Hot Air » Blog Archive » Thank you for the prayers

Thank you for the prayers

posted at 10:29 am on April 19, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Earlier this week, I asked Hot Air readers to pray for our friend Melinda, who developed an MRSA staph infection just before she was supposed to finally return home after several months of hospitalization. The new infection stopped her dialysis for a short while and put her back in the ICU, and of course MRSA can kill patients with fewer problems than Melinda. Fortunately, I have some good news from her husband Larry:

Melinda was moved upstairs from ICU early Thursday afternoon. She is doing well.

Her breathing is labored, so she is receiving regular breathing treatments. She is on oxygen for the time being. We believe that most of her issues will be solved as the dialysis continues to take fluids from her body.

Thursday evening they were dialyzing her while I was there. They took 3.9 liters. They had a bit of an issue with a low blood pressure, but it is now normalized. If all goes well, she’ll be in this room for a few more days. Her doctors will probably take another blood culture to assess the infection. Eventually they will release her to go back to [the nursing home] for a brief while before she returns home.

On Friday morning the doctors did some minor surgery. They moved her catheter from her neck to her chest. She still has the infection and still has some low grade fevers but none of her temperatures have gone past 100.7. She will be dialyzed on Saturday and if all goes well, she will be going back to [the nursing home] in the next few days.

She says thank you to those of you who have prayed. It has made a huge difference.

Thanks to all of you who sent comments and e-mails (and even Facebook messages) of support, which the First Mate passed along to Larry.

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Great news, prayers for continued improvement.

Cindy Munford on April 19, 2009 at 10:34 AM

Hope she continues to improve. We will continue to pray.

conservnut on April 19, 2009 at 10:38 AM

Great news, Ed.

The ICU is no fun place to be waiting on a loved one to recover…I know all too well.

As always, everyone at HotAir is in my prayers. Even if one doubts they help, they certainly don’t hurt.

JetBoy on April 19, 2009 at 10:38 AM

Awesome

blatantblue on April 19, 2009 at 10:42 AM

good News. Thanks for the update

BuckNutty on April 19, 2009 at 10:44 AM

Good to hear. :)

NorthernCross on April 19, 2009 at 10:45 AM

Thanks for the report. Things are going in the right direction.

jgapinoy on April 19, 2009 at 10:46 AM

catheter when my mom and sister were going through cancer treatment, they both had catheters in their chest, and they both got infections. They are both recovering from the cancer treatment. Sometimes the cure causes more problems. It sounds like Melinda got excellent medical care.

I am so happy to hear Melinda is on the upswing may God bless her and protect her.

Dr Evil on April 19, 2009 at 10:46 AM

Good luck, Melinda! Get out of the hospital soon.

Western_Civ on April 19, 2009 at 10:47 AM

Good news.

God is good!

Midas on April 19, 2009 at 10:49 AM

That’s awesome Ed. Thanks for sharing such a personal event.

csdeven on April 19, 2009 at 10:51 AM

Great news. We’ll make sure to send along a few more prayers as insurance.

Limerick on April 19, 2009 at 10:54 AM

Great news Ed. We’ll continue prayers.

portlandon on April 19, 2009 at 11:00 AM

Thank God.

NeoKong on April 19, 2009 at 11:04 AM

two thumbs up!

Ropera on April 19, 2009 at 11:11 AM

Good News, Ed.
You can trust Him.
God is Good. All the Time.

kingsjester on April 19, 2009 at 11:14 AM

Great news.

My 15 month old got MRSA on his leg, but had no other problems, so got over it pretty well with the proper medication.

Just a reminder: Don’t misuse or abuse antibiotics. Don’t take them for colds and don’t start a prescription and then stop halfway through when the symptoms go away. That’s what is causing all these anti-biotic resistant strains.

forest on April 19, 2009 at 11:17 AM

Great news Ed. I’m glad to hear it.

hawkdriver on April 19, 2009 at 11:23 AM

Thank you for the update. Thoughts and prayers still with Melinda and family.

