A Plea
If you have a Buddha belly, can you rub it?
If you have a rosary, can you pray it?
If you know an Our Father or a Hail Mary, can you say a few?
If there’s a Jewish prayer for the sick, can you recite it?
If you meditate, can you lift my dad up in your thoughts while you do so?
If you practice yoga, can you dedicate your practice to a Polack in the hospital?
My dad is very sick.
After a lighthearted blog post on Thursday about some knee pain, this is a serious post about The Knee Pain That Wasn’t Knee Pain At All.
It was a staph infection that my dad contracted in the hospital during his hip surgery six weeks ago.
I spent the weekend out on Long Island with my family as we tried to understand what is going on.
Bacteria.
Infection.
Potentially fatal.
They cut him open on Friday night to confirm this and sure enough, found an infection the size of Texas.
They started him on an extremely toxic round of antibiotics on Saturday. Vancomycin, which I had to Google, which Wikipedia says is “often used as a LAST RESORT drug, when nothing else works…”
We had some positive news yesterday. His blood work came back and the staph was found to be a.) non-resistant and b.) sensitive.
I assumed that meant it would respond to antibiotics.
That it would succumb to modern medicine and leave my dad alone.
I left the hospital last night feeling good. His chest x-rays and echocardiogram and EKG, all negative. The infection hadn’t moved to his heart. Everything looked okay.
Not so.
The doctors just informed my parents that the antibiotics are not working.
They will keep the bacteria at bay for a certain period of time but ultimately, without further treatment, the antibiotics will not prevent the infection from killing my dad.
You guys?
This infection can’t kill my dad.
Okay?
Okay.
There are various options being talked about right now and none of them are good. They sound, in fact, quite horrible.
So if you could, if you would, think of Papa D today. If you like, there’s a whole category on this blog dedicated to him. Just click the MY FAVORITE POLACK link and read the words I’ve written about him. Love him the way I love him. Find joy in him the way I do. In the way my family does.
We need him to stick around.
We need him to be okay.
If you want to leave a comment, please do so and I will read them to him so he can know who is thinking of him, who is rooting for him, all the wonderful people in the blogosphere who think he is hilarious and kind and all kinds of genius.
I thank you in advance.
Hang in there Big Paul!!!
Lots of prayers,
D
I am sending every positive thought I have to your dad today. And a few I don’t have yet, just for good measure.
LAWRA.
Tell your dad that people inside the computer love him, just because you, through your words and your love, have inspired us to do so.
Laura, I’m sending lots of interweb love to bolster your spirits and those of your family. Warm wishes to your Dad for a solid recovery! (Jewish prayer for the sick – totally on it)
there are people up here in Canada who are rooting for him & we are sending all kinds of good healing vibes and staph killing vibes…
I carry a Rosary in my pocket. I pray it on the subway to and from work. I’ll focus on your Dad. I’ve come to really like and admire the guy through your stories in this blog. I agree with you. This infection can’t kill him. No way. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, Laura.
I always enjoy readnig the posts about your dad. How you type his voice makes me laugh and I can totally hear it in my head (or at least what I think he sounds like)
Words of comfort from strangers always seem to fall short to me, however, my thoughts are definitely with your family and I hope everything turns out ok.
{Lighting a candle}
Dear LAWRA’s father,
I wanted to tell you that through LAWRA’s blog, I have come to admire and adore you. This is probably in part because I want to go back in time and have you be my father (which when you think about it, isn’t that the highest compliment a father can receive, that someone else wishes you were their father, someone who isn’t biologically required to love or even like you?).
The children you’ve raised, the students you’ve taught, the coffee you love and the walks that you take and the talks you have with so many interesting people, and that wife of yours that you seem to love so much and who seems to just love you so much in return, you just sit there and think about those things, and get better.
–Meggie
(Dear LAWRA, please read this with a really heavy accent. I put coffee, talk, and walk in there just for you. <3)
We are all thinking about him over here. My mom is really worried and that was yesterday after yacking with Stan and before this news. Are they talking about the big “A”?
I sent you an email…
Laura, I wondered why I had not heard from your Mom in a while. So…checked your blog site and found the reason. When I visited Long Island with Fr. D., your Mom and Dad were extremely kind to me. I had some interesting chats with your Dad and enjoyed his delightful accent. I will begin my prayers for him, as well as sending word to Fr. D to intercede for him “somewhere up there”. Tell your Dad he needs to get well so that I can come out to Long Island for a visit and another chat.
Dear LAWRA’s dad,
Add me to the list of folks that adore you thanks to this blog. I especially love your videos: How to drink Vietnamese coffee & Magic trick – “pointed object #2!!”.
You always make me smile.
So I’m sending lots and lots of positive vibes from Canada. Because in addition to your wonderful family, there are lots of us rooting for you and looking forward to more smiles.
Rest up, be well and keep drinking your concoction’!
Laura told us that you were singing the other night to distract yourself from the pain. I hope that you will soon be singing because you feel better!
Dear LAWRA’s Dad (& Laura),
Hang in there! You’re an amazing dad, you know that? Reading this blog, sometimes, I feel like I’ve known you guys forever!
I’m sending you all the positive vibes from the Northwest. And lots’a love.
I’m reading here with a sleeping baby Joshua and sending positive vibes your way! Just think, sweet little angel baby positive vibes!
Dear LAWRA’s Dad,
Through the numerous and wonderful lines of you in this blog, I feel like I can picture a man who not only can crack a great joke or two but who also has unmeasurable strength and determination of will. Stay strong. Believe in the strength that your family gives you but also remember to believe in the strength of yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
Be well.
To Laura and her Dad (and the rest of your family too): our thoughts and prayers are with you!
Dear Laura’s Dad,
I love you, I adore you, I think you are hilarious – uh, yes, you’re right, I don’t know you, but I still heart you!
I have come to “know” you through Laura’s blog (who of course, I don’t know either!) and while I love following the adventures of Laura my totally, truly favorite posts are the one’s in which you appear.
My Dad, passed away almost 9-1/2 years ago and I think of you as my internet surrogate Dad.
Please get well soon, focus on healing, visualize those rat bastard bacteria high-tailing it out of there because they cannot resist those superhero antibiotics, listen to your loved ones voices and take strength from them, feel their spirits, know that you are loved by many many friends and strangers alike who are thinking of you non-stop, and oh, just dammit, get better!
Dear Laura and Laura’s Dad,
I am a perfect stranger in California and can’t even remember how I stumbled across this blog, but have been reading over a long time now. I wish I had something witty to say (like how Laura writes) She always seems to make me smile/laugh even when reading something serious… We will keep you in our prayers and that you make a quick and full recovery. My 10 year old spent last Easter in the hospital for 6 days with a septic hip infection, which included staph…so scary. You are blessed to have a wonderful family around you – hang in there! Praying in Cali… love- The Oursler family
Who doesn’t love Papa D…My thoughts & prayers are with you along with a few “I told you so’s” haaaa!
You still got one good knee so come on Dad get well soon and use it…We need plenty more funny good stories about you! Best wishes for a speedy recovery from up here in Washington state fron another Laura.