Jacob Komar [whytheheckme] in Hospital

[dapub]

Just a note to let you know that Jake is in the hospital, and I think it would be good for him to get emails of support from his his FIRST friends.

He was rushed to the hospital on Tuesday with a collapsed lung, and was stabilized with a chest tube. Yesterday he underwent surgery to correct the situation, and is doing fine. He will be in the hospital for awhile, though, as the surgery was extremely invasive.

If you would like to send Jake a note of cheer, humor, etc., please email him at jacob.at.work@gmail.com.

Thanks.
Mrs. K - Jake's mom

[KathieK]

That's terrible news. I hope Jake is on his way to recovery!

[GaryVoshol]

Best of luck with your recovery, Jacob. I hope you'll be able to rejoin your team soon.

Gary

[Billfred]

Jacob,

You have thirty days to get better. :)

(Well, unless Dave gets his way (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=655964#post655964)...)

--Billfred

[BandChick]

Jacob,
Get well soon! You don't want to miss out on any of build season!
Glad to hear you're doing fine, and can't wait to see you back on CD!
Sara

[whytheheckme]

Thanks guys!

The team here at this hospital is awesome. I had surgery yesterday, and I'm feeling (slightly) better already.

Thanks for all your support!

Jacob

[Cynette]

Jacob:

I hope you feel better soon! Be nice to all the medical personnel who are helping you!

[SSMike]

Glad to here you are doing all right Jacob. I hope that you will be back up on your feet soon!

--Mike

[vivek16]

Whew. FIRST/the world is lucky you are fine. Feel better soon and do not under any circumstances eat the hospital tapioca pudding. You would not believe what they put in that stuff. :ahh:
-vivek

[Nica F.]

Hey Jake!
Hope you get better!
We'll miss you on chiefdelphi the next couple days! but im sure you'll be back on soon! ;)
Take care of yourself and have a great holiday season!

[Wayne Doenges]

Yo Jake.
Take care of yourself and listen to your doctors. You'll be back on your feet in no time.

Get well soon

[Vince lau]

Get well soon

[Elgin Clock]

C'mon Jacob, paintball season is still on (even in 30 degree weather or so I'm told. lol) Get well soon so you can join us again! :)

But seriously, on behalf of myself & the rest of Team 237, here's to a quick recovery & a short stay at the hospital!
Get well soon! :]

[JaneYoung]

You need that healthy lung power to have another great discussion at the Championship again!

I can't help but wonder if you have improved the hospital bed mechanisms yet...raise, lower, go fast...beep beep :ahh: - nah, you wouldn't do that.

[GaryVoshol]

I can't help but wonder if you have improved the hospital bed mechanisms yet....I don't know - my son figured out how to run the IV machines.

[Tottanka]

CD is not the same without you =]

Get well soon, kickoff is almost here =]

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

Get well soon Jacob!!! Just in time for kickoff - oh, and holidays, those are important too I suppose :P.

[IndySam]

Thanks guys!

The team here at this hospital is awesome. I had surgery yesterday, and I'm feeling (slightly) better already.

Thanks for all your support!

Jacob

Great news, get better soon.

[EHaskins]

Hope you get well soon.

[vivek16]

well its been a couple of days, How you holding up Jacob?

-vivek

[Scott Carpman]

Get better Jacob, only a few more weeks until build season.

[Pavan Dave]

Get well soon Jacob. CD just isnt the same without you.

[Hiteak]

I really hope you feel better soon. If only Dave will release the clue early as a get well present for you.

[Schnabel]

I talked to Jacob recently, and the surgery went well. They removed the blebs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleb) off of his lung which is what caused this to happen. He is hanging in there, but he is in pain. Just remember to keep him in your thoughts.

[whytheheckme]

Hello Everyone!

Thank you all for your well wishes. They really meant a lot, and I will be responding to everyone who sent me an email shortly.

