|
Post by ghostdiva on Oct 18, 2004 21:07:24 GMT -4
HHHEEEEYYY Fritz!!! It is good to hear from you. You must have really turned on the charm to the nurses if they let you use a hospital computer, way to take some tips from Venkman. ;D Anyway I am really glad things are going well and that you may get to go home, and back to the boards.
|
|
|
Post by EGBFan on Oct 19, 2004 4:43:55 GMT -4
It's great to hear from you again, Fritz. Look, don't worry - you'll love being home. Call me Dorothy, but there's no place like it. Are you really that accustomed to your hospital bed? You poor thing.
Wednesday... that's tomorrow! Thank goodness. I've been looking over some of Ben's stuff and - well, I don't envy you pointing out errors like you sometimes do for us (not that Ben makes a remarkable amount of errors or anything). Frankly mate, it's purely for selfish reasons that I'll be glad to see you back - I don't want to have to do it again!
|
|
The Joker
Doberman
The Smoker, The Midnight Toker
Posts: 95
|
Post by The Joker on Oct 19, 2004 17:55:50 GMT -4
Hang on in there, Fritz. You're nearly home.
|
|
|
Post by Fritz on Oct 20, 2004 20:46:58 GMT -4
Hang on in there, Fritz. You're nearly home. It's 7:31 PM EST on October 20 as I write this. From the computer in my own home, at last. ;D I don't know where to start... I honestly can't help but start back in February, when after seven and a half years of good work for the local K-Mart (I have the reviews on file to prove it) I got moved out of my position in the cash office and demoted to part-time, thus losing my health insurance and other benefits. I wasn't the only one--indeed, most of the full time staff short of the department managers were treated similarly. I was shoved into one position after another--there were schedules I was literally down for four different departments over the course of a week. By the end of June it was beginning to take a toll...and after I spent one overnight shift sick to my stomach, I figured it was time to go. I spent the next three weeks sick as a dog, barely able to hold down food (this was about the time Matthew faked his death)...and just as I was feeling better, I noticed this blister beginning to bother my left big toe. Over a few days, the blister swelled up and began to bleed...when it quit, the toe was just about gone. I thought the worst of it was over and continued to soldier on. I didn't tell anybody about this. Not my family, certainly not a doctor. I had no job, remember. No insurance. It seemed to get better for a while....but then in late September I got sick again...I wanted to do nothing buy lay on the couch and sleep...I again couldn't eat properly...and when my Mom noticed the rash starting to appear on my left leg...well, she did the Mom thing and on September 26 dragged me to the immediate care clinic, which in turn sent me to the emergency room. I got a double whammy: I was an undiagnosed diabetic, and my left leg was badly infected--and had to be amputated below the knee. ... ... So I talk to you tonight as one of the newly disabled, typing from a wheelchair...I don't know if I'm handling it really well yet or the whole impact of it has not hit me--probably more the latter I suspect at this point, as I have yet to deal with trying to sleep or even use the bathroom away from the carefully-controlled environment of the hospital (I already had one ugly surprise in that regard, as my wheelchair doesn't fit into our bathroom despite the assurances of the therapy staff that the clearance should've been about five inches) It isn't going to change me completely--I'm not going to say Garrett Miller is my new favorite Ghostbuster or anything (though I both identify with and have my disbelief further compromised by him more now) I even still hope to have a prosthetic in a few weeks, which would get me close to back to normal (Normal, as always, being a fairly relative term in my case) But between counting sugar and carbs and having to learn how to move again, this ain't exactly been an easy time for me. I'm thus going to take this opportunity to thank the doctors and nurses who were of so much help: Beth, Steve, Stella, Oscar, Lori, Tara, Miranda, and all the rest I can't think of right now. But if anything has come across in my time in this community, I hope it's that I'm too stubborn to know when to quit. Once more, thank you all for your prayers and good wishes; and wish me luck in the days ahead as well. Fritz V. Baugh
|
|
|
Post by TheRazorsEdge on Oct 20, 2004 23:25:35 GMT -4
Fritz, sorry I haven't joined in with the "get well soon" crowd until now. I've been less active than I'd like lately and haven't posted much of anywhere. Besides which, I'm usually very bad at the whole "comforting sick people" thing.
But I just want to say that I really feel for ya. Your situation hits fairly close to home for me, because I had a grandfather in exactly the same position. He too had diabetes and had to have a leg amputated.
So anyway, I hope you feel better knowing that someone out here has an idea of what you're going through, and we're glad to have you back and all that.
|
|
|
Post by BrianReilly on Oct 20, 2004 23:26:07 GMT -4
Jesus Fritz...I don't even know what to say. Everything just sounds stupid.
My condolences friend. If you need anything, just feel free to ask.
|
|
raysgal
Extreme Ghostbuster
Ooohhh...
