Where is Fritz?

[OgreBBQ]

I am posting to answer that question, not ask it.

First, a little background: My name is Al, and I am Fritz's younger brother (he may have mentioned me in passing a time or two). For reasons that will become clear, he is unable to post this himself and has instead requested I do so.

A few days ago, Fritz was admitted to the local hospital to undergo major surgery. He is doing just fine, and should be up and about in a week or two.

In the meantime, he is unable to access the internet. I will post updates on this board as they become available.

I request that anyone who sees this message forward it to all who may be concerned. I am unable to post this elsewhere myself, as I am using Fritz's computer to compose this (lacking a machine of my own) and therefor could cause problems when other boards notice we have same computer ID.

Thank you for your time...

[Silent Seraphim]

I'm very sorry to hear this, Al.

Please let Fritz know that all of us wish him a very speedy recovery, and hope that he gets well soon. He is a much-loved member of this community, and we will all be thinking of him.

Thank you very much for keeping us informed.

[raysgal]

Thanks for the info. Tell Fritz we're thinking about him.

[Kingpin]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Al. Myself and Rosey Collins (A fellow writer) had been worried about Fritz as he hadn't replied to any recent emails, however I only got this message a few days ago thanks to Lurkergal sending it to me through PM. Tell Fritz we're all wishing him a speedy recovery.

[EGBFan]

Rosey Collins: that's me. Yeah, what Ben said - I've been worried. Thanks for letting us know. If Fritz is up to it, Al, give him a hug from me, ok? I mean it - when he's back I'm going to ask him if you passed it on.

[Kingpin]

And you don't want to be going and upsetting a female British writer, do you? They can write things about you which will never go away ;D

[OgreBBQ]

Mea culpa for not responding sooner. It does my heart good to see this outpouring of support.

UPDATE: Fritz was scheduled for surgery on thursday. Between a hospital SNAFU and several incoming emergency cases, it fell off the schedule, and we were told it would be friday.

It is 1 AM local time on saturday as I write this, and the surgery in question has still not occurred. The staff assured us that he should be attended to on satuday, which would be more re-assuring if we hadn't heard the same thing thursday night...

If the surgeons don't get their act together soon, I propose we send Slimer over there to haunt their butts for while....

[Silent Seraphim]

How frustrating for you all!

OgreBBQ said:

It is 1 AM local time on saturday as I write this, and the surgery in question has still not occurred. The staff assured us that he should be attended to on satuday, which would be more re-assuring if we hadn't heard the same thing thursday night...

This sounds similar to some of the problems we've been having on the NHS, which is strange because I thought the American Hospitals were much better at scheduling surgery.

Anyhow, I do hope his surgery goes well. We're thinking of you all.

Thanks again for keeping us informed on his progress.

[The Joker]

This sounds similar to some of the problems we've been having on the NHS, which is strange because I thought the American Hospitals were much better at scheduling surgery.

Ditto!

I forwarded the original message to GBHQ, for their benefit. I would have got on here sooner except I had trouble logging in).

Anyway, my thoughts are with Fritz. It must be really hard, being nervous of surgery then being told repeatedly you're going to have to wait longer. Hang on in there, mate. Your return is anxiously awaited!

[ghostdiva]

I am sorry to hear that Fritz isn't well and I wish him a speedy recovery, I am glad to know that he has such good family though. You'll have to read the new novel to him.
Tell him to take note of how he's being treated because then he can say that he knows "how Slimer feels". That was from "Doctor, Doctor". No applause please.
But seriously let him know that we are all pullin' for him.
ghostdiva

[OgreBBQ]

UPDATE: Fritz FINALLY made it to surgery this morning. I spoke with him after he returned to his recovery room this afternoon, and he's doing well (except for the pain of being cut up and the ersidual effects of having only had one meal a day for the last three days) NOTE: undergoing surgery on a full stomach is a bad idea.

For what it's worth: the hospital also handles emergency trauma cases, so the principle of triage applies. Fritz was kept waiting for so long because he could afford to wait, and the OR kept filling up eith emergency cases. I look at it this way: if waiting a few days means someone else doesn't die, it's worth the wait. So as put off by the delays as I was, I can not bring myself to find fault or hold a grudge. I ask none of you do, either.

[ghostdiva]

I am so glad everything is going well.

I am in college working toward a health administration degree and just finished a paper on triage procedures of all things!! So that's an interesting tidbit for me anyway.

Thanks for keeping us posted!

[Silent Seraphim]

I too am glad that everything's going well.

Tell him to stop chatting up the nurses and get back here, we miss him!

Thanks for the progress report.

[The Joker]

UPDATE: Fritz FINALLY made it to surgery this morning. I spoke with him after he returned to his recovery room this afternoon, and he's doing well (except for the pain of being cut up and the ersidual effects of having only had one meal a day for the last three days) NOTE: undergoing surgery on a full stomach is a bad idea.

For what it's worth: the hospital also handles emergency trauma cases, so the principle of triage applies. Fritz was kept waiting for so long because he could afford to wait, and the OR kept filling up eith emergency cases. I look at it this way: if waiting a few days means someone else doesn't die, it's worth the wait. So as put off by the delays as I was, I can not bring myself to find fault or hold a grudge. I ask none of you do, either.

Excellent news. Hope his recovery continues to go well.

[OgreBBQ]

Saw Fritz again today. He's looking good. The docs say he should be up and moving again in a less than a day, and going home in a week or so. Everything seems to be going smoothly [knock on wood].

Thank you all for being so supportive. You've helped more than you might think.