I returned from the hospital on Thursday, and have been laying on the couch watching MTV, MTV2, MTVtr3s, MTVH, MTVJ, VH1, VH1classics, VH1soul, and VH1uno since. I find watching dumb people live their lives entertaining. (just kidding ;) )

Anyway, I was on anywhere up to 6 drugs at any one point while in the hospital, including morphine, and several other drugs listed at the bottom of this page (http://www.neuro.wustl.edu/neuromuscular/lab/painmed.htm). The doctor said that a pneumothorax is one of the only natural things that can happen to a guy that is more painful than child labor. Huh.

This is my second pneumothorax, and it happened on December 4th as I was getting out of the shower, and about to brush my teeth. Last year I had one on December 6th (go figure), and I was riding in the car. A pneumothorax of the type that I had is spontaneous, and is most common in tall, skinny, teenage, white males (not limited to this group, but is most common in.) If you've ever met me, you know what I'm talking about.

If anyone else has questions about it, like what it felt like, or what they did about it to prevent it from coming back, or if you're likely to have one, or more statistics, or whatever, just post, and I'll answer to the best of my ability. I learned a lot while in the hospital, but the drugs made me forget most of what I did there.

Which reminds me..... Somebody thought it would be funny to give me a laptop while I was on pain meds. You may have noticed seemingly random posts in various threads about my opinion on something, but written really poorly. I sincerely apologize about that :p

My uncle actually called me a day after my surgery and told me a phrase to remember, and told me he would pay me $150 if I could remember the phrase a week later. Sure enough, when he called me a week later, I could barely remember him telling me that, let alone the phrase. So I didn't get it. Ah well.

I'm recovering well, with a vaseline gauze bandage seal where (one of the) holes going to my lung was. I'm taking it easy, just watching TV. I got excused from all of my university courses for the semester, and will be able to finish out the work next semester. I'll be returning to school in January (hopefully).

Anyway, I ought to be getting to bed. Thanks for everyone's support, and I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Sincerely,
Jacob

[Tottanka]

Glad you are back dude =]

Will you be fit for the build season?

[whytheheckme]

Glad you are back dude =]

Will you be fit for the build season?

I hope to be! I'm walking and doing things already, and build is still a few weeks away. I'm sure I'll be back in action in time :D (perhaps to the dismay of my teammates :p )

Jacob

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Glad to see you back, just get better.

[Bill Moore]

I learned a lot while in the hospital, but the drugs made me forget most of what I did there.

My uncle actually called me a day after my surgery and told me a phrase to remember, and told me he would pay me $150 if I could remember the phrase a week later. Sure enough, when he called me a week later, I could barely remember him telling me that, let alone the phrase. So I didn't get it. Ah well.

Jacob,

Great to hear you are home and doing better.

Don't be surprised if you remember your uncles phrase at some point. After emergency surgery a few years back (on Christmas Day no less), I would suddenly remember things as long as 4 to 6 months later. I would quickly turn to my wife and ask questions as a memory would return.

Ask your uncle if he will double it to $300, if you remember within 6 months.:D

[whytheheckme]

Jacob,

Great to hear you are home and doing better.

Don't be surprised if you remember your uncles phrase at some point. After emergency surgery a few years back (on Christmas Day no less), I would suddenly remember things as long as 4 to 6 months later. I would quickly turn to my wife and ask questions as a memory would return.

Ask your uncle if he will double it to $300, if you remember within 6 months.:D

He already took insurance and told me what the phrase was. But that was yesterday, and I still can't remember :p

Apparently I said a lot of crazy things under the influence of drugs. Good lesson kids, DON'T DO DRUGS! If motivation that you will wind up telling your parents all sorts of crazy secrets and things you didn't particularly want them to know isn't enough, then I don't know what is.

What's even crazier is that not only do I remember anything I said, but there were some people that even came to visit me that I don't remember being there at all. Some visitors I do remember (like my girlfriend), but others I don't (like my not-so-nice co-worker.) I wonder if the drugs gave me a selective memory? (I honestly don't remember him. It's not like I'm trying to block him out of my memory....)

I still have a prescription for Percocet, which I occasionally use when I'm experiencing severe pain. That stuff totally mellows me out, I notice especially in my face. It feels like I have no face muscles, and my mind is somewhere else. When I'm on the Percocet, I try not to talk to anyone or write anything in fear of embarrassing myself :o. It's funny thought, because I did actually write some poetry while in the hospital under the heavy drugs, something I've never been able to do.

