigh should be, by the grace of God, mostly healed. I no longer have to have it bandaged and I can take a shower and run water over etc.

I thank all my family, friends and health care workers who were there , and still are, for me.

See the article here: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/...282503841.html

Give tonks & praises

[Islandman]

So true Exile. it is so easy, and natural perhaps, to take our health for granted when we have it.

Really great news Peter R. Looks like you are on the last lap of a difficult journey.

[Peter R]

Every day!

[Assasin]

Give thanks P. Really good news. it is a good think Pool has been winning over the last month or Paul may have thrown you out .

[Rockman]

Yup!

[Peter R]

Yes sir,have to give thanks and praises to God for putting good people in my life; my wife, my children, my parents, my siblings and extended family and friends (including forumites) plus the care givers... all have been great!

[Karl]

Damn, Peter.
I missed all this. Never realized you were in a death defying struggle.
Thank the Lord that you are on the way to full recovery.

Blessings, friend!!!

[Karl]

Peter if you are so inclined - Perhaps a simple 1, 2, 3, etc. on how your attack progressed and your recovery time-line may prove beneficial to us?

E.g.
- Day 1 noticed pimple or irritating scratch or itch...

- Day 2 ...

- Day x visited Doc. prescribed aspirin and made me feel innocuous illness

- Day ...etc.

...as I understand it is fast moving and your real-life experience may help someone here...or some family member????

Again - Thankful you are on the mend!!!

[Peter R]

Karl, I'll make an attempt to create the timeline:
2014
Sep 10 - I fell off my bicycle going downhill on a trail; the bicycle landed on me and the sprockets gave me a puncture wound in my right calf; kind of looked like a snake bite as two teeth pierced me. No bleeding, just a drop or two of blood. I cleaned it off when I got back to the car and thought nothing of it.

The surgeon said that that is how the bacterium(a) entered my body, at the moment of the injury. We were doubting this as it was a full twelve days after that that I was admitted, mind you I probably should have been in the hospital before. On Sept16 my street had flooded and I was outside cleaning up in the muddy water. While I wasn't wading in water, there was a lot of splashing because we were shoveling and cleaning; we thought that it could have gotten in then through the puncture wound as it wasn't covered... but the surgeon said it was more likely to have occurred at the time of the initial injury. The puncture was about 3/4"-1" deep.

Sep 17 - Began experiencing pain.

Sep 19 - Pain had worsened significantly; calf began to look red. That night I began to feel unwell; the weekend 20 & 21 I had fever and thought I had ChickV. I resolved to see the doc Monday morning. Pain worsened. Walking was very uncomfortable.

Sep 22 - 9:30 Calf was red with a big blister formed. I saw the doctor. He said I needed to go see a specialist immediately.

Sep 22 -11:30 I was in the specialist's office. He took one look and said essentially to go home, pack my bags and meet him at the hospital (a private one in POS) at 1 pm.

By 2pm I was admitted. At that point I was thinking I had an abscess or pus build up that needed to be drained.

By 8pm the specialist had rounded up a team and I had my first operation around 10pm that night. I still did not know I had a flesh-eating disease. In the meantime, the surgeon had informed my wife had discussed the possibility of amputation. He told her that the skin and flesh covering the calf muscle was like watery mass, he just scooped it off.

Sep 23-26 inclusive: I had a debridement surgery every day...five consecutive days of surgery.

Sep 28, 30 and Oct 2 : Each day back in the OR for bandage changes under anaesthetic.

In between all this, I was given intravenous antibiotics, a general one at first and subsequently, when they identified the bacteria (Streptococcus Pyogenes), they changed to an antibiotic that was more specific. My white blood cells count was monitored daily; it gradually started to fall and I was free of fever.

October 3 (or 4) - the doctor changed my bandage in the hospital room, with no anaesthetic. That was the first I saw my leg, just bare muscle exposed to the air... I am not ashamed to say tears came to my eyes and I felt a sense of despair. The doctor however, pointed out the worst was behind me as my blood count was normalising and of course I had avoided amputation. Throughout the preceding period the surgeon had taken a biopsy from, and made incisions on, my upper right thigh to check for infection spreading upward. The word is that had it been a day or two later after the 22nd, I would not be here typing this!

Oct 4-8 - I had four units of blood transfused in preparation for a skin graft to cover the exposed muscle.

Oct 8- I had the skin graft surgery.

Oct. 13 - The plastic surgeon removed the outer bandage of the donor site, my left thigh, at bedside and replaced it. He said in about four weeks it would be good to go.

Oct. 14 - They took me to the OR, but no anaesthetic, and removed the bandage from the right leg and pronounced a 99% take with the graft.

Oct. 15 - I was discharged.

Nov. 8 (?) The doctor said my donor site was infected., and began to treat it.

Nov 9-12 The bandages came off my right leg permanently. I couldn't walk. I had begun rehab therapy the week before.

The summary of the saga of my donor site is in the post above.

I think one of the things that helped me was that I was relatively fit. For the year leading up to the fall, I had been riding four to five times a week, for about two hours at a time, doing a lot of hills. I really wasn't much for the trails but I met some other cyclists who were into that and I had begun recently to explore the mountain bike trails. The one I was on when I fell, is challenging for a new rider; tree roots, rocks and hilly. I had stopped taking blood pressure pills in Dec. 2013 as my BP was hovering around 100/65 for the longest while. I think if I were less fit I might not have weathered that storm the way I did.

Giving thanks and praises!

[HL]

I have been itching to ask you for an update...but did not want to give the impression i was intruding.

Very good news PR.

I am not the most religious person...but God is Good!

[Peter R]

HL,

Thanks for "itching to ask", I appreciate the sentiment.

I didn't want to post an update until I felt things were going really well. I'm scheduled to go back to work in three weeks; one of the things that kept my mind busy and off my situation was visiting the site and seeing, reading, and contributing to, what you jokers have to say

My recovery didn't go according to plan, had it done so, I would have been heading to JA next weekend for a week of R&R; as it is, additional $$ were spent so I am just cooling out at home, though my wife has already started to put things on my "plate", and I'm not talking food.

Anyway, as you say God is good and I am feeling rejuvenated and ready for action.