Just a heads up for my many friends. You might know Ive been dodging a neuro surgion for a couple of months. I was sick last night, passed out and hit the stone floor HARD! So Ive been admitted to Mayo, uncertain whats next but the pain is about 326 on a scale of 10. Ill keep you posted. OCK
Get well Ock.
Oh my Bob, I am so sorry to hear you are so ill. You do what the doctor's tell you ya hear? I hope you are feeling better very, very soon old friend. I will send up some prayers to add to those of your wife whom I know has been firing them off quite regularly by now. ;)
Thinking of you, Ock.
Feel better, Robert. We're all thinking of you.
Speedy recovery. We all need you back on track.
Best wishes Ock. Praying for you.
Ock ol buddy. Saying a great big prayer to help things go good for you.
Ouch, hope ya feel better!
Man Ock I hope you feel better soon. :'(
Hang tough buddy
Och several people are praying for you even an Atheist? Thank God that isn't me. I hope and pray for a fast recovery. Amen! :)
Hang in there buddy, I'm thinking of you!
wishing you a speedy recovery, good sir!
Get well!
Best nurses in Jacksonville are at Mayo I hear... get well soon!
Get well soon ock!
Get well Ock, best neuro in town is at Mayo
Feel better soon Ock, you're one of my heroes.
Good luck, Bob.
Quote from: If_I_Loved_you on August 29, 2013, 10:23:17 PM
Och several people are praying for you even an Atheist? Thank God that isn't me. I hope and pray for a fast recovery. Amen! :)
Not the place for that IILY.
Get well Ock!
I guess 'sick' is code for 'Rebel Yell'.... 'passed out' must mean 'over animated and falling down' while telling someone about the trains in Medellin.... I'm sorry, but hitting your head on the stone floor.... I don't have anything cute to add to that other than, 'ouch'.
Get well soon.
Take care, Bob. You're in great medical hands!
Get well soon, Ock!
I hope you get better soon, Ock. Prayers and positive thoughts coming your way.
The neurosurgeons at Mayo are some of the best in the world. Listen to them and let them help you.
BTW, neurosurgeons in general don't have good "bedside manners" so don't let that put you off.
Best wishes, Ock.
Just an update on our dear friend Bob. He is fighting a very serious infection and still needs our thoughts and prayers. He has improved slightly and I hear that he may try and use a lap to today if he is up to it to check up on what's happening here. So if he does, Bob, love ya my old hippie buddy. Praying too. Peace out baby! ;)
Bob I also send my prayers to you and your family & friends and to the fine people taking care of you. IILY :)
Hang in there your in my prayers
Sending you healing thoughts!
Hello friends, Diane is correct, there is some sort of raging infection going on inside, and no apparent cause, and no apparent way to negate it. I've been in a downward spiral with the back pain over the last 2 months, going from moving slower to using a cane, to barely using a cane, to a walker to a bed! All this time everyone thought it was 'just the back acting up +/-' Not so. With normal white count between 5-10 mine was 28 when the admitted me.
In the area of the lower spine injury a CT scan picked up inflamed tissue running from the tailbone to the kidney, but what is unusual is there is no trail leading there. No obvious injury, bleeding, intrusion, etc. The dangerous spot is about 1/2 the size of your fist and pressed against the spine, between the spine and bowel. Normally they would go in with diagnostic radiology run in a needle and pull out a sample if not the poison itself. Not here, too close to many touchy areas. Surgery isn't keen on opening up the area with many of the same fears. So gallons of IV fluid laced with a couple of powerful antibiotics washing through me the white count has finally turned downward.
Epidurals and other exotic VA 'cures' are off the table into the foreseeable future. If they can discover how this happened and how we might get at it and remove it, I'd be home free. According the the Mayo team, this is completely 'new' to any of them and we are literally making it up as we go. I'll keep you posted with any more dramatic changes. Until then, thank you for your prayers, cares and wishes.
We are all hoping and praying for your speedy and complete recovery, Ock.
Of course you are aware that you are more than just a member, founder, or rail expert. You are an irreplaceable resource.
So... with regard for you and yours, as well as selfishly, I am pulling for you.
That, and I really admire your compassion for others. You influence me to strive to be a better person.
We love you, Ock.
Quote from: buckethead on September 01, 2013, 10:01:38 PM
We are all hoping and praying for your speedy and complete recovery, Ock.
Of course you are aware that you are more than just a member, founder, or rail expert. You are an irreplaceable resource.
So... with regard for you and yours, as well as selfishly, I am pulling for you.
That, and I really admire your compassion for others. You influence me to strive to be a better person.
We love you, Ock.