So moral of the story, Don't Do Drugs (unless you need them),
Jacob

[Pavan Dave]

I tried to look up on Wikipedia and other online encyclopedias but I couldn't find any statistics for South Asian Males. :$. Anyways I'm glad you're doing well, and I look forward to seeing you at a competition some time soon! I just hope you can remember how to code from last year!

[whytheheckme]

I tried to look up on Wikipedia and other online encyclopedias but I couldn't find any statistics for South Asian Males. :$. Anyways I'm glad you're doing well, and I look forward to seeing you at a competition some time soon! I just hope you can remember how to code from last year!

Race has the least impact of all of those 'profile' features. I bet it's even evenly distributed, looking at percentages, but since white is the largest race for statistics in this country, the percentage of people that have pneumothoraxes that are white is higher because there are more white people. Just a hunch, because last year, when I was in the hospital, there were two other males who also had pneumothoraxes. One was white, and the other was african-american. This year, there was one other person who had a pneumothorax, who totally beat the odds on everything. She was a young (8 years old) Latino/Caribbean short girl. Go Figure.

Don't worry Pavan. The code is all done. I think my memory lapse has made my code more efficient than ANYONE else's code. Maybe more people should try being sedated. Here is next years robot code:

while [driver moves joystick, robot moves?):

Jacob

[JaneYoung]

It's funny thought, because I did actually write some poetry while in the hospital under the heavy drugs, something I've never been able to do.

So moral of the story, Don't Do Drugs (unless you need them),
Jacob

*ears perk up* poetry? :)

Keep getting better, Jacob!

[Kyle]

Its great to hear that you are doing OK , and that you should be up and around for build or at least comp season.

For anyone that wants to know a pneumothorax is a medical term for a collection or air or some other type of gas in the chest wall that forces the lung to collapse that is not caused by a trauma to the chest. A majority of pneumothoraxs occur when someone is at rest or doing something non labor intensive. When one occurs the person experiencing it, tell me if I am right or wrong Jacob, they would feel chest pain with shortness of breath/difficulty breathing and depending on the persons pain tolerance the pain could be very sharp stabbing or dull. They occur very suddenly. Symptoms for someone to watch out for if they see someone experiencing the chest pain/difficulty breathing, other then a possible heart attack/Angina, are a very rapid respiratory rate due to the body only having one lung and abnormal breathing such as someone leaning over holding their ribs and very little motion in the chest when breathing, or even one side moving and the other not.

Here are the statistics from my Anatomy and Physiology class:

"Spontaneous pneumothorax is seven times more likely to occur in males than females. Male smokers have 22 times the rate of spontaneous pneumothorax compared to nonsmoking males. Female smokers have a 9 times increase in the rate of a spontaneous pneumothorax compared to nonsmoking females . A spontaneous pneumothorax is most likely to occur during the fall or winter months"

If you want to know some of the possible causes of spontaneous pneumothoraxs they are over something like 60% of the time caused by the rupture of this little tiny air or fluid sac in the lung called bleb or bullae, when they rupture the air is let out of the lung into the pleura space between the chest wall and the lung. Other causes of spontaneous pneumothorax are known lung disease's such was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD. Also pneumonia, lung cancer asthma cystic fibrosis and tuberculosis.




Once someone is taken to the hospital usually the ER first, the treatment can be anything as a wait and see approach because some small pneumothorax can clear up on their own and the excess air is just absorbed into the blood stream. Other times a chest tube is placed into the pluria place between the lung and outer chest where the air or fluid is trapped to release the pressure and re inflate the lung and most of the time the tube is then removed unless needed for drainage purposes and also there is a surgical procedure if needed.



Pneumothorax occur mostly in tall skinny males between late teens to 40 years old and there are somewhere near 10,000 cases a year in the United States from the 2006 records from the American Lung Association in my text book



If you have or ever have or had a pneumothorax sadly you can no go SCUBA diving due to the increased pressure on the chest wall, mountain climbing in high elevations or flying in unpressurized planes.



