"I have my agents on it," he said. ~ Checked in with Jermichael Finley after that scare with the staph infection following knee surgery. "I'm doing great, just trying to stay on top of everything and get back 100%," Finley said.
Bye week blog notes: Wired, TT as a player, more Claymaker, hello from Finley Journal Sentinel | 2 weeks ago
Bye week blog notes: Wired, TT as a player, more Claymaker, hello from Finley Journal Sentinel | 2 weeks ago
For a pretty detailed version of what happened to him check this article
Infection knocks Finley flat with fever - JSOnline
Green Bay — Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley wasn't sure if he had the flu or something else, but he was very sick and he knew something was wrong.
Because he had a similar experience in high school, he knew he had to see someone.
It turned out he was right. Finley said Wednesday morning that he contracted an infection in his right knee after having arthroscopic surgery Oct. 12 for torn cartilage that landed him on season-ending injured reserve.
On Oct. 22, Finley said, team physician Patrick McKenzie came to his house to check on him and, upon seeing his swollen knee, had it drained of fluid.
By Oct. 25, Finley was burning up with fever, he said. Finley said he had been feeling so ill he could not eat for a day. He tried to sleep it off, but when he awoke to find his bed soaked with his perspiration and his skin feeling it was on fire, he headed to the Packers facility to talk to the trainers.
"It is the worst you can feel, nauseous and hot as hell," Finley said "The worst. I didn't want to eat or really be around anyone."
He said he had a temperature of 105 degrees and a major infection in the same knee that required the operation.
After seeing Finley burning up with fever, Packers trainers rushed Finley by car to Bellin Hospital in Green Bay. It ended up being a blessing that he had not eaten because Finley was able to go into surgery that afternoon to remove the infection.
Bellin's emergency room staff was ready for Finley, he said, and he went under the knife immediately "to clean out the infection." He said doctors also inserted a central line - running from his neck down to his chest - as the fastest way to get the antibiotics into his body to fight the infection.
"It's the exact same infection that Tom Brady had," Finley said. "I was running that 105 fever for a good 12, 15 hours. I think I survived it because we caught it so fast."
A team spokesman said the medical staff identified the infection as staph but that there are varying degrees of severity and that this was considered the common type, not the more serious MRSA. Some NFL teams have had outbreaks of the more serious type of staph infection throughout their training facilities, and that has caused teams to take extra measures to ensure a breakout doesn't occur.
The Packers' medical staff follows a strict protocol to prevent infection from spreading, the spokesman said, adding that this latest case had been isolated.
Finley's second surgery was first reported by ESPNMilwaukee.com Tuesday night. Finley said Wednesday that he was fine but that the ordeal was very scary.
"I had this infection 10 times worse when I was in high school," Finley said. "To tell you the truth, they almost had to cut my dang leg off because my leg, my knee, had swelled up to like a volleyball."
That infection, he said, left him hospitalized for two weeks.
Finley said he is drinking a lot of water now.
"That's the key to all this now, staying hydrated and drinking as much fluid as possible," Finley said. "The knee is the last thing I'm worried about. The infection is the only thing that can hold me down right now. The swelling is down in the knee. I can bend the knee - not full range of motion, but I'm bending it. The knee is coming along great."
Finley is still on crutches and said he will be for another four or five weeks.
Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
No comments:
Post a Comment