LibTired on April 19, 2009 at 11:34 AM

Yes, thanks for the update,,good news,, will continue with prayer!

JellyToast on April 19, 2009 at 11:40 AM

Great news, prayer does work.

ProudinNC on April 19, 2009 at 11:40 AM

14 years ago, my brother in law contracted a staph infection in the hospital, and could not recover. 28 years old (we were the same age). A diabetic, he had lost most of his eyesight, his one kidney had failed after a small stroke. A young man he loved living life, and did not pay enough attention to his own health (dispite being a diabetic since childhood) and lived life large. We miss him dearly, but being young he could never grasp the seriousness of his precarious health situation and he paid the consequences. They do amazing things in hospitals, but simple things like infections can undo all of their hard work.

This was fantastic good news this morning Ed. We will continue to keep her in our prayers.

juanito on April 19, 2009 at 11:45 AM

Thanks ED! for the update. Melinda, Larry, their families and yours, the FIRST MATE and YOU are still on the prayer chain and continue to be in our prayers.

Branch Rickey on April 19, 2009 at 12:00 PM

Unfortunately, patients who have extended but necessary stays in hospitals are exposed to this stuff. Hospitals try to minimize and prevent, but there it is – it’s all over and hard to control sometimes.

I’m glad your friend is doing better. I hope she’s out soon and mends well.

Mommynator on April 19, 2009 at 12:01 PM

Good news! We’ll continue to pray for her and her husband.

jencab on April 19, 2009 at 12:17 PM

Ed & First Mate: in addition to my prayers to Our Lady of Lourdes for Melinda’s healing, here’s another powerful form of prayer I draw strength from. :-)

Magic Formula

You have no right to trouble me,
Depart! I am becoming stronger.
You are now departing from me,
You who would devour me —
I am becoming stronger, stronger.
Mighty medicine is now within me.
You cannot now subdue me—
I am becoming stronger,
I am stronger, stronger, stronger.

~Iroquois chant

mbo213 on April 19, 2009 at 12:48 PM

I’ll keep up the prayers for her.

mindhacker on April 19, 2009 at 12:59 PM

As someone who lost 3 years of my life to MRSA in the mid/early 2000’s, it caused my knee to blow out (long story), made me have my tonsils removed, I can tell you MRSA is not something to mess with.

The good thing is that MRSA has a few new anti-biotics that work well against it. This was not the case 3 years ago. Three years ago, it would have been a much more touch and go situation. In fact, they were trying to take my leg once. I convinced them that rather than take the leg, to to just take the abscess.

Also, be careful, when you get MRSA you can cause a massive cycle that everyone in the family gets it. My brother passed it to me, I passed it around too. Worse is that it will be colonized in your nose and you will have re-occurrences for years to come if you don’t see a good immunologist.

Here is one of my minor abscesses, which due to a long story, I had to remove myself at home (no lawsuit, but huge bills were dismissed over it):

Leaking puss
After I cut it open
After I pulled the cyst out.
Another view.

Tim Burton on April 19, 2009 at 1:02 PM

Sorry, if this is a duplicate, but my posts don’t seem to be going through.

Here is one of my minor abscesses, which due to a long story, I had to remove myself at home (no lawsuit, but huge bills were dismissed over it):

Leaking puss
After I cut it open

Tim Burton on April 19, 2009 at 1:03 PM

After I pulled the cyst out.
Another view.

I have a large scar on my leg and even though I packed the wound it sill is a large dip there. In total I had 17 major abscesses which required to be cut open and drained/removed. Luckily, I have not had any major ones in a year.

Here is a thread about it over at Legit Forums.

This is the infection that started it all. It was my brother’s infection. He contracted it on maneuvers out in CA. When he came home on leave, the military doctor’s said he had the flu. Ends up it was an internal infection. They pumped him with so much anti-biotics that he ended up with permanent nerve damage. He has never been the same, but has learned to deal with the pain so he can live a fairly normal life.