Hope that helps answer questions, pneumothoraxs are something I get to see at work sometimes but very rarely are they spontaneous type, usually we see them due to trauma, car accident, stabbing or shooting and can also be from blast injuries.

[whytheheckme]

As per request of some PMs, I am attaching a description of most of the entire experience. This was originally intended for my history teacher....


On the morning of December 4th (approximately an hour and fifty-six minutes before your class) I stepped out of the shower, and began to brush my teeth. I took a deep breath, and felt sudden, excruciating pain in my left chest. Having a pneumothorax before, I knew this pain all too well. Knowing that I had about three breaths left before the pain became unbearable, I held my breath and ran upstairs to quickly get changed and wake up my mother. I was in the car by the end of the three breaths, at which point the pain became unbearable, and I started to break down. Approximately twenty-seven minutes later, my mother's car pulled in front of the Emergency Room at Connecticut Children's Medical Center, where I literally ran inside, with no shoes or coat on. I was immediately checked into the emergency room, where my vitals were taken, and after approximately twenty minutes (after it was determined based on my history of having a pneumothorax that this again, was most likely a pneumothorax), I was put on oxygen, which was a great relief. While I still had very excruciating pain, I was still awake and in a stable mode. An X-Ray was taken of my chest, which showed that I did indeed have a pneumothorax. If you aren't familiar, a pneumothorax is when there becomes a hole in your lung, allowing air to escape into the cavity around it. When the air can't find it's way back into the lung (the hole is really tiny), it puts pressure on the lung, because the cavity is of a fixed size, and can't expand. After enough air has escaped into the cavity, enough pressure builds up against the lung, that it collapses. Looking at the X-Ray, it could clearly be seen that my left lung did not fill the entire cavity space, and that there was a significant amount of air above the lung. Fortunately, there wasn't so much air that my heart was in danger (as the lung and heart share the same cavity), as it was the last time I had a pneumothorax. After about another hour, I was brought into the OR to have a 'pigtail' chest tube installed through the front of my chest. I had the choice of being sedated, which I chose to do (last time, I didn't, and it was a very odd experience.) After the tube was installed, it was put to suction, to pull all of the air out of the cavity, and allow the lung to re-inflate. An X-Ray an hour later showed that my lung had come up significantly. Due to heavy pain medication, and the fact that my lung wasn't collapsed any more, I was in much less pain.

The profile for someone to have a spontaneous pneumothorax is a tall, skinny, teenage, white male (kinda sounds like me.) Although this isn't always the case, a person with that profile is most susceptible to a spontaneous pneumothorax. There are two major 'causes' of a spontaneous pneumothorax, both of which are very unknown. The first 'cause' is that it 'just happens', and they don't really know why. The second 'cause' is that there are 'blebs' or blisters (kind of) on the surface of my lung, which pop, allowing air to escape. The reason these blebs are there, how they got there, and why they are usually only seen among people of my profile is completely unknown. The only way to tell if you have blebs on your lung or not (without going in surgically to look after the first pneumothorax,) is if you have another pneumothorax on the same side. This means that the cause wasn't the first, where there a no blebs present, but most likely the second, where blebs are present, and another popped. People who don't have surgery to remove the blebs have been known to have multiple pneumothorax', up to 4 or 5 times before they agree to have the surgery done. I decided to have it done right away, because I didn't want to risk having another pneumothorax (on the left side), and experience that pain again. The doctor told me that the pain of having a pneumothorax is one of the only natural pains that a male can experience that is greater than that of natural childbirth.

