February 9 – “Loopy Moose”

I made a hospital visit yesterday.  One of our fire department guys is in there battling some kind of infection in his blood.  It has been a very odd experience for him.  His elbow felt kind of strange and tingly, and then suddenly it erupted into some pretty severe pain.  Now this guy is a big fella, and he has a pretty high pain tolerance.  But apparently this particular pain was a bit more than even he could bear.  Once he was admitted the doctors were able to get him started on IV antibiotics.  They started giving him morphine for the pain, but he said it really didn’t do anything but make him “loopy.”  Some of his buddies at the fire station wanted to know “how could they tell?  He’s pretty “loopy” all the time.”  The guy’s nickname is Moose.  How does that sound?  Loopy Moose.  Kind of has a ring to it.  They switched to a different kind of pain medication that did seem to work better, so they are trying that for a while now.

Moose asked me while I was there if I had ever had pain in a joint.  I did my best not to go into a treatise on the wonders of rheumatoid arthritis pain.  Every joint is at risk, but you never know which ones are going to step up to the plate and make themselves known.  I did say I completely understood about joint pain because of my RA, but I spared him the soliloquy.  He showed me the offending site where the pain began.  His elbow still looked a bit swollen and definitely was still red.  His wife had drawn one of those circles around the red spot to track its expansion, and it had, well, expanded.  The plan is to continue the IV antibiotics until the infection gets under control.  Beyond that, the docs are pretty much stumped.  They hadn’t figured out yet what kind of infection it was or where it came from.  He said they had ruled out an insect bite (That’s what it looked like to me – some kind of spider bite.  But what do I know?), and he hadn’t had any sort of blow or injury to the area that he could remember.  Puzzling.  But that’s one thing that can be said of the Galveston Fire Department family.  They are not going to succumb to anything merely “common.”  After all, look what April went through (I know, she’s a fire department wife, but she’s still part of the family).  She almost died two or three times and they still haven’t figured out why.  I am more than happy to put these guys in God’s hands.  They need him.  And He can handle it.

Jeremiah 17:14 says, “Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.”

Father, invade Moose’s situation and battle that infection with your strength.  Surround him and his family with your care while they wade through the mire of worry and confusion.  Amen.