+1000
Quote from: Ocklawaha on September 01, 2013, 08:30:10 PM
Hello friends, Diane is correct, there is some sort of raging infection going on inside, and no apparent cause, and no apparent way to negate it. I've been in a downward spiral with the back pain over the last 2 months, going from moving slower to using a cane, to barely using a cane, to a walker to a bed! All this time everyone thought it was 'just the back acting up +/-' Not so. With normal white count between 5-10 mine was 28 when the admitted me.
In the area of the lower spine injury a CT scan picked up inflamed tissue running from the tailbone to the kidney, but what is unusual is there is no trail leading there. No obvious injury, bleeding, intrusion, etc. The dangerous spot is about 1/2 the size of your fist and pressed against the spine, between the spine and bowel. Normally they would go in with diagnostic radiology run in a needle and pull out a sample if not the poison itself. Not here, too close to many touchy areas. Surgery isn't keen on opening up the area with many of the same fears. So gallons of IV fluid laced with a couple of powerful antibiotics washing through me the white count has finally turned downward.
Epidurals and other exotic VA 'cures' are off the table into the foreseeable future. If they can discover how this happened and how we might get at it and remove it, I'd be home free. According the the Mayo team, this is completely 'new' to any of them and we are literally making it up as we go. I'll keep you posted with any more dramatic changes. Until then, thank you for your prayers, cares and wishes.
Could this be something you picked up in Colombia?
Between tests this AM.
Ben, no, Colombia had no role in this mystery.
Current MD team thoughts are:
Got some bad food, threw up (lowering BP) stood up (lowering it again) hit the wall then the floor HARD, causing internal bleeding around the back injury introducing an infected mass...??
Got epidural injections at the VA in Gainesville, a bacteria was accidentally introduced near the spine, which may have caused the nausea and passing out and indirectly a LOT more pain...??
or, similar to #1 theory, except the fall did not cause bleeding in which case the bacteria came in via food, but this seems the most unlikely according to the current findings...??
The worst part of the whole treatment thing is we don't really know what, or how, so 'cure' is a little elusive. The other part I'd love to lose is the daily injections in the stomach! OUCH!
Okay friends, best head out, more MRI's and ???? today. White count is finally down under a blistering, non-stop, 40 gallons an hour, 3 antibiotic 'attack' and they are talking a somewhat tethered release tomorrow or 'midweek.' But any release if going to be loaded with RX and 'conditions.' Kind of makes me wonder if Pella can install a window on my back?
So glad you checked in with us Bob. Will continue to keep you in my thought's a prayers. The antibiotics will do their thing and you will get well I know it. The doctors may never figure out what really happened. You getting well is what count's to all of us. :)
Surgery is now a certainty... So is another week in the Mayo Clinic but I may get a break between stays. Test results say this mystery 'abscess' is organizing - IE: getting worse and more specific in nature and location. A couple of weeks of additional antibody bombing should give it time to do whatever it is going to do. At that point they think they can go in and remove it. They have said this will NOT be an in and out procedure. More tests today, trying to separate whatever additional damage I did to the back in my fall, and whatever needs to be done for the neighboring infection. Both need to be fixed, but one is painful the other deadly. RX is here, so I've got to check out. Thank you ALL for your great wishes and prayers.
I sure do wish you all the best and will keep you in my prayers, Bob. Keep fightin!
Quote from: Ocklawaha on September 03, 2013, 09:01:16 AM
Surgery is now a certainty... So is another week in the Mayo Clinic but I may get a break between stays. Test results say this mystery 'abscess' is organizing - IE: getting worse and more specific in nature and location. A couple of weeks of additional antibody bombing should give it time to do whatever it is going to do. At that point they think they can go in and remove it. They have said this will NOT be an in and out procedure. More tests today, trying to separate whatever additional damage I did to the back in my fall, and whatever needs to be done for the neighboring infection. Both need to be fixed, but one is painful the other deadly. RX is here, so I've got to check out. Thank you ALL for your great wishes and prayers.
Here is a quote From DWIGHT EISENHOWER (1890-1969)
The qualities of a great man are "vision, integrity, courage, understanding, the power of articulation, and profundity of character." this quote fits you Bob. I'm praying for you, family, friends and the Medical staff at Mayo. ;)
Sorry to hear you are facing surgery Bob. I know you have a great attitude about challenges like this and you will beat this one. I will be thinking of you and remain with you in spirit during this time old friend.