After the pigtail was put in, I was checked into a room on the 6th floor. I stayed the night, and was woken early the next morning. I was brought down to the OR, where I was put to sleep yet again, when the surgery was performed. The surgery was done through three small incisions on my left side; One incision was for the video camera (so the surgeons could see what they were doing inside of me,) and the other two were for the surgeons to use their tools inside my chest cavity. If they were unable to remove the blebs using the camera, they would have had to go to an open surgery, which would have been much more painful. The surgery consisted of three major functions. The first was to remove the blebs on the top of my lung, therefore making a pneumothorax much less likely, and the second was to 'stick' the top of my lung to my chest cavity, making it so that if another hole did form, the air would not be able to escape, because my lung would be stuck to the side of my chest cavity. This process is done by irritating both surfaces, and sticking them together. The cavity wall was mechanically irritated, using a material similar to sandpaper, while my lung surface was chemically irritated, using something similar to an antibiotic (a mechanical irritation of my lung would not be good, as it could create another hole, and yet another problem.) The third purpose was to remove the original chest tube (which was relatively small, about a quarter inch in diameter) and put a much larger chest tube into my side (about the size of a penny looking at a cross-section.) I awoke from the surgery later that day, very soon wishing that I hadn't. The pain after the surgery was much worse than the pneumothorax itself, even with the six pain medications they were dumping into my bloodstream (including morphine, and another drug approximately nine times more powerful than morphine.) I was also on drugs to prevent my body from reacting to the other drugs. I was also on nausea medication, because I am known to have an upset stomach to heavy pain medications. They also gave me a button to hold in my hand, in which by pressing it, would dump even more than the steady stream of drugs into my blood system on a need-basis. For almost two days, I was holding the button down, and still in very very heavy pain.

I was in the hospital for a total of eight days. By the last three days, I could walk around the floor, carrying my water-seal. Immediately after the surgery, the chest tube was hooked back to suction, allowing my lung to be expanded, and allowing the hole to heal. The idea is to allow the hole to heal for a few days with no risk of the lung collapsing, and then removing the suction to see if it is indeed actually healed. After four days after the surgery, the doctor removed the suction and hooked me to a device called a water-seal. The premise behind a water-seal is that the tube that goes into me is 'capped' with a column of water, not allowing air in or out of my lung cavity through the tube. It's as if the tube was removed, without actually removing it. The typical procedure is to take an X-Ray before you are put on water-seal, stay on water-seal for twenty-four hours, and then take another X-Ray to make sure the lung hasn't gone down (if I'm not already in excruciating pain after five minutes of being off of suction.) After the typical one day, my X-Ray was taken, and evaluated by a resident doctor. The resident doctor determined that my lung had gone down some, and that I should be hooked back up to suction. This was a great disappointment, because that would mean that I'd be in the hospital for at least an additional four days. Later that day, my actual doctor came into the hospital, looked at the X-Rays, and determined that the resident doctor made a mistake, and that my lung had actually not gone down. He opted to do the procedure of removing the chest tube the next day, and then waiting a day after the tube was out to send me home. The procedure was done, and everything looked good.

I was sent home on Thursday the 13th, during that terrible storm. It took over two hours to get home. Finally I was home, safe and sound. I slept for a few days, and have been very groggy since. I have been writing this e-mail over the past few days, adding to it each day. I guess I intended it to be a brief summary, but it turned out to be a full blown story.

Anyway, if you actually did read all of that, congratulations for not falling asleep in the middle : ) . Some of the writing isn't the best; It's amazing what pain medication can do to you. I am slowly recovering, doing a few more things each day. My days now typically consist of either laying in bed or on the couch, listening to calm music (although I can walk, and I'm improving my balance and coordination.... slowly.)

Jacob

[Dorienne]

He already took insurance and told me what the phrase was. But that was yesterday, and I still can't remember :p

Apparently I said a lot of crazy things under the influence of drugs. Good lesson kids, DON'T DO DRUGS! If motivation that you will wind up telling your parents all sorts of crazy secrets and things you didn't particularly want them to know isn't enough, then I don't know what is.

What's even crazier is that not only do I remember anything I said, but there were some people that even came to visit me that I don't remember being there at all. Some visitors I do remember (like my girlfriend), but others I don't (like my not-so-nice co-worker.) I wonder if the drugs gave me a selective memory? (I honestly don't remember him. It's not like I'm trying to block him out of my memory....)

