The bump behind Johnny Isakson’s hospital stay
My AJC colleague Bob Keefe in Washington writes that U.S. Sen. Johnny Iskason and his docs have gotten to the bottom of his dual hospital stays this spring:
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson/Associated Press
You may recall that Isakson, 65, was rushed to Northside Hospital in Atlanta in March, after feeling weak and dehydrated. He spent four days there — part of the time in an intensive care unit — as doctors searched for the source of a bacterial infection in his bloodstream.
Shortly after he was released, Isakson was back in another hospital, Piedmont, after doctors discovered he had an irregular heartbeat and a blood clot in his leg that was apparently related to the previous illness.
Isakson told me this past week that doctors finally pinpointed the source of all the problems.
“I had a little infected bump in this ear,” he said, running a finger along the top of his right ear. “It was kind of like a pimple, but it was under the skin.”
The bump, according to Isakson, somehow got infected with the potentially fatal Staphylococcus — aka, staph — bacteria that quickly spread through his body.
“They say this happens to one person a year in Georgia,” Isakson said. “There’s 10 million people in Georgia, so the odds are one in 10 million.”
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43 comments Add your comment
Logic 05
June 12th, 2010
4:57 pm
Johnny be the man!
FIRST
GAVoter
June 12th, 2010
5:03 pm
Glad the Senator is feeling better!
ladyliberty
June 12th, 2010
5:11 pm
Johnny must be fundamentally very healthy to have gotten over it as relatively quickly as he did!
Glad he’s better now and that the culprit was found.
SpaceyG
June 12th, 2010
5:15 pm
Blogging about ear pimples? Jim, please. Take the rest of the weekend off.
dagnabit
June 12th, 2010
6:33 pm
The payday loansharks are relieved.
catlady
June 12th, 2010
7:20 pm
The bump in health slang usually refers to pregnancy. Seeing that with J. Isakson’s name gave me quite a start! Luckily he has access to good health care, which narrowed it down to “not pregnancy related” fairly quickly and inexpensively
BudHawkEastCobb
June 12th, 2010
7:37 pm
Johnny is a tough and determined individual; not surprised at all about his ability to bounce back. Go get ‘em, Senator!
NEGeorgian
June 12th, 2010
7:51 pm
Spacey G- the health of an older Senator in a stressful year of campaigning is a legit news story. Johnny had been in the hospital only once before in his whole life. I remember not too long ago we had a US Senator who had to go to the hospital where he promptly died. That was the late Paul Coverdell.
boots
June 12th, 2010
8:01 pm
Johnny is the real deal. Perfect? No, but he is not the kind of guy to hide his true nature, and he does what is right for GA, his family, and his country. He is a Sam Nunn kind of guy, and we are lucky to have him in office. Johnny, I am glad you are feeling better.
SouthGeorgiaDawg
June 12th, 2010
8:14 pm
Johnny is neither a good Senator a credit to the State of Georgia. Also, never name him in the same sentence or the same breath as Senator Sam Nunn who was the greatest Senator this side of Senator Herman Talmadge or Senator Richard Russell. Yes, Johnny is better than the embarressing excuse we have in the other Senate seat from Georgia.
Rufio
June 12th, 2010
8:15 pm
I am sincerely glad that Senator Isakson is better !
Now that your feeling better……How about your staff get to work ??? They did nothing to help me with Social Security and my claim. They cowered to SSA and I was in Piedmont 4 more times than you and ended it with a Morphine pump implanted inside of me. But, SSA is allowed to take 2 years review a claim while they are going broke.
Q-Tip
June 12th, 2010
8:42 pm
Rufio,
I think you’re on to something. Why can’t we lowly citizens have the same government funded healthcare that members of Congress enjoy? Sen. Isakson had the best doctors and facilities at his beck and call while we have to wait until the insurance company decides that our treatment is covered.
Will Jones - Atlanta Jeffersonian Exegesis
June 12th, 2010
9:08 pm
Johnny is a “Sam Nunn kind of guy.” Nunn went into the Coast Guard and Isakson into the Air National Guard to dodge Vietnam, and they both work against the People of Georgia on behalf of Rockefeller’s and the Roman “Fifth Column’s” fascist plutocracy. No Georgians, they.
downtowner
June 12th, 2010
9:21 pm
I am no Isakson supporter, but y’all should recognize the terrible seriousness of having both a general staph infection and a blood clot in his leg. A staph infection that gets into the bloodstream is often fatal—used to be called “blood poisoning.” The blood clot must be phlebitis, a condition in which a blood clot breaks loose into the arteries and can wind up in the extremities (legs) or lungs or heart, which can be fatal. Thank God that Isakson is all right,.
T Knight
June 12th, 2010
9:29 pm
Saw Senator Isakson last weekend in Gwinnett. I’m very happy he’s feeling well..
Cecil Phudpucker
June 12th, 2010
9:36 pm
John boy was a real estate agent. I think that about sums him up.
Damascus Georgia
June 12th, 2010
10:28 pm
Will Jones is a Jeffersonian nutbag. Please tell the Catholics to stay the heck away from such a maniac.
Lyn
June 12th, 2010
10:30 pm
Go, Go Johnny Go, Go – Go, Go Johnnny Go, Go…Johnny be Good!
Ditto Cecil – RE jungle survivor superstars like Johnny ROCK!!!
Line 3 jim
June 12th, 2010
10:44 pm
jimmy, EDU-Pac wants to say you’re doing a bang up job, talking about an inconsequential hospital stay from months back, when questionable money management from APS is once again the lead story in the Sunday edition.
We got some spin control folks at the Chamber working overtime on this one. Be a good boy jim, and run out and buy them some refreshments.