Posts: 58
|
Post by raysgal on Oct 20, 2004 23:34:17 GMT -4
Anything I can say will seem rather insignificant considering everything that has happened. I honestly hope everything after this goes well. You went through something I can hardly fathom. My complaints about how sucky my life is can't even hold a candle to what you had to deal with. I believe you deserve this...*round of applause* Good luck.
|
|
The Joker
Doberman
The Smoker, The Midnight Toker
Posts: 95
|
Post by The Joker on Oct 21, 2004 6:55:28 GMT -4
God, I don't know what to say. I've never had to cope with anything like that sort of problem before, so I can only imagine. You're one brave guy.
Anyway, we're all glad you're home, Fritz. The very best of luck with your recovery.
|
|
|
Post by EGBFan on Oct 21, 2004 8:27:15 GMT -4
Bloody hell! Fritz, I don't know what to say to you! I had no idea it was anything so bad! On those occasions when you were able to come back to the board to keep us informed you seemed so... well... ok. I suppose it's easy to seem ok over an international computer link - I really hope you are and not just putting on a brave face. I really wish there was something I could do for you.
Well... thank goodness for your mum.
...Matthew FAKED his death? How did I miss that??
Sorry, that's scarcely relevant. Fritz... uh... I'm all out. Too much pity? I'll just say well done you - I'm sure I couldn't cope with that.
|
|
|
Post by Silent Seraphim on Oct 21, 2004 12:53:00 GMT -4
Oh, Fritz. I'm so, so sorry to hear this. My thoughts are with you, and you know we're all here for you if you ever need a friend. Like everyone else here, I wish I could do something to help, so I feel a bit useless right now. Why does all the crappy stuff happen to the good people, eh? It's just not fair. You know we all love you, man. We're all here for you, if you ever need us for... well, anything. The way you've dealt with this... You truly are an inspiration to us all. I wish you all the good luck in the world with your recovery.
|
|
|
Post by ghostdiva on Oct 21, 2004 15:13:55 GMT -4
Dear Fritz I am so glad that you are on the road to recovery and are back home. I'm sure it was a real shock to go through all of that at once, but have faith. As a cancer survivor I know many( and I talking ten or eleven people) who are amputees and ance they got fitted for there prosthetics there lives went pretty much back to normal, those things are absolutely amazing, the army is even letting a guy go back into being a partrooper after he lost his leg because the prosthetic is just that good. And as a diabetic myself, I completely understand what an adjustment that is as well. So if you want to talk about it mono-e- mono, I am here for ya. I know I haven't been posting long, but I've been a lurker for about six years so I really feel as though I know you, or at least you alter ego 8-)and I really do wish you a most speedy and succesful recovery. ghostdiva
|
|
|
Post by Fritz on Oct 21, 2004 17:33:18 GMT -4
I wish I could come up with a new way to say this, but once more: you guys are the best. I hated leaving you all in the uninformed lurch, which is why I asked Al to sign on and keep you informed. I'm still looking good to get a prosthesis in a couple of weeks, so there's one thing that will return to seminormality eventually. In some ways, though, I feel better than I have in a long time--my parents tell me I haven't looked as robust in a long time. It was a bit jarring to be told in the hospital I was down to a 165 pounds--I don't think I've weighed that little since junior high (I was quite large until my mid-twenties) And not to say the whole experience wasn't without it's positive moments...the first set of flowers I got was from a former co-worker who...well, let's say our relationship was somewhat ambiguous, but she's the real person Chelsea Aberdeen was based on...
|
|
|
Post by Kingpin on Oct 21, 2004 17:57:29 GMT -4
Fritz: You never truely know what's right to say in this sort of thing, do you? I'm glad to see you've still got your sense of humour, that's a good indication, either means you're more then on the mend...or the morphine's still going... Sorry, not really tasteful in light of things, I hope all goes well, and don't let your disability stifel your creativity! Will talk to you via email.
|
|
|
Post by OgreBBQ on Oct 23, 2004 5:13:44 GMT -4
Don't worry about the morphine crack, Kingpin. Off-color humor is one of our family's stocks in trade. For the record: he's been off morphine for about two weeks now.
I know I was a little vague on the details of Fritz's condition. I thought it best if he told the whole story himself, and he agreed (I would have said more if Fritz asked me to).
He's getting around fairly well, considering how wheelchair-unfriendly the house is (the restroom door is too small? How awful is that?). But he's got plenty of folks here to keep an eye on him and lend a hand (not the least of which is me).
|
|
|
Post by Fritz on Oct 23, 2004 14:23:03 GMT -4
But he's got plenty of folks here to keep an eye on him and lend a hand (not the least of which is me). And a fine job you do of it too. It's a good thing I suffer from chronic guilt or I'd be tempted to take advantage at times. ;D
|
|