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An Update on Patrick Volkerding
Noryungi writes "Patrick Volkerding, the maintainer of Slackware Linux has posted an update on his health problems on the ChangeLog of Slackware-Current. Unfortunately, it seems his health is getting worse and not better... Again, if you know some specialist in viral infections, contact Patrick ASAP. Hang in there, Pat!" Our original story.
The only time we don't report out normal mouth bacteria is when we are working with a specimen from, uh, the mouth.
Ed Uthman, MD
Pathologist, Houston/Richmond, TX, USA
Look, I can appreciate how important this guy is. I respect all of his accomplishments and the things that he has done to help the linux movement. When his story was first posted on slashdot, several of the hospital network gurus came up to me and asked me about it in our CIS meeting.
I assumed that this was posted (like everything else) on slashdot to generate discussion and comments. I did so. If you don't like my opinion, you can set me as your foe and choose to ignore my future posts.
If you were to reread my post, I wasn't giving advice. I was just giving my opinion of his situation.
Seriously, if you kept yourself informed, you'd realise by now that Pat was _never_ self medicating, when he was on antibiotics it was always under perscription.
/.,
Exactly.
I'm also getting some people who are telling me that this whole issue was caused by antibiotics that weakened my immunity. However, from around 2/2003 to 11/2004, I did not take _any_ antibiotics. When I started to get really sick in October I hadn't had antibiotics in well over a year. I had only two short courses of antibiotics in 2002 and 2003 for what seemed to be bronchitis (though the docs never verified if it was bacterial or viral but just said, "here, eat some Cipro).
One more time:
I have not been "self-medicating".
I have never, ever, taken antibiotics until I felt better and then stopped them, allowing a resistant relapse to occur. I have, however, been given an insufficient initial course of antibiotics for prostatitis in 2001 (which is what then required a long course of Cipro).
For those who are making fun of my supposedly improper use of medical terms, or wrong context, or whatever: this is not my field of expertise and we both know it. I don't hassle people trying to get computer help from me when they use incorrect jargon. Maybe BMDFH should be a new acronym.
On the hypochondria theory: anyone who has ever spent any significant time with me in person would shoot that one down in an instant. The last two months have been highly unusual for me, and I've never been inclined to think that I'm sick, to worry about that, or to go see doctors.
I hate being a pincushion.
Oh, and I know that seeing a new doctor causes a reinvent the wheel syndrome, and that when you tell them how many other doctors you've seen recently they tend to suspect you're crazy rather than physically ill. I know this all too well. However, if the antibiotics I've taken are suppressing the usual clinical evidence then I'm in a bit of a catch-22. As sick as I've been, the idea of using my body as a petri dish doesn't appeal to me much, comprende? Plus, some of these bugs (especially anerobes) simply don't culture well, and they won't go for the slam-dunk with a needle biopsy. At some point you'd think there would be a time for proactive treatment. Like in, say, a patient with no history of heart trouble who has complained of a recent fever and infection who has developed a new mitral valve prolapse.
I guess that's about it for now. I know some of you think I'm an behaving like an idiot, or whatever. I only hope that those of you who feel that way never find yourselves in my shoes.
To everyone who has offered well-wishes, thank you!
Best regards to
Pat
Those are very kind words... and I appreciate them greatly.
One of the reasons I stay in a teaching hospital is so I will not be pressured by the marketplace to see X number of patients per day.
Sometimes I see 4 in a morning... sometimes I see only one or two patients. I am in a unique position.
By the average person allowing HMOs, insurance, and the government to try to control medical costs... the system is now completely broken. Fossils like me hide out in teaching colleges where, for now, we have some insulation from the marketplace.
Quote: "One can have that without elevated ESR."
:)
m d= Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9108181
I completely agree... thanks for clearing that up. I'll even support your clarification for you.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?c
The objective of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of C-reactive protein (CRP) elevation compared to erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), leucocyte count and thrombocyte count in the diagnosis of infective endocarditis (IE). It was designed as a prospective study of suspected episodes of IE in adults in tertiary care at a university-affiliated department of infectious diseases. In 89 episodes of IE, CRP was available from the start of treatment. Median age was 66 years, 45 were men and 44 women. Median CRP concentration was found to be 90 (range 0-357) mg/l with only 4% normal values. Episodes involving native valves had higher CRP than episodes occurring with prosthetic valves. Staphylococcal origin, short duration of symptoms, short duration of fever and highest recorded temperature all correlated to higher CRP levels. The CRP response was also prominent among patients > 70 years old. Among non-responders, a few cases with simultaneous cirrhosis were noted. ESR was less sensitive than CRP, with a normal level in 28% of the episodes. It was concluded that CRP determination is superior to erythrocyte sedimentation rate, leucocyte count and thrombocyte count in the diagnosis of infective endocarditis.