My husband is not feeling well and I'm getting really concerned. It started with joint ache after working too hard, then he had a fever for a few days, his ankles were swollen too, I got him to go to doctors, no heart issues, negative Lyme, they gave him steroids, he got better, got another fever, lasted about 24 hours. He went for a recheck, I don't think he told the doctors about the fever, I wasn't happy, but didn't want to argue about it. He looked pretty good, I had hoped what ever it was passed. Then yesterday he got his fever back again. Now I'm pretty freaked out. I don't think I'll be able to get him to doctors today while he is sick. I got ahold of a good friend that he respects a lot, see if he can talk him into going to docs, will see.
Anyways, I really haven't liked the way he looks the last few month, and I worry about cancer , he worked in a chemical mill, and worked in waist management for like 20 years, extremely high rate of cancer.
I started an antidepressants 4 days ago, because I just have this bad gut feeling, and haven't been sleeping. There is not much anyone can help with or advice, I'm doing the best I can with a stubborn old fool. That's about it, really not any advice needed. Just explaining what's been going on . Thanks, for listening
Don't let them send you home without answers to all of this:
1. Is blood work COMPLETELY normal? If not, what is NOT normal and what would these values mean? What could they indicate?
2. Was hubby dehydrated on admission; could this have contributed to his high temps?
3. Why was hubby put on steroids? Does he have an infection or an inflammation (steroids appropriate for the latter but not the former).
4. Are lungs xrayed and clear; were covid tests done? Is urine without any infections.
5. This was a very high fever; do you have a CAUSE for it? Have antibiotics been given? If they have were they given for a specific reason or because of high fever without a known cause?
6. What was the cause of the joints swelling?
7. Is his know history of malarial in any way involved in this?
8. What are the next steps. If you have no answer to what happened here what should be watch for as far as recurrance? Is it safe at this point for him to travel out of the country?
If they haven't found an answer after blood work, scans, etc to this temp then you may have no answers. All the more important then to watch his temp, his joints, keep him hydrated and I myself would not be traveling out of the country.
If they have a referral to infectious disease or rheumatologist or something, grab it. IF they say they have no answer ask them if they have any best guesses.
Be certain you rule out that this wasn't due to his history with malaria.
Yikes. I know that's a lot but betting they will toss him out today. Be sure you know if they gave him an antibiotic IV.
Good luck, woman.
To add EKG also. That was good and I haven't made the plane reservation yet because of this. So I'm on that already. And will monitor him much better now BP temps. I think he learned his lesson that I'm not messing anymore when I called EMS
He has had 3 or 4 bags of antibiotics, doxycycline and sodium cloried. I'm not so sure about the spelling but I think you can figure it out
And yes I told Doctor here everything his periodic high fever, him being put on steroids, his high fevers and his ankle swelling, and that he doesn't tell the doctors everything.
What I told Neil was the truth. His stroke would not have killed him. It would have left him with no function left side, garbled speech and unable to walk; and would have left him in a nursing home drooling for the remainder. There's a whole ton of things worse than death.
I am so glad hubby is in. This is going to knock him back, very hard on the body. Hopefully they find out what caused his septic shock, and the septicemia, and it is knocked out with the IV antibiotics. There are times they need more than a few days of IV antibiotics. They may move him to a SNF arm of hospital for a while to continue with the meds. Watch for signs of yeast proliferation with this high dose, folds of skin turning red with white coating, white on his tongue, under the arms, skin folds.
So glad he is in care. Take care of YOU and get sleep. You saved your guy by getting him into care. You are another lesson here on AC for CALL THE AMBULANCE no matter WHAT they say about it.
I agree with Alva. You saved your husband's life.
Take time for yourself before and after being at the hospital. Eat, sleep, take a walk, watch TV, listen to music, call a friend. And breathe deeply.
Prayers sent your way.
They said something and possibly pneumonia, doc said he just isn't buying it, something about a little gunk on the bottom of his lungs , but not enough, could just be scaring, I think is what he said.
Teeth are not infected now, they are giving him probiotics
On top of that your husband has been on steroids recently , increasing the chance of blood clots . Any clots especially if they break off and travel to the lung, heart , or brain ( causing strokes ) are extremely dangerous and can be deadly .
Why is he refusing blood thinner ?
If he doesn't want to take them, which I would encourage him to take them, then he needs to be getting out of bed and walking around.
Did they not explain this to him? Gosh, that is just like the medical industry, I queried every medication they were giving my husband, what is it? Why are you administering it? Are there side effects we should watch for? Anything else we should know?
Continued prayers for you, your husband and his medical team.
Oh yeah, he will only be on blood thinners in the hospital.
Have you guys shared that his teeth have been bothering him? I think they can call a specialist in to check. My great niece had to go to the hospital to have her teeth dealt with, so maybe he can be a one and done?
Great big warm hug! I know this is hard but The Lord is with you guys.