Just was able to have a short chat with our friend Bob. I was hoping he would be doing much better by now. Sadly, he is still struggling with this strange and undefined infection that has the doctors at Mayo more than puzzled. Bob tells me that they have done more tests than he can count trying to find out what the infection is and how he got it. They keep coming back to the conclusion that this infection must have been introduced into his system because of it's location with no apparent links to any other organs or areas of infection. They are thinking this may have been introduced when he received some VA administered shots in his lower back. He tells me he is on three very strong antibiotic meds which seem to be fighting the infection but as soon as they try and back off the meds, his fever spikes again. Long story short, our old buddy still needs our thoughts and prayers of support. Apparently he is going to undergo some more professional scrutiny at Mayo tomorrow. Let's hope they find something definitive and that will lead the way to Bob's cure a.s.a.p.
There was a series of articles recently about a compounding pharmacy in South Carolina (?) that managed to ship out a whole bunch of injectable steroids intended for the spine that were contaminated with some sort of mold. A number of people ended up with mold infections in their spinal canal as a result.
Maybe Ock has run into something similar.
Hang in their, friend. You are in the best possible place in the world.
Quote from: Dog Walker on September 10, 2013, 09:37:32 AM
There was a series of articles recently about a compounding pharmacy in South Carolina (?) that managed to ship out a whole bunch of injectable steroids intended for the spine that were contaminated with some sort of mold. A number of people ended up with mold infections in their spinal canal as a result.
Maybe Ock has run into something similar.
Hang in their, friend. You are in the best possible place in the world.
Pretty unlikely since I believe all of those contaminated shots were administered almost a year ago by now, and symptoms would probably have occurred long ago by now. That would probably be the first thing they would be looking at in tests as well.
I had two of those injections this summer, and the neurosurgeon said that particular type of compound was not ever used in epidural injections in the Jacksonville area as far as he was aware.
"When you suffer, you are being conformed to the image of Jesus. When you pray, you are being made holy in the image of Jesus. When you quietly serve a person in need, you are being shaped into the image of Jesus. When you generously give, your heart is being remade into the image of Jesus, our Lord and Savior."
― Allen R. Hunt
I also hope and pray you get better Robert W. Mann aka Ocklawaha. :)
Hello Friends, I'm still being bounced around like a yo-yo but several of you have asked me for an update, so I'll share today's facts and theories on my medical crash.
I have a home nurse who is trying to get better range of motion back in my legs. I'm coming to the end (tonight in fact) of a massive antibiotic attack on the mystery infection. Enough that the stomach feels like it's been carpet bombed.
The current theory has now come full circle and they are 'suggesting' that the VA epidural injections (for a back injury) introduced a bacteria to my lower spine. The right side is still swollen from the tailbone to the kidneys but the worst part is I'm now starting to feel sciatica on the back of the right leg. Never had it? Imagine you've just gotten out of the pool and stretched out on a 440 volt electrical wire... IT WILL GET YOUR ATTENTION!
Was back at Mayo Tuesday, this time to see the GI surgery team. While it was supposed to be a simple consult, it also ended up with me on the table... WITHOUT anesthesia!!! OUCH!!! So a couple of white knuckle hours later, the team told me, unless we've missed something, we don't think this is caused by or located in the GI tract.
They wanted to point out however, that there is a 'raging infection' against the spine, between the bowel and the vertebra. If it was from the GI tract, apparently there would be some sort of path which should be visible or at least testable. Not me.
I'm being passed to neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery next... WHO KNOWS? Meanwhile the clock is ticking and the bets are that as soon as the antibiotics stop the fever and faint will start again. Guess I've been stuck in more places then I knew I had, human pin cushion. Since my Mayo team still isn't sure what is going on, and I'm told has been 'passing notes and tests' between Rochester, Scottsdale and Jacksonville, we keep getting fresh ideas on how to beat me up. LOL. They're supposed to be calling me tomorrow for more followups and the original team still says surgery in 2 weeks... Surgery on what? Who knows! Such is life.
Where is Dr. House when you need him!!
Keep fightin Bob, and you'll get through this just fine. And thanks for keeping us posted on your progress!
Quote from: Jason on September 13, 2013, 09:56:09 AM
Where is Dr. House when you need him!!
Keep fightin Bob, and you'll get through this just fine. And thanks for keeping us posted on your progress!
+1
Quote from: Ocklawaha on September 12, 2013, 07:43:33 PM
Hello Friends, I'm still being bounced around like a yo-yo but several of you have asked me for an update, so I'll share today's facts and theories on my medical crash.
I have a home nurse who is trying to get better range of motion back in my legs. I'm coming to the end (tonight in fact) of a massive antibiotic attack on the mystery infection. Enough that the stomach feels like it's been carpet bombed.
The current theory has now come full circle and they are 'suggesting' that the VA epidural injections (for a back injury) introduced a bacteria to my lower spine. The right side is still swollen from the tailbone to the kidneys but the worst part is I'm now starting to feel sciatica on the back of the right leg. Never had it? Imagine you've just gotten out of the pool and stretched out on a 440 volt electrical wire... IT WILL GET YOUR ATTENTION!
