Janette Dingee Friends of Fred

On September 5th 2016, my wife, Janette Dingee was admitted to the emergency room at Weiss Memorial in Chicago. Janette had been complaining of headaches, spinal pain, dizziness, nausea and fever. All of these were encephalitic symptoms. Janette had been concerned about spinal meningitis. She was examined, given blood tests and released with no findings. She spent the next 3 months working, training, camping, and finally visiting her parents for Thanksgiving. While there in Rockport, MA, she managed to herniate a disk in her lower back, further complicating things. When she returned home she made an appointment with our doctor to insist that he examine her as she was still suffering from many of the same symptoms and just didn't feel herself. She told the doctor of our visit to the emergency room earlier that year. When it became clear that the tests had never been given to him he contacted the emergency room and had the tests sent up to his office where he discovered that Janette had tested positive, at that time, for Strep. Within a week Janette was admitted to Weiss Memorial. Her Prolapsed Mitral Valve, a common birth defect, had, true to form, become the resting place for Strep Mutans Bacteria.  This illness is called Endocarditis. She remained in the hospital for 2 weeks while they diagnosed the problem and prescribed a treatment. The poor communication skills and general disorganized presentation of service and caring at Weiss led us to choose another hospital after Janette was released from Weiss on New Years Even only to be racked with pain and swelling in her right arm where a PICC line had been set in order to administer her antibiotic.  We decided not to return to Weiss and chose the emergency room at North Shore Universities Hospital Site in Evanston. Janette's PICC had a blood clot that was not caught at Weiss. The PICC line was removed and a new one was place in her left arm. She was released again on Thursday, January 5th. There would be 2 more visits to the emergency room to address fevers, sodium levels, general discomfort and headaches. As of today, January 10th, Janette or "Fred" as some of her childhood friends call her is at home and stablizing. She receives 30 minutes of antibiotic everyday. This will continue until February 7th at which time we hope she will be able to begin an exercise and nutritional routine that will undo the damage done to her system by the antibiotics necessary to kill the bacteria in her heart. Currently, Janette has a very low tolerance for activity, is usually tired, but eats healthily and is in pretty good spirits. Her herniated disk makes simple tasks like putting on her socks or leggings impossible. Recently she has been able to get out of bed on her own. But for someone like my wife who loves the great outdoors and is so full of life herself, the irony of being bedridden in the prime of her life is almost unbearable. While we are grateful that she is alive, we eagerly anticipate and pray for a full recovery at the end of her treatment cycle. What are we asking for? Your love and support as family, friends and neighbors-- words of encouragement, stories that might help us through whatever is before us. We have learned that treatment and recovery will be hard, tedious work and that the rewards will be slow coming. Thank for reading and thank you in advance for your kind words, the occasional meal and perhaps some dog walking. Phone calls and visits are welcome too. Much love , Bill and the amazing Janette "Fred" Dingee!!!