Bobby
June 12th, 2010
11:02 pm
I’m very glad that Johnny recovered well, thanks to his excellent health care insurance benefits furnished by tax payers that he wants to less fortunate Georgia residents. I hope he thinks about the fact that had he not had insurance that gave him access to medical care the chances are pretty good he would be the late Senator from Georgia.
Sick of Republicans
June 13th, 2010
7:39 am
Glad he is better but he will never be in the same category as Nunn and he does NOT represent all of Georgia; he is Saxby’s sock puppet; he does not fight on behalf of the regular person who struggles from day to day. I wish him continued good health and a defeat at the polls in November.
Not Again
June 13th, 2010
9:00 am
@Will Jones
Seek help fast buddy. Seek help.
Base
June 13th, 2010
12:18 pm
It helps to have good insurance we pay for!
Bob in Winder
June 13th, 2010
1:16 pm
Just like Saxby.. BIG SPENDING, BIG GOVERNMENT, PRO AMNESTY RINO. Georgia would be so much better off with 2 CONSERVATIVE SENATORS than these 2 hacks.
Mr. KnowitAll
June 13th, 2010
1:32 pm
Saxby—in the back pocket of Big Farming–Cargill/ADM–and his big farm buddies in So. Ga.
This jerk added an earmark for Blueberry farmers–for crying out loud–when conservatives are trying to keep a lid on spending.
Saxby doesn’t give a rat’s behind about Joe Average…..but he’ll bend over for his farm buddies.
TruthBeTold
June 13th, 2010
1:37 pm
Isakson is a dick. Had any of you actually met the man, you would know.
Just Nasty & Mean
June 13th, 2010
2:43 pm
TruthnotTold:
Funny. I am around Isakson quite frequently. I have found him to be nothing less than the nicest guy your would ever meet. He has yet to fail to help me for anything I need help with the Govt.
I think YOU are the hack and don’t know Isakson at all.
Travis McGee
June 13th, 2010
2:45 pm
Will Jones: Ol’ Friend, listen to me.
Either get back on you meds on your going to end up in a room with no door knob on your side.
Col. Smith
June 13th, 2010
2:58 pm
I’m happy to know that Mr. Isakson has top notch healthcare because of his position as a U.S. senator. As a taxpayer, I’m happy to know that my tax dollars paid for his multiple physicians to diagnose an infected pimple. Meanwhile, average everyday Americans die on an hourly basis from lack of basic healthcare. But since America is obviously an oligarchy now, I guess us humble masses will just have to get used to it.
catlady
June 13th, 2010
3:25 pm
” Luckily he has access to good health care” –that was my TIC meaning, folks. As for most of the rest of us, eh, not so much….
Isakson’s Health › Blog for Democracy
June 13th, 2010
3:43 pm
[...] had two visits to the hospital earlier this year, once with an irregular heartbeat. The reason? A "little infected bump" in his [...]
Johnny
June 13th, 2010
7:36 pm
Johnhy is a really fine senator. Glad to have him representing me and the rest of GA in DC.
atlfunlver
June 13th, 2010
9:22 pm
How can you look at this picture and think this guy is healthy? Someday this state will elect someone that doesnt look like a Duke of Hazzard character with a slow motion speech pattern. Some things never change.
Ole Guy
June 14th, 2010
4:54 am
I went to the Ft. Benning hospital once for hemorrhoids. Does that count as a news-worthy event?
Therightisevil
June 14th, 2010
8:07 am
He’s old and in the way. Time to retire grandpa.
Bob in Winder
June 14th, 2010
8:49 am
Just Nasty & Mean 2:43 pm
Good to know Johnny Amnesty helped you out with your welfare, too bad you couldn’t get him to quit his big spending ways.
SpaceyG
June 14th, 2010
11:01 am
NEGeogia. It’ll be a legit news story whenever you manage to pull your head out of your literal a*s. Worth at least one Tweet I figure.
David S
June 14th, 2010
11:19 am
Isakson had to be taken to the hospital because somebody mentioned taking a principled conservative position on a bill and his body became so sickened with the idea it went into rejection mode.
Why you shouldn't laugh at Johnny Isakson's ear bump | Political Insider
June 14th, 2010
1:30 pm
[...] the weekend approached, my AJC colleague Bob Keefe in Washington spoke with U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson about the cause of those two trips to Atlanta hospitals he made [...]
BABY SAY
June 14th, 2010
5:08 pm
I LIK JONNY ISAACSUN. GUD MAN. HE BE GUD MANN.
Will Jones - Atlanta Jeffersonian Exegesis
June 14th, 2010
8:19 pm
Was Isakson one of the thousands evacuated from the buildings on Capitol Hill who witnessed the “David Copperfield” “white jumbo jet’s lumbering turn directly over the Capitol” on its Columbia Pike/Pentagon approach path’s “overrun,” as Bush and Cheney committed treason on 9/11?
Was he one of the many who went on “Larry King Live,” telling of it…before they got their “story” straight?
Isakson, and all the rest who having first person witness of the treason which has brought Our Nation low, yet have done nothing in pursuit of justice, should be closely examined as to there whereabouts that day.
The curse comes not without cause.
Will Jones - Atlanta Jeffersonian Exegesis
June 15th, 2010
3:00 am
“their” whereabouts, sorry
Anne Weltner
June 18th, 2010
8:06 pm
Johhny’s a good man. I am so glad is is well. It is well pass time for the other Senator from Georgia, Saxby Chambliss, to retire. I have nothing against him personally, but he has separated himself too much from the people he represents. I say this not as a Democrat, bit as a citizen of Georgia. Johhny is a Republican, but makes it a point to keep more in touch with the people he represents. He won the “Charles Welter Freedom of Information Award” which says alot for a politician.