Sickness has reared its ugly head and slid down our chimney.
I developed a nasty-looking boil on my chest that came up quite suddenly. I'm talking big and tremendously sore. Dr. took one look at it and said it was a Staph infection. Got antibiotics, and junk to put in our noses. He said everyone in the house should submerse in a bathtub with hot water and a 1/2 cup Clorox in the tub.
Also Susan developed extremely sore throat. She just got back from her Dr. and she has strep.
Going to get her scripts filled now.
I have to go tomorrow to have the Dr. cut into my infection and drain it, under local anesthesia.
Can't get out and enjoy the 70 degree-weather!
And, I'm supposed to pick up a "new-to-me" Ford Expedition this afternoon because lightening hit mine and the insurance company totaled it out.
So glad we have good insurance, even if it gets more costly all the time!

Don, be careful, and be sure to take those chlorine baths - they're the best thing I know of to stop a dermatological staph infection dead in it's tracks. We all have staph crawling on our skin, constantly, but most of the time just a daily shower solves the problem - but there are times when it finds a tiny place, sometimes as small as a hair follicle, where it can invade deeper into the cutaneous and sub-cutaneous layers where it just seems to explode. It's a nasty, and can be deadly, disease - so be very, very careful old friend.

Gary

Don get well please get better soon, ......speedy recovery.

Don ... wishing you and Susan a full and rapid recovery ...

Don - Floolow doc's order closely - as Gary says this is not to be taken lightly.

Get well quick good friend.

Bill G

Hi Don...sounds pretty serious, so follow directions to the letter.

I hope you and Susan are feeling better very soon.

Ian

Get well soon amigo! My new T5 arrives today. Need you to come over and put it through its paces!

Wishing Susan a speedy recovery. Emma has had a sore throat for abt 5 days now, She has missed some work but I think she's finally on the mend.

Take care,
Don P

Hope you are both feeling better soon.

Keep taking the medicine

All the very best

Col

Sorry to hear that. Wishing y'all a quick recovery.

Just got back from Dr. He didn't have to cut into it since it was responding to the antibiotics and had popped on its own. Gross, huh?
Any way that's good news.
Susan is feeling a little better too.
Thanks for the well wishes.

Damned good thing you're gonna live - I wasn't planning on driving down to Bossier City to fill in for you this weekend at Earnest's Restaurant.

Gary

... glad you guys are on the mend, Don ... give our best to Susan ...

Glad you are improving. How was that chlorine bath? Did the experience any discomfort from the hot water/chlorine?

Don,

Think yourself lucky there was a chap on TV last night who ingested a tape worm, apparently it cured something going on in his stomach, it then grew inside him about 6ft long eventually they had to kill it and his body just got rid of it like food, I didn't watch it but my bum was getting itchy listening to someone telling the tale over a bacon sandwich this morning on site.

You get well both of you.

No discomfort. Just half a cup in the whole tub. Maybe a tapeworm would help me lose weight.

Someone in my family takes a med for migraine headaches and has lost significant weight ... I'm not sure if the med kills your appetite or what ... I would like to lose weight WITHOUT killing my appetite !!!

Glad you and the missus are pulling through this okay, Don. Keep on keepin' on.

Tony, we both know what to do. Quit eating so much great food and get off our lazy rear ends!
One hundred twenty-four: Thanks!

I lost 75 lbs with what I call the ELDM diet.


Eat Less, Do More.

no bad carbs, no white stuff, ....bread, sugar, starch, pasta,etc,.......otherwise eat away...now wheres that juicy Porterhouse with sauteed Asparagus & heirloom tomatoes?...YUM!
I Lost 100lbs 5 yrs ago gained most back, my fault Grrrr!....
I'm ready to do it again actually starting this Monday....south beach diet here I come again.!!

Donny ... I give you a LOT of credit ... don't know how a paesano can live without PASTA ...

Challenge perhaps? Everbody puts up $10 or $20, and we buy gift card for Outback for the winner.
Highest percentage of weight loss in six months is the winner.

...UH-OH ... this could get SERIOUS !!!

I'll go for that bet, Don. I'm 212 right now, and was down to 177 when I got back from Florida. I found out that a person can live quite well on TV dinners, most of which are under 300 calories. So, South Beach breakfast for me, TV Dinner lunch and supper. Unfortunately, I will have to cut out Margarettas for a couple months - God no! The thought of that makes me want to head for the bar right now and mix up a fresh one.


Gary

After lying around doing nothing but eat for two months, I am an all time high of 294!
Who's in?

you gotta do what you gotta do once you lose the weight you could have pasta once in awhile it's not going to change anything what to eat it every night fuggetaboutit

Remember When:

Now I know why you guy's have such bi..g voices, they're coming from a bi..g place, I 'll have to try and put a bit of weight on I'm only a measly 149 lbs. soaking wet.

I'd rather keep you lot for a week than a fortnight

Col

Last time I went near a scale it took off down the street. I lost 20lbs chasing after it.

I porked up after surgery and did the SB - back to 138 now!

138 ?!? ... my BONES weigh more than that !!!

I have a talking scale ... I stepped on it yesterday and it shouted "HEY, one at a time!"

I'm serious now. I thought I was having a heart attack last night. I was about a minute away from dialing 911. Blood pressure shot way up. I actually took a nitro tablet. I've had them since my stent, but never took one before.
I think it was God saying "lose the weight if you don't want to see me real soon!"
I'm hoping it was combination of side effects of the antibiotics I'm on and plain old panic. Still I'm making an appointment with my heart doctor tomorrow.
On top of all that I got a slight sunburn playing golf today.