I still have a prescription for Percocet, which I occasionally use when I'm experiencing severe pain. That stuff totally mellows me out, I notice especially in my face. It feels like I have no face muscles, and my mind is somewhere else. When I'm on the Percocet, I try not to talk to anyone or write anything in fear of embarrassing myself :o. It's funny thought, because I did actually write some poetry while in the hospital under the heavy drugs, something I've never been able to do.

So moral of the story, Don't Do Drugs (unless you need them),
Jacob

I know exactly how you feel, Jacob. I think I've had umpteen types of medications in the last 3 years. It's really quite pitiful. I remember some things from my hospital stays, but not a lot. No one's ever bet me to remember things though. :P I most likely would remember, too, purely for the money!

Seriously though, I just had surgery on the 30th of November, and I was drugged up. I felt very relaxed, and they gave me a big prescription (since I'll be in pain for a long time) for Lortab. That stuff is a miracle worker, but I also never know what I'll be like. 'Tis why I take it at night, heh.

Anyway, I'm so glad you're doing better, Jacob. I hope you have a very blessed and pain-free holiday. :) Hopefully I'll see you at a regional or champs (if my team goes).

[whytheheckme]

Hello Everyone

I am in the hospital, yet again. The same thing happened to my right side that happened to the left. I had the surgery yesterday, and am recovering much quicker than last time!

Sorry for bad grammar. I'm surprised I can even type lol.

Jacob

[Billfred]

Alright, Jacob, you've now patched both of them up. Quit doing this! :P

Get better soon.

--Billfred

[Hiteak]

Hope you have another speedy recovery!

[Danny McC]

Get better quickly buddy.

[Elgin Clock]

Holy cow Jacob! never a dull moment with you eh? lol

Here's hoping for a quick recovery this time!! :)

[SteveJanesch]

Oh, man....this should take care of it, though, shouldn't it? I hope you have a fast and complete recovery. And lay off the stogies.
-Steve

[JohnBoucher]

Stop holding your breath at regionals. Get better FAST

[KathieK]

Jacob!!! This is awful to Hear! Hope you are on the mend REALLY SOON!

[basicxman]

get well soon, jeez i thought that morphine could take all the pain (it sure did when i had my tounsels removed) but something nine times more powerful!?!?

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Get better Jacob. Tell them to put in self sealing bags this time.

[GaryVoshol]

Again, Jacob? :eek: C'mon, get well.

[Luckyfish05]

Too bad you're not in Michigan, I could have someone to talk robotics with me during my Nursing rotation as you rest up for the next couple of days. Get well and best wishes on a speedy road to recovery!

[IndySam]

Ever think about changing your screen name? Just a thought.


Get well soon.

[vivek16]

Oh man, hope you get better.

good luck, Vivek

[Carlee10]

Wow, I'm so sorry dude, I can't believe you've had the same thing happen 3 times. And I thought I was unlucky having two gallbladder attacks, the first happening on my 16th b-day/working at a band contest/my homecoming dance. It was scary, and unexpected. I had to have my gallbladder removed, and it wasn't much fun. I hope you feel better, and morphine is amazing(it really is awesome when you listen to Pink Floyd's The Wall while you're on it)!

Really, though, get better, and take it easy. I hope you get well quick!

[Tottanka]

feel better soon mate =]

[whytheheckme]

THANK YOU, all that have sent their best regards. It really means a lot.

Alright, Jacob, you've now patched both of them up. Quit doing this!

Get better soon.

--Billfred
The doc says I only have two lungs..... I hope that this is true.

Hope you have another speedy recovery!
Thanks! My recovery is going MUCH more smoothly than last time.. Seeing as I can eat and talk coherently without vomiting, I'd say I'm on the fast track to recovery *knocks on wood*.


Get better quickly buddy.
Thanks Man!

Holy cow Jacob! never a dull moment with you eh? lol

Here's hoping for a quick recovery this time!! :)
lol. It's always something, isn't it?


Oh, man....this should take care of it, though, shouldn't it? I hope you have a fast and complete recovery. And lay off the stogies.
-Steve
Funny you should say that. The first question that the nurse in the ER asked was "Do you drink, smoke, inject, swear or bit your nails?" My reply was "well, I DO bite my nails..."

