This is probably going to be lengthy, bear with me. I need some opinions/prayers/advice for a friend/co-worker. 3 months into this and the doctors haven't found out what's wrong yet. I am in constant touch with his sister, she gave me permission to post.
My co-worker is in his middle 50's. Was riding a shuttle last year over the holidays, the shuttle t-boned another vehicle, killing the driver and threw my friend out of his seat. No idea if this is related to his health or not...but afterwards he started losing weight and was having a hard time walking...we all just contributed it to the accident.
Well, he keeps losing weight and has a harder time getting around. Worse and worse the more time passes. So the beginning of March, he just is absolutely out of energy and has his head on his desk. My boss asked me to take him to the medstop thingy (OMS if you're familiar with the base).
He could barely walk to the parking lot. Heavy labored breathing, but talking and answering my questions. I told him to wait for me and I'd get my car and pick him up. I was talking to him in the car, it was about a 5 minute ride. Cognitive but slow to answer bc of his energy level and having a hard time breathing...
Get to OMS, the nurse checks him out and about 5 minutes later tells me they called 911 for an ambulance, he couldn't tell them his name or his birthday, the date, etc, etc.
So the ambulance took him to the ER. They did a spinal tap and bloodwork, they eliminated bacterial meningitis, he had a 102 fever, low white blood cells, nodules under his lungs and around his pancreas. After 3ish weeks, they figured out he has Lyme Disease and sent him home for home healthcare.
He was not healthy enough to get things squared away and since he lives in Americus, I don't think there was any follow-up from the doctors here.
He kept losing weight, his sister picked him up and brought him to the hospital here in Byron, bc the hospital in Warner Robins failed him, and it's pretty well-known that their ER sucks.
They said he has a little blood in his stool, his red bloods cells are irregular shaped, his hemoglobin was low, white blood cell count low also. They kept him for about 4 days, gave him 2 units of blood and sent him back home that night.
Ok, so about a week ago, they admitted him to the hospital in Albany and had an oncologist and a hemotologist check him out. The oncologist thought he had pre-leukemia or MDS. So they did another spinal tap. That makes 3 spinal taps he's had so far. It came back negative. Yesterday they said they thought he may have lupus. I get an update from his sister today, they sent him back home again while she was in Florida. They said they were going to send him to rehab, which I take to mean physical therapy, but they said they couldn't find a place that could take him.
So 3 months into this and 3 hospitals have admitted him and done their tests and they still don't know what's causing this. He is still losing weight and can barely walk, they keep sending him home but he isn't able to take care of himself and he lives alone. When i say he can barely walk, the hospital in Albany made him get up and walk to the elevators from his room. That's as far as he could make it. And that was with 2 nurses helping him and him using a walker.
One of the doctors called him an enigma...he knows there's a problem but all the tests come back negative. His sister is the one trying to take him to the appointments, etc, but she lives here in Warner Robins and he is in Americus.
I am hoping someone here has some advice/suggestions. I will send her a link to this thread. We are literally watching a man wither away and the doctors can't figure out anything, it's been more than three months that he has been out of work and staying in hospitals for a week or longer at a time. He was in the first one for almost a month. Sorry i havent named the hospitals, I'm leary of them googling and then me getting sued for slander or something like that.
My co-worker is in his middle 50's. Was riding a shuttle last year over the holidays, the shuttle t-boned another vehicle, killing the driver and threw my friend out of his seat. No idea if this is related to his health or not...but afterwards he started losing weight and was having a hard time walking...we all just contributed it to the accident.
Well, he keeps losing weight and has a harder time getting around. Worse and worse the more time passes. So the beginning of March, he just is absolutely out of energy and has his head on his desk. My boss asked me to take him to the medstop thingy (OMS if you're familiar with the base).
He could barely walk to the parking lot. Heavy labored breathing, but talking and answering my questions. I told him to wait for me and I'd get my car and pick him up. I was talking to him in the car, it was about a 5 minute ride. Cognitive but slow to answer bc of his energy level and having a hard time breathing...
Get to OMS, the nurse checks him out and about 5 minutes later tells me they called 911 for an ambulance, he couldn't tell them his name or his birthday, the date, etc, etc.
So the ambulance took him to the ER. They did a spinal tap and bloodwork, they eliminated bacterial meningitis, he had a 102 fever, low white blood cells, nodules under his lungs and around his pancreas. After 3ish weeks, they figured out he has Lyme Disease and sent him home for home healthcare.
He was not healthy enough to get things squared away and since he lives in Americus, I don't think there was any follow-up from the doctors here.
He kept losing weight, his sister picked him up and brought him to the hospital here in Byron, bc the hospital in Warner Robins failed him, and it's pretty well-known that their ER sucks.
They said he has a little blood in his stool, his red bloods cells are irregular shaped, his hemoglobin was low, white blood cell count low also. They kept him for about 4 days, gave him 2 units of blood and sent him back home that night.
Ok, so about a week ago, they admitted him to the hospital in Albany and had an oncologist and a hemotologist check him out. The oncologist thought he had pre-leukemia or MDS. So they did another spinal tap. That makes 3 spinal taps he's had so far. It came back negative. Yesterday they said they thought he may have lupus. I get an update from his sister today, they sent him back home again while she was in Florida. They said they were going to send him to rehab, which I take to mean physical therapy, but they said they couldn't find a place that could take him.
So 3 months into this and 3 hospitals have admitted him and done their tests and they still don't know what's causing this. He is still losing weight and can barely walk, they keep sending him home but he isn't able to take care of himself and he lives alone. When i say he can barely walk, the hospital in Albany made him get up and walk to the elevators from his room. That's as far as he could make it. And that was with 2 nurses helping him and him using a walker.
One of the doctors called him an enigma...he knows there's a problem but all the tests come back negative. His sister is the one trying to take him to the appointments, etc, but she lives here in Warner Robins and he is in Americus.
I am hoping someone here has some advice/suggestions. I will send her a link to this thread. We are literally watching a man wither away and the doctors can't figure out anything, it's been more than three months that he has been out of work and staying in hospitals for a week or longer at a time. He was in the first one for almost a month. Sorry i havent named the hospitals, I'm leary of them googling and then me getting sued for slander or something like that.
