What are you doing today?

Time for a Josh update. It's a bit confusing. Not everything has gone well, yet the nurses say he's doing great. I think what seems like giant issues from our side are more like tiny little bumps in an otherwise bumpy road for them. The takeaway is that the doctors and nurses are happy with his progress.

Perhaps the best update came from Josh this morning: "Heyo! So how did all you did do with your transplant surgeries? Mine is feeling pretty breezy." :ROFLMAO: Then in the next post admits the past few days were rough. I think that's only the second time he's posted in the family chat since the surgery, so that's a good sign.

One of his biggest issues so far was he had a lot of gunk in the lung they had to suction out. But he was doing a very poor job relating his current status to the nurses, so they weren't aware. He's accustomed to having gunk in his lungs, so he probably didn't think to complain. After that, the numbers started looking considerably better. He is also coming back to life so to speak as they remove tubes and whatnot. It's know he started with 6 suction tubes around the lungs and that was miserable for him. I think he is down to 2 now.
 
Cmaier said:
Argh. I have shingles. Why didn’t any of you people warn me! It sucks.
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Sorry to hear that, I've had it too and it does indeed suck. I'm normally pro-vax but the fact that this one in particular is known to cause vomiting I just said no way.
 
Eric said:
Sorry to hear that, I've had it too and it does indeed suck. I'm normally pro-vax but the fact that this one in particular is known to cause vomiting I just said no way.
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The good news is I found a new primary care physician. I though I had injured a muscle because that’s what the pain felt like, and I couldn’t sleep the last 3 nights at all; I was going to see my shoulder surgeon (turns out that’s where the problem is), but since I also had a little rash where it hurt, I figured I’d see my mean primary care physician who never listens to what I am saying first. Made an appointment, then got a call that she was not in today, and they asked if I wanted to see a different lady. This new doctor is delightful, and she is taking new patients. (Old doctor: you are going to die, because I ordered 45 blood tests, and one number is slightly elevated, the same as it has been since you were 24 years old. You must only eat raw vegetables and run a marathon each day. New doctor: oh, looking at your charts here, your blood work is perfect. Probably better than mine!).
 
Cmaier said:
Argh. I have shingles. Why didn’t any of you people warn me! It sucks.
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Have you had the Shingrix shot?

I didn’t want to but the wife and Dr pressured me into it. I just remember when I got chicken pox I was expecting a 2 week vacation from school.

I got 3 days so something in my body chemistry was able to really fight it. So I figured I would be good to go. But I got the shots anyway.

Good luck.
 
Herdfan said:
Have you had the Shingrix shot?

I didn’t want to but the wife and Dr pressured me into it. I just remember when I got chicken pox I was expecting a 2 week vacation from school.

I got 3 days so something in my body chemistry was able to really fight it. So I figured I would be good to go. But I got the shots anyway.

Good luck.
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i had my physical last month, and they mentioned shingrix and told me they recommend it at age 55. I was only 54 :-(

Doctor today told me the same thing, but told me to take it 6 months from when my symptoms subside.
 
Cmaier said:
Argh. I have shingles. Why didn’t any of you people warn me! It sucks.
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So sorry you have to go through this. Thankfully, I did have the two vaccines (zero side effects). My best friend's wife went through shingles and now suffers chronic nerve pain. Hopefully, you won't have to experience the same.
 
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shadow puppet said:
So sorry you have to go through this. Thankfully, I did have the two vaccines (zero side effects). My best friend's wife went through shingles and now suffers chronic nerve pain. Hopefully, you won't have experience the same.
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doctor said i came in very early in the course of it, so outcome likely to be good.

My wife has had shingles four times - never had any pain! Just itching. Lucky.
 
Eric said:
Sorry to hear that, I've had it too and it does indeed suck. I'm normally pro-vax but the fact that this one in particular is known to cause vomiting I just said no way.
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Looking at the list of side effects in the PDR or elsewhere, for vaccines or drugs, is pretty useless, since companies want to list everything as protection. You need a lot of prior knowledge to sift through it intelligently, and as far as vaccines go, do realize that the bar deciding to release one is already very high since you are usually balancing causing harm to a healthy person vs the risk and severity of the disease the vaccine prevents.
As I have mentioned before, I have had excellent results preventing vaccine side effects (including a Covid/Flu/RSV combo) by simply taking an NSAID (e.g., Naproxen, Ibuprofen etc.) around the time of injection(s). Studies have shown this does not decrease the effectiveness of the vaccine.

In the case of shingles, which can occur when your varicella (chickenpox)-directed immunity starts to flag for whatever reason, you may be out of the woods after going through a bout, since shingles is basically a varicella booster shot. The recurrence risk depends on your immune health - if "normal", you have an ~ 5-10% chance of recurrence, slowing rising as time goes by. So the vaccination benefit would be a function of how long you plan to live... ;-)

And Cmaier, consider checking yourself out thoroughly when the bout is over - shingles can be an indicator that your immune system is flagging for some reason.
 
cbum said:
And Cmaier, consider checking yourself out thoroughly when the bout is over - shingles can be an indicator that your immune system is flagging for some reason.
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I had a full physical with an extensive set of blood tests about a month ago (about 6 or 7 vials worth). Everything looked great except for slightly elevated triglycerides, and i was mildly dehydrated. I think I’m just old :-)
 
Eric said:
Sorry to hear that, I've had it too and it does indeed suck. I'm normally pro-vax but the fact that this one in particular is known to cause vomiting I just said no way.
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I threw up the entire day after the 2nd jab. First one was no problem. Still, I'd rather one day of upchucking than months of agony.
Cmaier said:
My wife has had shingles four times - never had any pain! Just itching. Lucky.
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Lucky - you ain't kidding!
 
Alli said:
I threw up the entire day after the 2nd jab. First one was no problem. Still, I'd rather one day of upchucking than months of agony.

Lucky - you ain't kidding!
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I was getting no sympathy from my wife. My main symptom is super-painful muscle pains, sometimes feeling like electric shocks, and other times like torn muscles. I barely have any rashes (two faint dime sized rashes, one on my back and one on my chest, and some redness in my armpit). It’s completely different than what she had (which was red bumpy rashes in a line, with itching and minor skin pain). Now I’m getting.a little bit of sympathy, because my kid overheard me groaning from the pain when I didn’t know she was there, and she told my wife.
 
Time for a Josh update. He was supposed to be released from the hospital yesterday, but they didn't have a place to send him. They found a place on Friday, but it was discovered over the weekend that the "kitchen" was just a refrigerator and sink. They're requiring him to have an actual kitchen so his caregivers can prepare him healthy meals. And the people who needed to fix that issue with the insurance company don't work weekends.

As of today, I hear they've found a place and now all the insurance stuff is squared away. So I think the next step is for him to be discharged and go to his new temporary home.

He'll need to live up there now for the next 3 months. After that he'll be able to return home. But even then, I do think he'll have to go back to Seattle a few times a year for checkups.
 
Pretty big deal for little old me.

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