Hello everyone. It’s Eric, the editor, trying again to do better on self-disclosure.
In order to keep a certain family member with boundary issues out of our hair, and to maintain some peace and quiet, we’ve kept this under our hats for almost two weeks: My husband Mike is back in the hospital, following a heart transplant. The issue is a multi-drug resistant bacterial infection.
I won’t bore you with the details, but it is the same pathogen that caused Mike’s earlier severe sepsis.
In the prior situation, things looked very touch and go for a stretch. And the pathogen in question is a leading cause of death for transplant patients, so there’s good reason to be concerned.
In this case, I spotted the issue very early, so we were able to dash to the hospital before things got ugly. But with no meaningful immune system, infections can progress much more rapidly for a transplant patient than for the rest of us.
Karmic law being what it is, our other volunteers are in short supply this week, so we continue behind the eight ball when on a bunch of stories, not to mention returning phone calls and answering emails.
To all involved, I am deeply sorry for the delay.
Assuming everything goes to plan, we return home tomorrow, where we’ll continue to work on getting Mike stronger. I may at some point even return to the paying job — if nothing else, having only been home four weeks since last July (versus living at the hospital), would seem to warrant a change of scenery.
Meanwhile, I’m happy to report that, despite this setback, Mike continues to get stronger, and he’s getting a lot of love, encouragement and support. Indeed, the nurses on our unit were shocked to see how much stronger he’s gotten. And they dig the inflatable Mylar shark that scuds along over his wheelchair, which travels as part of his entourage when Mike prowls the unit, getting in his laps.
I will keep all of you posted. Thank you as always for your love, prayers, and well wishes.
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