Stop holding your breath at regionals. Get better FAST
:D Good thinking.

Jacob!!! This is awful to Hear! Hope you are on the mend REALLY SOON!
Thanks Kathie! I'm looking forward to seeing you at WPI!

get well soon, jeez i thought that morphine could take all the pain (it sure did when i had my tounsels removed) but something nine times more powerful!?!?
Indeed. And it's STILL not enough... I'm on a PCA with a 6 minute lockout, and if I press the button as soon as I possibly can each 6 minutes, it JUST about keeps me under control :)

Get better Jacob. Tell them to put in self sealing bags this time.
lol. They DID stick my lung to the inside of my chest cavity tho.... So hopefully that will help.

Again, Jacob? :eek: C'mon, get well.
Thanks!

Too bad you're not in Michigan, I could have someone to talk robotics with me during my Nursing rotation as you rest up for the next couple of days. Get well and best wishes on a speedy road to recovery!
I'd love to go to Michigan.
Just not right now.

Thanks for the offer tho.

Ever think about changing your screen name? Just a thought.


Get well soon.
I wasn't actually sure if that was the screenname I wanted to use for CD. It's just a screenname I've been using since I was 6 tho:cool:

Oh man, hope you get better.

good luck, Vivek
Thank you!

Wow, I'm so sorry dude, I can't believe you've had the same thing happen 3 times. And I thought I was unlucky having two gallbladder attacks, the first happening on my 16th b-day/working at a band contest/my homecoming dance. It was scary, and unexpected. I had to have my gallbladder removed, and it wasn't much fun. I hope you feel better, and morphine is amazing(it really is awesome when you listen to Pink Floyd's The Wall while you're on it)!

Really, though, get better, and take it easy. I hope you get well quick!
They put me on morphine last time (at first. It turned out to not be strong enough.) With the morphine, at least you can make out the lyrics to the song (lol). With dilaudid, all of my sensory input is fuzzy. It does, however, make an interesting music listening experience.

feel better soon mate =]
Thanks man!!

[BandChick]

Be sure to let us know when you're home safe and ready for more FIRST!
Get well soon!

[Molten]

Jacob, I am starting to understand the screen name. I hope that you start doing better. Maybe if you stopped overworking yourself? Well, good luck.

[petek]

Jacob,

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Gotta get those lungs in shape for cheering!

Petek

[Wayne Doenges]

I think he's lying. He just went back to receive those sponge baths from all the pretty nurses :D ;)

All kidding aside. Get well soon.

[Pavan Dave]

Hey man, the south is wishing you a speedy recovery! I assume you are the reason TBA has had over 10000 hits in the past few hours, because you were refreshing for matches!?! :D

Get well soon and let me know if there is anything I can do for you!

Pavan.

[JaneYoung]

Just got back in town from Oklahoma City - :) and saw this.
My wishes join with Pavan's in hopes that you heal quickly and you get back on track, in overdrive.

Take care,
Jane

[Vince lau]

get well soon and have a speedy recovery

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Jacob,
Is this the procedure where they burn the chest cavity and stick the lung to it to keep it inflated via scar tissue? I saw this on a medical training video a few years ago. It was used at that time to help with post surgical recovery, during lung cancer removal. It is a very cool use of body function to help repairs without foreign objects. Hope it works.

[JaneYoung]

All -

Our friend, Jacob, is back in the hospital. He told me a little bit about it and I asked if I could post in the thread. He gave permission.

Please keep him in your thoughts. It is his left lung and my understanding is that it is a partial collapse. I hope he posts and explains it further.

All the best, Jacob. You have places to go, things to see :)...
Jane

[whytheheckme]

Thanks Jane!

I was admitted this morning - I was waiting for school to start when I felt pain, so I called an ambulance.

It is only collapsed about 15%, so they are keeping me on oxygen overnight for observation. We are hoping that it will clear up by the morning, when they can send me home. The pain is very minimal now (compared to the much worse that I've felt.)

Thanks all, and I'll keep y'all updated.
Jacob Komar

[Carlee10]

I hope you feel better. I'm glad that it's not as bad. Good luck.