Was back at Mayo Tuesday, this time to see the GI surgery team. While it was supposed to be a simple consult, it also ended up with me on the table... WITHOUT anesthesia!!! OUCH!!! So a couple of white knuckle hours later, the team told me, unless we've missed something, we don't think this is caused by or located in the GI tract.
They wanted to point out however, that there is a 'raging infection' against the spine, between the bowel and the vertebra. If it was from the GI tract, apparently there would be some sort of path which should be visible or at least testable. Not me.
I'm being passed to neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery next... WHO KNOWS? Meanwhile the clock is ticking and the bets are that as soon as the antibiotics stop the fever and faint will start again. Guess I've been stuck in more places then I knew I had, human pin cushion. Since my Mayo team still isn't sure what is going on, and I'm told has been 'passing notes and tests' between Rochester, Scottsdale and Jacksonville, we keep getting fresh ideas on how to beat me up. LOL. They're supposed to be calling me tomorrow for more followups and the original team still says surgery in 2 weeks... Surgery on what? Who knows! Such is life.
Oh Uncle Ock! We hope you will get better soon! We are keeping you in our thoughts and prayers! Hang in there!
I will ring the bells on the trolley to keep it moving! ALLLLL ABOARD!
http://www.youtube.com/v/vxM9GHmoxEU
-Josh
Thanks everyone, you can't imagine how much it means to me to hear the encouraging words. I'll keep you posted and yes, I'd love to meet up with Doctor House somewhere along this journey... My wife and kids would state under oath that they cast his character after me! BAH HUMBUG! ;)
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa111/Ocklawaha/FAMILY%20AND%20FRIENDS/ScreenShot2014-02-17at84506PM_zpse6d9d262.png)
I'm now past my major surgery #1, 4 since last summer! my 5th hospitalization n the same time frame. because my spine (another future surgery) is a wreck, it caused the toes on my right foot to turn UNDER so I was walking on the top of my toes, talk about pain... ouch. also why sometimes you'd see me with a cane... I've now graduated to a chair. LOL!!!
At this moment i'm either dead or i'm SO STONED! Back home with a well decorated foot. While I was eating dinner our little white dog came to my bed to beg for food. Later on with a big tray on my lap I noticed out of the corner of my eye that she was back. I teased her and told her to go back to 'mommy', (a command she knows and usually follows), but she just stayed still and I continued to chat her up whilst stuffing my face. About the time I was done eating, she still hadn't left the room! It was then that I realized the 'white dog' in the corner of my vision was my elevated foot and white sock! See! I'm not half you think as you stoned I are!!!
Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. I'm now facing 90 days in bed, enough to make a grown man cry! The only positive I have found relates to my daughters when they were quite small. Home for a federal holiday 'we were watching Sesame Street and Burt and Ernie were marooned on the planet "Shhhhhhhhhhhh", well with reruns maybe I'll find out if they ever got off!
Your friend, Bob ('OCKLAWAHA') Mann
What happened? Broken foot? NOT EVEN CLOSE Y'ALL, much worse then that. Spinal stenosis has caused my toes to curl under my foot AND make a left turn. I've been walking on the tops of my toes for a couple of years now, thus the occasional cane. They had to break all of the toes, remove one joint, realign the bones, muscles and tendons and then fuse the whole thing together again.
Thinking of you Mann.
When you are ready lets do another kayak trip together. Speedy recovery.
Quote from: Ocklawaha on February 17, 2014, 09:16:49 PM
What happened? Broken foot? NOT EVEN CLOSE Y'ALL, much worse then that. Spinal stenosis has caused my toes to curl under my foot AND make a left turn. I've been walking on the tops of my toes for a couple of years now, thus the occasional cane. They had to break all of the toes, remove one joint, realign the bones, muscles and tendons and then fuse the whole thing together again.
Now ya just gotta follow doctors orders (and wifes) and get better... 8)
Quote from: BridgeTroll on February 18, 2014, 07:10:26 AM
Quote from: Ocklawaha on February 17, 2014, 09:16:49 PM
What happened? Broken foot? NOT EVEN CLOSE Y'ALL, much worse then that. Spinal stenosis has caused my toes to curl under my foot AND make a left turn. I've been walking on the tops of my toes for a couple of years now, thus the occasional cane. They had to break all of the toes, remove one joint, realign the bones, muscles and tendons and then fuse the whole thing together again.
Now ya just gotta follow doctors orders (and wifes) and get better... 8)
+ a million. Get well soon, Bob, we miss you around here.