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I don't remember much of the next few days, just every few hours when the meds would start to wear off I would wake and feel really, really bad. It was very unpleasant. It took a little while of working with the different doctors to get the right cocktail of meds, the proper dosages and exact times to be administered but they finally got it all figured out. But I'm telling you, if you don't have someone with you at the hospital 24/7, you can really get into big trouble. I can't tell you how many times my husband and my mom had to go to bat for me to get things straightened out and how many times I hit the nurse call button and no one ever came to assist me! It is pretty scary stuff! I hope and pray that I'm never in the position where I'm there all alone with no one to advocate for me.
It was finally determined that I had a staph infection and the Internal Medicine Specialist (IMS) assigned to me by the hospital was insisting my port would have to be removed. However, as you know, we have already been down this road several times before and we knew that staph did not always equal removing port. The IMS doc was not listening to my family or me AT ALL as we attempted to explain my ongoing illness OR my previous experience with this same type of infection, so we finally insisted on seeing the surgeon who implanted my port before making any rash decisions. And I am SO very thankful we did!
After speaking with my surgeon, we determined together that we would hold off on making a decision about the port for a few days. He said there was really no big hurry, plus he wanted an Infectious Disease Specialist to come in as a consult to see if they could determine exactly what kind of staph it was and what we needed to do to treat it.
Thankfully, after the Infectious Disease doc took the time to look at my history, my labs and the actual slides of the bacteria, she determined that antibiotics should be enough to get rid of the bacteria completely without having to remove the port! She said that we would have to change the particular IV antibiotic I was currently on and that I would have to stay on it for an additional 14-21 days. However, she said I would be able to go home and finish it. Hallelujah! I could have reached up and kissed that woman, I was so happy! I just had absolutely no energy to do so. *sigh*
After a 9 day hospital stay, I have been home almost a week. I am still extremely weak and still feel really yucky. I am receiving the IV antibiotics twice a day and it takes about 90 minutes for each dose. I have to have blood drawn every couple of days to make sure I'm getting enough but not too much. As long as everything goes as planned, I should be finished in about a week. I just hope and pray that ALL of the infection is gone at that time.
Thanks to everyone for your kind words of encouragement and your faithful prayers. They all mean so much to my family and me! We humbly ask that you continue to keep us in your prayers through the coming days. We surely need them.
Have a great day!
