Tuesday March 1 Update

Hi Everyone

I realize we left you hanging for too long, my apologies.

It seemed I kept spiking a fever on a daily basis and since the blood infection resulted in lots of fever it’s an uncomfortable situation. The last thing we want to do now is get another infection.  The daily temps may still pop up a couple degrees but not overnight and in general I will just say “Thankfully the fevers have resolved.”

As for the foot pain it has not resolved but Rita has been doing some detective work.  While the nurse was here for weekly labs and dressing change we asked her about my feet and she said “Do you have gout?”  We haven’t discussed my neuropathy on the blog yet but suffice it to say I have been checked for gout by more than one doc and haven’t been shown to have it.  The strange thing is that even though the docs say I’ve not been diagnosed with gout when we visited Joanne and John in Delaware I made us a seafood chowder and J and J are both wizards in the kitchen so Joanne made a batch of beautiful peel and eat shrimp too.  The next day I could barely walk and gout or no gout I seem to be negatively affected in much the same way that an individual suffering from gout would be. So I added shrimp to my “no fly list” and keep going.  Today when Rita was reading up on this topic she came across what I hope are the answers we need right now.

Here’s a link to a WebMD article that my info came from in case you have any reason to read the whole article

http://www.m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/tc/gout-topic-overview

Anyways the article states that gout is caused by too much Uric acid in the blood.  The text says diuretic drugs can bring on a gout attack and I did have diuretics after my surgery to cut the swelling.  For two weeks (tomorrow) I will have had an aspirin daily as part of what they have prescribed for my heart.  In the WebMD article it says “Do not take aspirin, which should never be used to relieve pain during a gout attack.  Aspirin may change uric acid levels in the blood and may make the attack worse.” So as of last Friday the diuretic meds are gone but it seems to me it may be beneficial to drop the aspirin.  We’ll see Dr Q our Family Doctor late this week and see what he says. It just makes too much sense that these drugs were added and brought about the negative effects.  When you have a new problem, what’s the last thing you changed?

We had 65 degrees here on Sunday and I got an opportunity to get some sun which did feel awesome. We also got some of the sticks picked up around the yard as the wind has been relentless and the trees seem eager to shed dead wood.  Today it was close to 60 again and Rita and I got out for a nice walk.  We didn’t quite make it back to the back of the property but gave it a good try.  Again it was great to get some exercise and sunshine.  As soon as we get whatever is going on with my feet to resolve I think I could walk miles… Guess we’ll find out soon.

Again today it was the simple pleasure of going for a walk with my bride.  I thank God daily for her and who she is in Christ.  I’ll pop a selfie of us in here.  The sun was warm and bright as you see we were squinting even with the sun to our backs

I just wanted to say we have been blessed so much by the continued visits, cards and especially the prayers.  We feel loved and very well taken care of.  Thanks to each of you

Sam