Oops, should have read past the blood thinners. Did they x-ray his teeth? I had a low grade infection in a tooth that didn't create an abscess until I got really sick and my immune system was overloaded, then the nerve that comes out of your brain at the jaw was affected, om my lands! Just a thought on those teeth, they can be sneaky hiding infections under the teeth.
The blood thinners are likely lovenox, typically given, a sub-q injection into the abdomen, while hubby is needing a lot of bedrest. He had enormously high blood pressure and he is stuck too much in bed now, and he is prone now to blood clots. This is a SIMPLE preventative measure that will prevent clots, heart attack and strokes while he is getting treated. I don't mean to take blood thinners lights, and I DON'T, but I would recommend he accept this now during his recovery.
Your hubby, in my opinion, needs to stop refusing things. He needs to ask the reasons they want to give them, and listen. He very nearly just bought the farm in all truth, for being stubborn, or WORSE, didn't buy it and as I love to threaten, almost ended up drooling in a chair for another decade or so while YOU took fun trips to Ireland without him!
I worry that there is no answer as to what this is. If he is still shooting temps I am hoping he isn't resistant to broad spectrum antibiotics they have out there. My brother was and eventually they allowed him home on hospice. He was septic with strep and none of the antibiotics helped him.
Hopefully hubby is OK. Ask if they would/can/could do any scanning or xray on teeth; if not, when he is out of there it should be done with one of those good new xray machines that actually make a circle round the head. If there are hidden abscesses they could come back. You are right that three days in--today--they should have an idea what actual bug this is.
You said he's on probiotics? I hope you mean antibiotics. Probiotics to replenish the gut bacterial colonies won't work until AFTER antibiotics are stopped; they will just be killed. Antibiotics kill the good cells and the bad, kind of like chemo. I don't believe pro bioitics work much, but some do; RealyReal is up on the natural remedies and likely could recommend some of her favorites for you if hubby will take when he is finally off the antibiotics.
Meanwhile, if he is refusing blood thinners he needs to self exercise his lower limbs especially with moving legs and feet, with taking walks often as they are allowed WITH HELP; can't have him tumbling and busting anything NOW.
Good luck. Will keep checking in.
Nowadays you know how sick you really are when you are admitted and kept in hospital. I am Praising The Lord for you and hubby.
Let us know when the labs come in what you are dealing with here. Am so relieved they are keeping him and keeping him on the IV antibiotics.
Hope all is good and will be checking in for your updates to us. A.
"Anaplasmosis is an illness you get from bacteria (Anaplasma phagocytophilum) spread by ticks. It usually causes flu-like symptoms, like fever, headache and muscle aches. If you’re not treated quickly or have a weakened immune system, you might progress to severe symptoms and complications." (internet)
Cleveland Clinic has a good primer on this tick borne disease, everyone, for those of you interested in looking this up.
You are truly lucky in not having let hubby ignore this, Daisy, in having got him to help, and for having a hospital that took the time and care to track down what was causing this; he could easily have died of this with the bacterium going septic through the bloodstream. So glad he's recovering, and from now on he needs to LISTEN TO YOU. This must have been the "bite" you recently saw on his back?
NEWBIE WIFE
for her diagnositic guess of TICK BORNE DISEASE!
Quite a few people in my circle of family and friends in Maine have contracted Lyme disease, and for most of them it was fortunately caught early and they recovered well. Despite being vigilant, I get bitten every year, sometimes several times. I usually wait a few days to see if a rash spreads or I feel ill, and a couple of times the rash spread a bit so Dr. gave doxycycline. Nowadays most doctors here treat prophylacticly if they have any suspicion of Lyme and don't even bother to do any testing. I'm at our summer cottage on the coast right now and already had my first bite; I'd checked pretty carefully before going to bed, but when I went to take a shower in the morning discovered an embedded tick that had been hidden by my Fitbit!
Again, best wishes to you hubby for a speedy and uneventful recovery.
Wonderful that you and the doctors found the bite and got a diagnosis.
Next time your husband tries to ignore his health, this can be the learning lesson you use to get him to comply.
Prayers.
Continued prayers for a quick, full recovery.
I think it was effecting him cognitively too, today we were chatting and I was like ,wow he is his old self, I didn't even realize he was off.
I know he has some recovering to do and some life changes, he seems to know he has to start listening to me.
He is very grateful I called 911 now.
Thanks for all the, information, 🫂 and 🙏 . I ment everything to me and who knows how this would of turned out if I waited even another hour.
He will have a bit of a recovery at home and I would think he'll be on antibiotics; it's crucial he take them ALL as directed. They can be tough on the stomach and people like to try to stop them when they FEEL all cured; but he needs to take them as directed.
Then I got home last night, called a friend and his sister has it, she just wasn't stupid and went to docs ASAP .
I use to be scared of Lyme, the last ten years, I stopped because most everyone has had it once, now we gotta deal with another one, in my area , that's worse.
Thanks everyone! Been such a week.
He will Alva, and he has blood work Monday, his platelets are still low. And he promises to listen to me from now on.
Also , we know now though all his test that every thing else in his body is healthy 😉