She has been his private duty RN for years and has kept the little guy movin' on....a little wobbly these days...but movin' on.....
He is the guy who spends three hours a day saying his prayers. He has a little case in which he carries them with him wherever he goes. I can feel the prayers in my life as he has dedicated himself to faith and family. What a guy! He was also the man who was called the "Quintessential Catholic gentleman." This is a great description of the little guy who has been a big presence in our lives.
On to my trip south..or actually...non trip.
The day before we were to leave, the big kid was sick again. This is 8 straight months of illness with short periods of improvement. He has seen every specialist and had his tonsils out, an endoscopy and biopsy, multiple blood tests and cat scans. Nothing. For his last appointment with the GP, I went with him to discuss his case with the doctor. I asked for a few more tests to be done and a referral to an allergist. Fortunately, his allergist appointment was on Tuesday afternoon and I was once again...a presence.
As he gave the allergist his history, I filled in the blanks with information about his childhood which was basically benign.....however, the MD was able to determine a plan to assess his symptoms using allergen skin tests and a pulmonary function test. The results were staggering.
He was given 41 skin tests to measure sensitivity from trees to pollen to mold and dust. Of the 41, 24 were grossly positive. Then he was given the pulmonary function test in which he basically failed.
The results are conclusive. He has a plethora of allergies...trees....grasses.....pollen....and so on. He will be tested on latex and foods next round. Also, he has moderate asthma, in which the MD remarked "I do not know how you played baseball at the level you did with untreated asthma."
Yikes! This is when I say: "There is nothing beyond the reach of determination."
I asked the MD if he should quit his job since the environment serves as a trigger. After all, last week, his manager asked him to leave the building and sit in his car for 15 minutes to see what happened. This non scientific experiment showed that when he returned to work, he was able to breathe. The MD answered my question with "yes, he should quit..." Which leads me to the next conundrum....
He refuses to quit. His response was "let's see if my new meds will help me to breathe while I work."
And there you go, folks. He is a guy who does not ask for nor take directions well. I am polishing up my "I told you so" retort for when he comes home after a long day of not being able to breathe.
Another point I want to make is that he took a LSAT course, four graduate courses, worked, and took his LSATs twice with little to no oxygen. Sheesh. Can you imagine what he can do if his oxygen saturation is within normal limits? Nice, huh?
OK, I gotta work. Students are waiting for grades....not so patiently....and I have to start thinking...really thinking....ouch....my brain hurts.
Peace!
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