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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The Saga of Bob

You remember Bob, of course. He was the kid on the cake. Actually HE wasn't on the cake, his NAME was on the cake. He was one of my brother's roommates and he graduated Saturday, as well. He was the one who planned to bring his family to the graduation party.
As things turned out, Bob did not bring his family after all. Actually Bob brought his family to the airport right after - I mean minutes after - receiving his diploma. They had flown in a small aircraft and had to leave immediately due to impending bad weather at their landing strip. So poor Bob showed up at the party alone, and with a lump in his throat. Not the crying kind, although I'm sure he was sorry to see his family abruptly go. He had a big old lump on his throat.He asked me if I knew what it could be (pharmacist, doctor, whatever) but after quizzing him I didn't know. It was too high to be thyroid, too centered to be lymphatic, and too soft/cool/pale to be infection. I told him to see an ENT on Monday (and recommended one) but to go to the ER if he spiked fever, the lump became painful, or he started to feel sick.
Then I sent him home with a foil packet of chicken because I felt bad that his family had abandoned him on his graduation day.
Sunday night I heard from Nate. Bob was in the hospital! I hunted him down and called him, and apparently on Saturday night he started running fever. He didn't do anything at first, but then the lump began to swell more and he remembered that he was supposed to go to the ER for a fever. He did and was admitted for Ludwig's angina! That diagnosis, although rare, sort of made sense to me (especially now that he had fever). But since then his doctors have withdrawn the diagnosis and are considering scarlet fever (huh?! I didn't see any of those symptoms!).
Poor Bob! He's still in the hospital. He still doesn't have a firm diagnosis! But he does have a job - he found out while in the hospital that he got a position he applied for. Perhaps the good news will help him pull through!

5 comments:

  1. Oh yikes. That is just crazy. I am glad that he went to the hospital. Hopefully he is on the mend!

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  2. Gah! Poor Bob! Hopefully they figure it out soon and he gets better fast! How scary.

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  3. Oh my gosh, poor thing! I hope he recovers soon! Fingers crossed for him!

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  4. Wow, that's a crazy story. I hope Bob's condition improves soon so he can get out there and start his new job!

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  5. Bob is doing better but is still in the hospital - with still no real diagnosis. Apparently he had a combination of two infections, one local and one general, not the same bacteria. Weird!

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