WHEEEEEEEEEW!!!

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mkt1

Member
Nov 8, 2009
65
Central, Ok.
Well this family has been busy since Christmas,No wood cut yet. My eldest son became Ill about Christmas and had been fighting an infection,the doctors were giving him antibiotics after antibiotics,and he would get better, then sick again. Eventually he was hospitalized for 5 days and given IV antibiotics and killed off the bacteria. On his follow up His doctor discovered a heart problem, this was related to the infection which had turned into infectious endocarditis before they got the infection killed off. It had damaged his aortic heart valve. The local doctors were at a loss as what to do next,and as the weeks went by waiting on them he was getting weaker,but weekly blood cultures were showing no infection . Well the wife and I contacted a doctor at the heart hospital and got him an appointment on a Thursday,That doctor reviewed what had happened and listened to his heart,then scheduled him for a test the next day (Friday). When the test was complete the doctor Admitted him immediately to the hospital and scheduled him for open heart surgery on the following Monday,to replace his aortic heart valve. After the surgery the surgeon said that 2 of the 3 leaflets on the valve were destroyed from the infection,and that 70 % of the blood that was pumped by the heart was back washing in to his heart, He was only pumping 30 % of the blood out of his heart. The surgery was a great success, and now 4 weeks later he feels great except he says his chest hurts a little every now and then. YA' THINK!! The doctor traced the entry point of the infection to a small tooth cavity he had been putting off having filled. Who would have thought that a cavity could kill you. The point is FIX YOUR TEETH, Im am hoping to get to cut, split and stack wood over Memorial weekend. And I have about 1/2 cord stacked in the barn to start next season some standing dead to get and maybee a pecan tree which will season fairley quickley.
 
taking care of your teeth AND gums is insanely relevant to overall health! floss, brush and see a dentist. my grandfather died of a tooth infection, grant it this is way, way back in time, but still.

glad your son is on the mend!
 
I am glad it all worked out, must be kinda rare......half the people in this county would be dead if good oral hygene is that important! :lol:
 
That is scary but happy you have found the cure. And I agree on the teeth.
 
Sure glad M that your son made out ok....sometimes people never know where the endocarditis originated.....the valve gets a "vegetation" that grows on it and attacks it.....too bad they did not find it quicker to spare your son the suffering...but at least it was addressed and fixed.....I work in a cardiology office, I do nuclear cardiology testing...so I am aware of instances of this sort. Many of our patients (with valve disorders) have to be on antiobiotics prior to dental cleanings for the reason that bacteria is moved around during a cleaning and many settle on the valves and cause infections. I recently did testing on a friend of mine...34 years old....healthy....she started feeling extremely tired and started filling up with fluid....she could hear the gurgly sound in her chest when she would lay down......well after testing...they found out she had congestive heart failure that weakened the heart muscle and it was only functioning at 20 percent....they said she got a viral infection that caused it....she did not remember having a bug or feeling sick at all....really scary.....at least she is better now and the testing I performed showed that her heart muscle is functioning in the normal range but she has to be on medication forever now since they did not know where the problem started....makes you want to really never take anything for granted in life.....so many things can go wrong with the human body it makes you wonder how some people live to the ripe ole age of 90. Just curious how old your son is???
 
What an ordeal, glad your son came out of it.

Think how confident you have to be to go into some kids chect and replace a valve on his heart. Thank god there are men and women who are confident enough to do that.
 
It was really trying on us but prayers lead us to the right doctors with skills that were guided by a divine hand. Yes many things can go wrong so quickley, not just sickness. And with the super bugs coming along we just never know. I am thankful every day that I am upright and breathing.Well my son can hear the valve tick with every heart beat,so he now has a real ticker,it also wakes his wife up from time to time. I told him he will be in big trouble if he ever has to hide from someone in a dark quiet room. Well I finally got back to the woods for a couple of hours cutting today, cut up 2 oaks that I had downed about 8 months ago,now to split,haul and stack.We had a wind storm come through with gusts up to about 70 mph and the neighbors have offered me some wood if I want it. so I guess I'm back to cuttin again. Life is goood...
 
Blessing abound from the knowledge and skills of fine people. I'm so happy your son is on the road to recovery. Whether the source is a tooth cavity, or a small scratch, nasty bacteria, viruses and fungi are all over the place. I too am amazed about longevity in the face of the onslaughts of the natural world. We need to treat our bodies much better to give then the tools to survive.
 
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