I got to speak with my brother today and he was coherent, although still not in very good shape.  He is still with us though, and it looks like he will keep his foot and his ankle.  He may not be able to walk for months, but by golly he is alive!  He said of all the health challenges he has faced in his entire life, this is without a doubt the very worst.  This vibrio vulnificus bacteria apparently just goes right for complete destruction if it enters a compromised immune system.  Another man contracted the same bug and was in the next room of the hospital where Lenny is. He only lost a finger, but he got to go home already.  They offered to have Lenny's wife Joanne stay in their beach-front home with them instead of at the hotel while Lenny is hospitalized in Alabama.  She wants to be closer to the hospital, so she declined their generous offer.

Why they don't have more warning about this posted at beach restaurants seems inconceivable to me, as with our unhealthy diets and our polluted land, air and water, I would guess a greater number of us have compromised immune systems than 20 years ago.  I remember being told never to eat raw shellfish in the months that do not have an "r" in them - the summer months.  We learned this from childhood as we spent a lot of time at the shore, but I guess I just never realized it was because of bacteria like this and what it could do.  Some folks only get a mild form of food poisoning from this, some folks simply don't have any response to it at all.

I have his photo printed out and I keep it in front of me most of the day.  I am making every effort to stay positive, rested and healthy so I can generate healing energy to send into the universe for him.  I have called on every ancestor I know about to ask for help.  He is still in very bad shape and has some other complications, not the least of which is that this thing has almost destroyed his liver and he will most likely be on the transplant list and waiting for a donor.  He is accumulating fluids but can only breath well laying on his back.  They have him loaded up with dilaudid and he says he likes that because it lifts his mood while killing his pain.  They believe the bacteria has been cleared from his system.  I am grateful for that.

Thanks to those of you who offered positive thoughts and prayers and to the rest of you for just being here.  I know I haven't been posting much, but I do come in here to keep up with you all and to be able to laugh during what is a pretty rough time for my family.  I think its important to keep a good attitude.