Health Thread:
03 January: David Kasitz emailed me to say that he had been running a 102* fever and went to the Dr. They swabbed his nose and was negative for Flu, he noted that he had some upper respiratory sounds and his blood count was elevated. Dr. gave him a note excusing him from work until the following Monday and prescribed a strong antibiotic for him to begin on. David emailed me back and told me the on the way back for the Dr. visit he stopped and got supplies at the grocery store and pick up his meds.
I received no further emails from him other than an addition to one that said he went to the truck stop to pick up on Jan 2 to pick up his Ebay purchased side car for his vintage Moto Guzzi single from a lift gate delivery truck.
Yesterday at 1:45p I received a phone call from David's brother Bob that David had been moved from Newton County Hospital after 4 days in ICU to Wesley Hospital in Wichita. Wesley staff told Bob that they should have transferred him 2 days earlier and he is now in critical condition in their ICU unit and things do not look too good for David right now. He is unresponsive but they appear to have stabilized is condition for now. (last 24hrs)
Please pray for David, right now he needs all the support we can gather for him. Please note: they are not allowing anyone into ICU to see David except his brother, Bob who passed all the health checks.
Mike
11 January: David is in ICU in critical condition in a Wichita Hospital with severe pneumonia. He is not responsive, kidneys have shut down and the heart is showing signs of being stressed. Staff think he might be a bit more stable as of this morning. Other major concern is that if he makes it through this that he may have brain damage due to long term low level of oxygen. Only David's father and brother are allowed in the room and the hospital cannot respond to phone calls about David's condition.
John
A little on David's life:
David was 60. He has one brother, Bob. His father is alive and around 90. His mother died about two-three years ago. Our families were close so I was involved with David since we shared a bathtub as little tykes. David never married. David always had interest in mechanical things and especially liked classical and antique vehicles. For the most part he preferred to drive older vehicles.
David had a BSE in industrial education but always worked as a machinist in a small shop for awhile in Emporia, KS then at Cessna in Wichita and then on to Agco in Hesston producing farm equipment.
He lived in rural SC Kansas for most of his adult life living quite simply. He never had A/C in his home. Throughout his teens and 20s David was a binge drinker. Not the type that drank daily but when he did it was usually a lot with his brain quiting before his body which caused him problems at times. He wanted to get into motorcycling and decided that he could not continue to drink if he bought a bike. Bought a Guzzi Convert and never drank again. He did teach me how to work hard and party hard.
When David decided to get involved in something it was rarely half done. When David started with Guzzis it just kept snowballing. Those of you that have attended the Kansas rallies know what kind of rally David put on and the efforts he put into it. At this point I do not know what the fate of the Kansas rally will be. It has been the oldest continues rally in the world and I hope that maybe the rest of us can pull something off. He will be missed.
John