[GaryVoshol]

Hey Jacob, maybe you should keep a trackball with you at all times. Then when you feel the pain of your lung collapsing, you can quickly put the fill-tube into your mouth and use the trackball air to reinflate yourself. ;)

Then again, I'm not a doctor, I don't play one on TV, and I didn't even stay in a Holiday Inn Express. :p

Hope you get well soon.

[Hiteak]

Hope you get well soon. Hope that you also get to go home soon!

[Nica F.]

aww Jacob,
Get well soon!
Build a robot that can be sick for you :P

[KathieK]

Not again! We have to get you on the mend! NO MORE TRIPS TO THE HOSPITAL!

[IndySam]

Again!

Get back going soon man, summer is just around the corner!

[basicxman]

aww man not again, get well soon!

hopefully in time for summer break!

ill agree with above, build a robot to be sick for you!

[chris31]

Get well soon!

[Arefin Bari]

Get better soon Jacob.

[Cynette]

Get better quick, Jacob! We want you healthy!

My thoughts are with you! Speedy recovery!

[Wayne Doenges]

They must have some pretty good food at the hospital. He keeps going back :)

On the serious side, GET WELL SOON!!!

[Molten]

How many times have you been in the hospital? It seems like you just keep falling apart. Well, maybe this will be the last. Hoping you get better, Molten.

[Arefin Bari]

Let me know the next event you attent. I will come weld you back together. =)

[JaneYoung]

So Jacob,
If you need some help blowing out your birthday candles, I might know some people with a lot of hot air...

:)

Get better, birthday boy!
Jane

[martin417]

Jacob,

I sent an you an email, but not sure if you got it (got an incomprehensible reply from my email server) anyway, I too suffered from spontaneous pneumothorax's about 25 years ago. I had one on the right side, then after about a year, I went through three on the left side in a two week period. Apparently it is common among tall thin males under 30 years old. I'm sure you have also been told about Marfan's Syndrome. After the third in two weeks, they did surgery, placing staples across the top of the lung and scarring the inside of the chest cavity to "stick" the lung to the wall. Since then I have had no problems (a couple of false alarms, but no real problems).

Anyway, hang in there, it does get better.

Martin

[cooker52]

Happy Birthday Jacob!!

I hope you're at least feeling a lot better today. Maybe some gifts would do you some good.

Hope you get well real soon, cause it's no fun being stuck in a hospital. All least you get to watch a lot of tv :D .

Get well soon for all of us,
Seth

[BandChick]

Happy birthday, Jacob! I know everyone here is pulling for you to get well soon! I swear, one of these days we're going to have to invent you some new lungs...

[KathieK]

There's gotta be a way we can duct tape the lungs to the chest cavity wall, right? I mean, duct tape cures everything! :)

[GaryVoshol]

There's gotta be a way we can duct tape the lungs to the chest cavity wall, right? I mean, duct tape cures everything! :)

If that doesn't work, we'll have to resort to welding. Beside, then Jacob would be FRC-legal. :cool: (Dark glasses on, everyone!)

Jacob, I hope you're getting a lift from our banter - and that you don't laugh to make it hurt.

[Joe G.]

There's gotta be a way we can duct tape the lungs to the chest cavity wall, right? I mean, duct tape cures everything! :)

or zipties/bar-locks :D

Hope you're feeling better.

[DonRotolo]

Naah, Duct Tape, Welding and Zip ties are all too invasive.

Pop Rivets. :ahh:

(Actually, the staple idea sounds interesting, and it appears to work well...)

[EHaskins]

Happy birthday!

Hope you get better soon.

[Karibou]

Happy Birthday Jacob! You'd better get well soon, we need to get you healthy again :ahh:

(I vote for duct tape if it was legal...I guess I've got to vote for welding now...)

[acdcfan259]

Just replace those lungs with some Glad ForceFlex bags.

[Cynette]

Update! Last night's status on Facebook says he is HOME! In time to celebrate a little of his birthday! Yay Jacob!

[cooker52]

That is awesome! The perfect gift for your birthday!

Now, let's hope he stays home for a while.