Fuck :(.
Alternately, set up a Paypal account with a different email address (one you don’t mind being made public), and posting that - should ask moderator permission first as always. I’m not sure how people have done it in the past, often there’s a link to a “donate” page.
Well, you do have a way with words.
On a slightly more positive note, his ventilator setting, which has been at 10 PEEP and 50% oxygen for a couple of days now, was knocked down this afternoon to 7 PEEP and 40% oxygen and he was still resting comfortably.
Okay, I don’t no anything about medicine that isn’t found in an episode of House or MASH*, but could they think about a lung transplant? That wouldn’t be anyone’s first option, but if his lungs are so screwed up, maybe they could swap in a new pair?
StG
I’m sorry it’s going this way. 
At least that worry implies that he expects to survive. Which hope the lighter ventilator settings seems to back up.
No, even though the infection is manifesting in his lungs, the bacteria is throughout his body, so a lung transplant would be less than useless. Any transplant, except from an identical twin requires drugs that suppress the immune system. Any infection then would go crazy in his body.
This is a slow and steady wins the race proposition.
I’m no doctor, but I don’t think tortoise lungs are the answer here.
5 PEEP and 35% oxygen a little while ago. Off to see if that’s holding steady …
ETA: IVs of both colistin and rifampin, for those playing along at home, are the two new ones. He was given the colistinm earlier; the rifampin (sp?) is the new additional one.
Rifampin is one of the ones they gave Whatsit Jr. when he had MRSA! (I can’t remember the plots of movies I saw three weeks ago, but I can remember every detail of that kid’s hospital stay.)
Continued hopes for Mr. Shoe’s improvement. Hang in there.
{{{horseshoe}}}
Pull through, dammit!
-D/a
Yep, still at 35 & 5. Still in pain, and coughing up a storm from the saline treatment. Which is apparently what they want, but boy do his abs and ribs hurt…
I have at least 4,000 metric fuckloads of spare slack that I’m sending to y’all, as well as all the spare good karma that I’ve accrued from rescuing a dozen used cats over the years.
Let me know once you get the PayPal thing setup and I’ll send more stuff.
Poor guy. 
What a trooper.
Oh please Mr. Shoe, show this situation you are on top. We will all help you cough.
Dear Mr. Shoe:
You can do this. I won’t lie; it’s going to be a lot harder than you thought, and take a lot longer than you thought, but you can do it. You may feel like you can’t, but you don’t have the best track record for self-assessment. Remember, when you were admitted, you were trying to hop off the gurney and go home on legs that were collapsing under you. So you’ll just have to take everyone else’s word for it that this is within your power. You can take all the time you need, but you are going to get better. And after all that coughing, you’re going to have abs of steel, so that’s pretty cool.
purplehorseshoe, PM me your email once you’re all set, 'kay?
Yay on holding steady at 35/5!!! Poor guy with the coughing but better to have that shit OUT than in. The less crud living in the lungs, the less habitat for the nasties, and the better the antibiotics etc. can do their job.
I always fantasize about having the inside of my lungs washed out to get rid of the crud, when I have bronchitis - I guess the saline mist is as close to that as you can get without drowning (kinda counterproductive, that). I’m glad it sounds like it’s helping!
Hack On Schmoopie, Schmoopie hack on!!!
(Oh, and PM me too once you’ve got Paypal sorted out).
Please PM me too on the PayPal thing.
And just so you know, when you post a PayPal account, it will just be an email address. It’s not like you’re posting anything that will jeaopardize your financial security.
Continued healing vibes to Mr. Shoe
- wipes tears from eyes *
Thank you, everyone. Seriously. Just that so many random folks offered means … really, more than I can say.
Y’all seem to like reading good news so … the nurses washed his hair today. Not the dry-shampoo wipey-cloth thing they’ve been rubbing over him, but like an honest-to-{diety} shampoo where - if I understood his silent-mouthing-speech correctly - they tilted the whole bed back, used a bit of water and *real *shampoo and everything. Trimmed his hair, shaved his beard, etc. I assume it was because of that, but: he was in SUCH A GOOD MOOD this afternoon! 
His hair was fluffy and shiny, he smelled nice, and he had his music going. It’s been available to him - the music, not the shiny hair - but he just … hasn’t been in the mood for it. I got there this afternoon and he was grinning and moving his dominant hand around to Parov Stelar, which is nice boppy feel-good music. After some compliments on his good looks, I said, “That must’ve felt good, getting your hair washing for real, right?” and he mouthed just as big as you can imagine “AFTER SIX WEEKS?!? YEAH!!!”
I got in my car, and … didn’t even make it out of the parking lot, I started bawling like a baby. I’ve gotten such bad news before and held it together until I was safely home, and I was sitting at the light to get out of the hospital parking lot thinking “WTF is wrong with me? I’m crying like { horrible thought I cannot finish here } so wtf?” and I realized, finally, that it was just a bit of relief, to see him acting like his completely normal self again (well, silently) in the first time in a long time.
If this turns out to be false hope and he goes back downhill into a worse state I’ll …