Sounds like something you definitely should get checked out right away. Keep in mind that those treated stents that are not supposed to plug up, do plug up and quite frequently. I should know - mine did!

Gary

I firmly believe in the power of prayer, and am praying right now for you! You don't know me, but God does and will answer my prayer for you!

Gary, thanks. My stent is not treated. It's a very large one too. If I have a problem I expect it to be in a different location.
Keith, thank you!

Don ... I know I don't have to say this, but make sure you take care of yourself ...
BTW ... several years ago I was getting attacks of chest pain which would result in EMS calls to my house, frequent visits to the ER, etc. ... after several different cardio tests, it was determined (fortunately) that it was not my heart ... more 'attacks' (and they always had all of the 'heart attack' symptoms), more ER visits, many more tests, and finally it was diagnosed as pretty severe GERD ... after many trials of different meds, I am now on a daily dose of 'Dexilant' which has REALLY curbed those attacks ... so, do all the cardio testing, but don't overlook the possibility of GERD ...

Praying for your good health, and the good health of everyone here ...

GERD is nasty, Tony - I've only experienced it a few times, thought I would puke my guts out - NASTY! The problem resolved itself when I dumped the pounds - hasn't happened since.

Gary

The excess weight is the key to all my ailments. I've been on my diet again for three days and at least I'm in the 280s now.
I will get to 250 within three months!
Maybe four months . . .
Then I will be only 25 pounds overweight.

Yep, excess weight will literally slow you down in many ways, while increasing the load on your heart. It's also a killer to your joints, especially knees and hips and lower back.

I found the secret to staying at a reasonable weight is to eat "little and often" as opposed to one or two big meals, especially if they are at the end of your day.

I'm no "health nut" but I do look after myself reasonably well, and get some walking and exercise in every day, plus I got rid of the stress in my life by changing some living and work situations.

I found I took far less good care of myself and ate poorly when stressed out.

I'm 6'2" and around 190 lbs and have stayed there for the past several years due to doing the above...I'll be 65 next month.

Also, I take a halibut liver oil capsule, and 1000 IU of Vitamin C every day, and eat lots of fiber rich foods...although I still like an occasional pig out on junk food.

I hope you can get the weight under control, Don...I'm sure you will, if the incentive is big enough.

Ian

LOL - wife wants me at 145. most people think i'm sick

... I'd be happy no matter WHAT time my wife wanted me !!!

... oh ... wait ... forget that ...

I am 6'5" and need to be no more than 230 or so. That won't happen, but I'd like to get in the same area code again.
When I was playing basketball in college I was 190 and could dunk from flat-footed position. Now I can sit in a recliner and dunk donuts with great precision.

Do a few week SB cleanse and follow a Mediterranean diet - will lose as much as you want and eat fantastic foods.

http://yolocee.myplexusproducts.com/weight-loss


Great results using this product many of my friends are doing it....I just started it myself all natural.

Actually, you can loose a ton just eating a sensible breakfast of bacon and eggs, NO TOAST or English Muffins, then have a TV dinner for lunch and supper. TV dinners are usually very nutritious, less than 300 calories and believe me, many of them really taste great. Yeah, some are just plain awful, but they're really improved over the past 20 years. I ate them a lot on my trip to the Florida Keys aboard my sailboat and went from 210 to 177 in just a few months. Then I went on the Margaretta Diet - big mistake, but damned they sure taste good.

All diets, bar none, are just a matter of burning more calories than you consume - it ain't rocket science!

Gary

In ER with chest pain. Running tests now. So.far.so.good.

Praying for you ...

Hopefully it is gastro-intestinal ... not that that's a small thing - the chest pain and other symptoms from an esophageal spasm can be excruciating - but IMHO it's still better than cardiac ...

OH NO!!! Don praying for your full recovery...hope it isnt serious ...please get well we need you my friend!!

Godspeed!

Man, you're going through a tough spell. That staph infection last week and now this. Please get well soon, Don. Everyone here is pullin' for ya.

Good news, I think. They did EKG and ran a bunch of blood tests, took Xray. Everything negative. They scheduled me for a stress test.
However, I'm convinced it was reaction to the antibiotics I was taking for the staph infection.
When I think back, the problems started about the time I started taking them, and around 2 hours after each dose I would have a tightening of the chest and my blood pressure would go way up.
Needless to say, they changed my antibiotics.
Evidently the nitro tabs I had were no longer good. They expired two years ago and I had never taken one until this came up.
Thank you for your support!

That's good news! Keep it up.

Hang in there Don!

Joe

Don, yes good news so far... I assume they are going to take 3 enzyme tests 6 to 8 hours apart to make sure there was no cardiac activity?

Geez Don,
I feel like an idiot. I just read this complete post for the first time. I never opened it before because I thought it was just one of your silly music gig prank post, and I've been real busy trying to figure out how to get off this Prilosec that I've been taking since it was invented.

There are claims that it causes joint pain and it seems since I started taking it years ago I blamed all of my joint pain on arthritis. MSM chondroitin and Glucosamine has kept me going.

My neighbor's been very sick with a zillion problems. It all happened last year with having all of his teeth pulled with gum disease. Anyway he started last week taking "Mastic Gum" and swears his heartburn has disappeared completely. He gave me a few to take and in 24 hours I feel better. So I'm ordering a 30 day supply.

Don, I'm so sorry that I missed this post. Man I pray the best for you Susan and the boys and their families. I will keep up with this post now. I love you and please give Susan my best.

Hey big guy...you get better real quick, and don't overlook anything. Make sure everything is checked out.

As Joe said, "Hang in there, Don."



Your buddy,

Ian Of The North

... I'm having an MRI tomorrow ... to see if I'm claustrophobic!

(Steven Wright)