Prayers Needed Please

[TheUnknown 39]

Yesterday, I got two huge does of bad/could be bad news.

First, I get a call from my mom saying the doctor found something on her lungs and that she'd need a CT scan to see what it is. He told her it could be a scar, but I shouldn't have to tell you what I fear it is. She smokes, by the way.

Then, I notice the Facebook status updates from my friend's brother. Their father had a heart attack and major kidney problems. The latest update says that he has 1 to 2 hours left unless something changes for the positive. My friend, by the way, is getting married in less than two months.

Edited March 31, 2010 by TheUnknown

[Ayingel 24]

that's really rough i hope everything starts working towards the best, whatever that may be.

[TheUnknown 39]

Well, it's been twelve hours since he said their dad has 1 to 2 hours and he's still here. At least that bit of good has happened.

[Ayingel 24]

seems to be a theme. my friend brandi had to fly out on saturday (and left in the middle of her shift to do so) because she got a call saying her dad's cancer had taken a bad turn. now it seems the chemo and the transfusions have been working

[Sticks 1]

My uncle was driving a semi for work the other day when the tire blew out and rolled him. He went to the ER but had to be lifted to another hospital because one of his cracked ribs punctured a lung. He's okay, but quite a few other broken bones I guess. :/

[TheUnknown 39]

Well, my mother got her CT results back. No cancer!

However, it sounds like my friend's dad isn't going to make it through the night. I talked to my friend last night. He said his dad had gangrene of the scrotum that went septic. I also found it he doesn't have insurance.

EDIT: As I was typing, I got a Facebook message from another friend who said he had died twenty or thirty minutes ago.

Edited April 7, 2010 by TheUnknown

[Drake 53]

Gangrene of the scrotum... My goodness, I didn't even know such a condition existed. Hell of a way to go.

[TheUnknown 39]

Yeah, I kinda of thought the same thing last night when I talked to my friend on the phone.

[Bad furday 57]

That is extremely terrifying.

[Princess 35]

I'm sorry Unknown, but that's a sign of someone who didn't take care of themselves. Even if he didn't have insurance there are free clinics and places that offer free antibiotics. In order to get gangrene, that is an infection that was left to get out of control.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

Sorry to hear about your friend's dad, but great news for your mom!

[TheUnknown 39]

You know, Prin, first, free clinics and antibiotics aren't always where people can find them. And second, in my opinion, it is in piss poor taste to go into a "blame-the-person-that-died" comment at all but certainly so damn soon.

[Princess 35]

I'm sorry Unknown. This is why our current healthcare system sucks and hopefully is in the process of getting better. It's something that shouldn't have happened with the "Greatest healthcare system in the world."

[Mara 29]

Prayers for one of my coworkers and her husband and their family.

A couple weeks ago she took him to the doctor because he was having lots of headaches (which I guess is unusual for him), and they found out he has a malignant brain tumor that is inoperable.

He's going to have chemo and stuff to hopefully prolong his life by a year or two.

[Ayingel 24]

my friends james and jessica just lost their second baby within a year. please keep them in your prayers :(

[Mara 29]

Update on my coworker's husband:

I guess they figured out he has the same kind of tumor Ted Kennedy had (forget what it's called), and they told him he has about six months.

Prayers for both of them and their family. To go from having headaches to this, in less than a month... I can't even fathom.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

Some friends of ours just got word their granddaughter is terminal with leukemia. She's been battling it for awhile now and it came back with a vengence after her last round of chemo. The docs are giving a time-frame of weeks. Please keep the family in your prayers.

[Princess 35]

What a bad news week :(

[Ayingel 24]

My dad was part of something called the Humphrey Institute Fellowship program. While part of the program, he had the chance to network with some really great people. One of these people was the Chief of Officer Recruiting for the Minnesota National Guard named Sgt Major Mark Weber. With the promotion of General Petraeus, he was personally told to pack up and head to Afghanistan to be the Military Advisor to (someone important...I can't remember his title). He has a family, and obviously, this was pretty upsetting to them. Well, it doesn't look like he'll ever make it to Afghanistan, because during his physical, the doctors noticed his hemoglobin (a chemical produced by the liver) was low (which is very very bad). Upon further tests at the Mayo Clinic, it was found out that he has stage 4 pancreatic cancer, with six or seven large tumors already formed in his liver. We're hoping that being at Mayo will allow him quick and aggressive treatment to hopefully push it back. I just ask that you keep him and his family in your thoughts/prayers/whatever it may be. I would hate for my dad to lose another friend and the world to lose a wonderful and influential person this way.

***What's incredible is that this is a super new development. With yearly physicals, this started very quickly.

Edited July 24, 2010 by Ayingel

[Pandora 77]

I definitely will. The Mayo Clinic, as I understand based on some friends with experience with the local clinic, is an incredible place to be in such a desperate situation.

[Pandora 77]

This news MIGHT have gotten out to the rest of the country, but I feel compelled to share here since I come from such a small city. Local police found the body of Lorenzen Wright yesterday. He was an NBA player for the Grizzlies for a while, but more importantly he was the hometown hero: he went to the same little university I go to, made it big, and achieved his dream of playing for Memphis's first professional basketball team. I didn't know him personally, though I'd met him a few times, and he always seemed like such a nice guy, "one of us." To put it in perspective how important this man was to our town, a few years ago, when his very young daughter died of cancer in the middle of the season, the team wore wristbands with his number in black, and every home game until he returned opened with a prayer for his family. He leaves six children and a widdow. Granted, they'll be alright financially, at least for a while, but he was definitely a family man, that good example that Memphis so desperately needs more of, and he was shot twelve times and dumped in the woods in East Memphis. There's a lot of homocide in Memphis, so I'm usually not so affected by it (how sad is that?) but it hurts me a little that someone I admired and thousands of people look up to ended up like that. Send out a little thought to his children.

[Mara 29]

A rather sad update on my coworker's husband:

He passed away, I guess yesterday or maybe early today. He had been hoping to last long enough to see his first grandchild, but it wasn't to be.

Prayers and thoughts for her and her family.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

I got word this morning that my grandmother fell last night and broke her shoulder. She's fallen before, but this is the first time she's really hurt herself. The way she fell, her humerus bone (arm bone for you non medical types) went straight through her rotator cuff area and left bits and pieces of bone all over the shoulder area. Luckily, she got an excellent ortho-surgeon who was able to do a closed reduction, meaning he was able to get everything cleaned up and set without making a large incision. She's also got a broken nose and a pretty bruised up face. It's too soon to tell much, but we're praying the rotator cuff injury starts to heal on its own. If it doesn't, she'll need another surgery to fix it which will lengthen her recovery time and may put her in a nursing home. I don't want to be in the line of fire if she does end up needing an assisted living facility. Both my grandparents value their independence and Nana at least will fight tooth and nail to keep it. She is at least considering a stint in a rehab place once she gets discharged from the hospital. So thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery and that she won't need another surgery.

[Princess 35]

Ouch, I'm sorry JM.

[Pandora 77]

You got it.