Image 1
Image 2
Image 3

His heart stopped 3 times when fighting this infection. The doctors were able to restart it everytime. At the time he just had had a new born child a month earlier.

Tim Burton on April 19, 2009 at 1:04 PM

After I pulled the cyst out.
Another view.

Here is a thread about it over at Legit Forums.

Tim Burton on April 19, 2009 at 1:04 PM

God bless!

thebrokenrattle on April 19, 2009 at 1:04 PM

His heart stopped 3 times when fighting this infection. The doctors were able to restart it everytime. At the time he just had had a new born child a month earlier.

Tim Burton on April 19, 2009 at 1:04 PM

Prayers do work. Thank God.
I pray daily for all of Michelle’s commenters and readers (and others) and hope some of you will do the same.

Zorro on April 19, 2009 at 1:08 PM

Sorry I missed this. I am praying for her supernatural healing and return to divine perfect health. I am in agreement with everyone who is praying for her. Amen.

PoliticallyIncorrectSandy on April 19, 2009 at 1:10 PM

My prayers go out to her & her family. I pray for her to be healed so that she can go home to the loving arms of her husband.

Last year I spent two weeks in an ICU room holding my father’s hand as he lay in an induced coma while he recovered from a massive infection. It’s a trying time for the family and it surely isn’t fun for the person who is ill.

CatchAll on April 19, 2009 at 1:26 PM

Did allahpundit pray for her?

ex-Democrat on April 19, 2009 at 1:30 PM

Ed, thanks for the update. My prayers continue.

Loxodonta on April 19, 2009 at 1:33 PM

Glad to hear it, Ed.

MadisonConservative on April 19, 2009 at 2:07 PM

Thanks for the news,Ed.

lizzee on April 19, 2009 at 2:37 PM

Praise be to God. Through Him all things are possible.

carbon_footprint on April 19, 2009 at 3:15 PM

Glad to hear this. I’m grateful that God heard our prayers.

INC on April 19, 2009 at 4:17 PM

Praise God! Ed, could you let us know when Melinda recovers fully? Thanks for the update! We’re still praying for her and her husband.

Christian Conservative on April 19, 2009 at 4:26 PM

Wonderful news! Prayers and prayerful thoughts will continue for Melinda, with special prayers for Larry. Tell them to keep up the good fight! And may the Lord continue to keep them close.

KendraWilder on April 19, 2009 at 4:27 PM

Happy Easter to Orthodox readers.

Loxodonta on April 19, 2009 at 4:35 PM

Ed, no thanks are needed but appreciated, that’s what is so good about this country, people will take a moment out of their day to say a prayer, pass on good wishes, hope for someone to recover from something.
Not a day goes by that I don’t see something that makes me proud to be an American.

Melinda, GET WELL soon, we’re rooting for ya!

nelsonknows on April 19, 2009 at 4:41 PM

I pray God blesses them with continuing recovery. Thank you for sharing such wonderful news.

pannw on April 19, 2009 at 5:57 PM

That’s sounding good! Hope it gets better and better!

Alana on April 19, 2009 at 6:41 PM

Excellent news Ed! I will continue to keep her in my prayers.
Best regards to Melinda and her family.

DeathB4Tyranny on April 19, 2009 at 7:20 PM

Great news Ed. MRSA is not easy to beat – it took my mom 9 weeks of hard core anti-biotic treatment to finally beat it when she had it 2 years ago.

We will continue to pray for Melinda and Larry.

Lady Logician on April 19, 2009 at 7:32 PM

I will gladly pray for your friend Melinda.

sinsing on April 19, 2009 at 10:23 PM

I lost a family member to incurable infection

I offer my prayers for her full recovery. It sounds very positive and hopeful

In the spirit of lesser solutions, the new products sold on the yogurt shelf include probiotic drinks to improve the immune system. I am susceptable to infection and find these drinks invaluable. I take four or more a day at the first sign of any problem and stuff does something real.