My Health

operationFor the last few weeks, I’ve had a fever and otherwise just felt ill. My doctor put me in the hospital for tests and quickly found that I had a bacterial infection in my blood. Treatment was I.V. antibiotics. We had to try a few, and  ultimately found that ampicillin was the cure. My infection cleared up quickly when we found the right drug.

However, tests revealed endocarditis, infection on at least one of my heart valves.

At this point, I was shipped off by ambulance to the cardiac care unit at UAB Hospital, among the best heart hospitals in the world, for a possible valve replacement or two.

UAB continued the I.V. antibiotics and ran additional tests on my heart. Today, they decided  to send me home with an I.V. pole, a PICC line, and instructions to take 6 more weeks of I.V. antibiotics at home. They’ll do follow up testing in a few weeks.

The hospital has kept me busy with constant testing, trips down the halls for procedures, and such. I’m very sleep deprived, and I’ve completely failed to catch up on my reading as I had planned. Too tired. I’m looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep at home — with no one waking me to take vitals and no I.V. alarm going off at deafening levels. (When you have two or three IVs going at once, there’s nearly always an alarm sounding.)

The quality of care has been excellent, but I miss my sleep … and DVR.

Denise (my wife) was able to sneak a 32″ hi-def TV into our room for the LSU – Alabama football game. I became the most popular patient on the hall! Lesson learned: don’t assume there’s no solution and so fail to find a solution. Assume that a solution exists and then find it. (In many mathematical puzzles, the key to solving the math is to assume that there is an answer.)

A  heart-valve replacement still remains a possibility, but if so, it’ll be a month or two down the road. Please be in prayer that I don’t need surgery. I’ve really had enough hospitalization for a while.

Of course, this has had an impact on the blog. I’ve had to stay away from the comments the last few days. Just haven’t been up to it. And I missed a day or two posting. And I think my typo rate has skyrocketed.

On the other hand, email subscriptions have passed 3,000, and I learned that one of my books is being studied in a Church of Christ Bible class in Southeast Asia — which is about as far from Tuscaloosa as you can get. It’s encouraging to know that my work is being studied by the church across the globe! So maybe I’ll keep at it for a while longer … Lord willing.

About Jay F Guin

My name is Jay Guin, and I’m a retired elder. I wrote The Holy Spirit and Revolutionary Grace about 18 years ago. I’ve spoken at the Pepperdine, Lipscomb, ACU, Harding, and Tulsa lectureships and at ElderLink. My wife’s name is Denise, and I have four sons, Chris, Jonathan, Tyler, and Philip. I have two grandchildren. And I practice law.
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14 Responses to My Health

  1. Jim H says:

    Will be praying for you.

  2. JohnF says:

    DO NOT DELAY AND DO NOT IGNORE —

  3. jon says:

    I’m sorry to hear you’ve been going through this & will be praying that you’ll be on the mend, that you won’t have to go through surgery, that you’ll get plenty of sleep in the new future, & that you’ll be back writing & teaching soon!

  4. Ken Gibson says:

    Get well soon brother. Your work is a blessing.

  5. Alabama John says:

    You are getting the best care possible. Have faith in it. We’ll be praying for you to recover and to get some sleep and the same for Denise as this is sure hard on her as well.
    Thanks again for the site as it sure relieves stress.

  6. Johnny says:

    Get some rest. We will be waiting on you when you can contribute again. You are a blessing

  7. John H. Bullington says:

    My hope and prayer is that you will soon be through this trying time.
    Your work is so valuable to me and others.

  8. Jon Edwards says:

    Get well and than you for sharing the wisdom with which God has blessed you. I am praying for your improved health.

  9. Steve says:

    I am sorry to hear about your illness, but glad you are responding to treatment. I will be praying for God to continue to provide for your healing.

  10. David says:

    Pulling and praying for you Jay

  11. Monty says:

    Just added you to my personal pray list Jay.

  12. Kevin says:

    Praying for you and your family, Jay.

  13. Dwight says:

    Get well and God Bless you Jay.

  14. David Hinckley says:

    Get well. Praying for you and your care.

Comments are closed.