John Adler recovering from emergency heart surgery

best wishes to him (0.00 / 0)

Frank LoBiondo Record and Jon Runyan Watch

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by: Hopeful @ Tue Mar 22, 2011 at 03:41:25 AM UTC

Wishing a speedy recovery (0.00 / 0)

If we don't stand together, we fall alone
That didn't last long.

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by: Couch Potato Politics @ Tue Mar 22, 2011 at 03:41:59 AM UTC

Prayers are with him (0.00 / 0)

A swift recovery.

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by: huntsu @ Tue Mar 22, 2011 at 10:51:41 AM UTC

Refuah shlema (0.00 / 0)

Blog: http://www.deciminyan.org

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by: deciminyan @ Tue Mar 22, 2011 at 11:44:04 AM UTC

teachable moment? (0.00 / 0)

I'm wondering how he contracted it. Is there  a somewhat common behaviour that put him at risk.  

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by: johnleesandiego @ Tue Mar 22, 2011 at 16:57:54 PM UTC

teachable moment ...? (0.00 / 0)

Huh?

I'm not sure where you're going with that, but I'd say that outside of wishing the former congressman well, the specifics of his condition aren't my business.


It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Tue Mar 22, 2011 at 17:13:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

True, but... (0.00 / 0)

...as someone who was diagnosed with a heart murmur at age 10 and has been recommended to take antibiotics prior to having dental work done all of his life, I know that bacteria entering the bloodstream through mouth bleeding is one of the more common causes of bacterial endocarditis.

I don't know if this is what happened to the former congressman, but my guess is that there will probably be some follow-up to the story and that we may know more in the days to come.

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Tue Mar 22, 2011 at 17:48:30 PM UTC

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Maybe I was (0.00 / 0)

reading inference in John Lee's comment that wasn't there? It's been an inference kinda day.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Tue Mar 22, 2011 at 19:09:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Inference... (0.00 / 0)

...is in the eye of the beholder, but that doesn't mean that you were wrong.  I only commented the way that I did to illustrate that the most likely explanation was more mundane than anything johnleesandiego might have been inferring, not that you were wrong to infer that he was inferring something, inference kinda day notwithstanding.

It is interesting to note that there has been a considerable amount of debate within the dental/medical communities about prescribing antibiotics as prophylaxis against bacterial endocarditis for dental patients with heart irregularities as part and parcel of the wider debate over the hyperprescription of antibiotics and the long-term role that it could play in the development of future superbacterium that bring about the second coming of the Black Plague.

From the moment that my heart murmur was discovered in 1981 until I was in my late 20s and early 30s, most dentists would refuse to even give me a checkup without my verbal confirmation that I had taken the prescribed dosage of amoxicillin.  But over the last 10 years, it has definitely evolved into a more optional thing to the point where it isn't even brought up anymore.

One other interesting point is that I rarely get prescribed amoxicillin anymore for any kind of illness (ear infection, throat infection, etc.), because most of the doctors that I have seen over the past few years are convinced that it has been overprescribed to the point of uselessness.

That said, if Adler's condition was caused by dental work that was not accompanied with a prophylaxis prescription, I think that the dental/medical community needs to figure out a way to be simultaneously focused on the here and now and forward-thinking.  I think that there are merits to both sides of the debate.

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Tue Mar 22, 2011 at 20:41:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

johnlee (0.00 / 0)

Google it. Staph is all over the place, including on your skin and in your nose, and including what Bertin said.

I don't know what is a teachable moment, other than  to be aware of what might hit you, like a bad imune system, or enforcing hospital regs about washing hands and encouraging the general public to do the same.

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by: SmartyJones @ Tue Mar 22, 2011 at 19:39:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]