Back on The Merry Go Round
What a lot of bother the past 6 months have been. It started out with pain caused by a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) and as it turned out having the bacteria in my lungs. So I was put on weeks of oral antibiotics which were followed by IV antibiotics. Because I had to be on the IV antibiotics for a long time I had a PICC making it much easier for me to administer the IV antibiotics.
Finally both my Internist and my Pulmonologist agreed that I no longer needed the IV antibiotics, however they both decided that I would keep the PICC in case the infection returned. I had the PICC removed on September 3, 2010. One week later I went to my Pulmonologist and during the office visit I mentioned that the arm where the PICC had been was now a little swollen and extremely tender and I had a lot of pain in the arm. The doctor ordered test which showed that I had some blood clots in that arm. So I was admitted to the hospital and now am on the drug Coumadin.
If that wasn't enough, one week later after being released from the hospital, I started feeling pain which made me suspect I was getting another UTI. I did not call the doctor because there are lots of reasons why I might have a bit of pain. Because I have bacteria that have colonized, I don't call the doctor at the first sign of what I think may be an infection. Also my wife P won a trip to San Diego, CA and I didn't want to start another round of doctor visits just before she left. I wanted P to be able to thoroughly enjoy San Diego. By last week Thursday I knew the time had arrived to contact my Urologist.
Friday October 8, 2010 the home health nurse came to check my Coumadin blood levels and to collect a urine sample. Yesterday the doctor had the results of the culture back which confirmed that yes indeed, I have another UTI. So I am back on an oral antibiotic which means I will need to have yet another round of doctor visits and tests.
Tomorrow I have doctor appointment with my internist and I want to ask him if there is anything else I can to do prevent these UTI. I have a feeling that he will tell me that I (we) are doing everything possible.
I want to close by saying I am glad to be living now because 100 years ago there wasn't the medical knowledge and antibiotics available.
Finally both my Internist and my Pulmonologist agreed that I no longer needed the IV antibiotics, however they both decided that I would keep the PICC in case the infection returned. I had the PICC removed on September 3, 2010. One week later I went to my Pulmonologist and during the office visit I mentioned that the arm where the PICC had been was now a little swollen and extremely tender and I had a lot of pain in the arm. The doctor ordered test which showed that I had some blood clots in that arm. So I was admitted to the hospital and now am on the drug Coumadin.
If that wasn't enough, one week later after being released from the hospital, I started feeling pain which made me suspect I was getting another UTI. I did not call the doctor because there are lots of reasons why I might have a bit of pain. Because I have bacteria that have colonized, I don't call the doctor at the first sign of what I think may be an infection. Also my wife P won a trip to San Diego, CA and I didn't want to start another round of doctor visits just before she left. I wanted P to be able to thoroughly enjoy San Diego. By last week Thursday I knew the time had arrived to contact my Urologist.
Friday October 8, 2010 the home health nurse came to check my Coumadin blood levels and to collect a urine sample. Yesterday the doctor had the results of the culture back which confirmed that yes indeed, I have another UTI. So I am back on an oral antibiotic which means I will need to have yet another round of doctor visits and tests.
Tomorrow I have doctor appointment with my internist and I want to ask him if there is anything else I can to do prevent these UTI. I have a feeling that he will tell me that I (we) are doing everything possible.
I want to close by saying I am glad to be living now because 100 years ago there wasn't the medical knowledge and antibiotics available.
posted by UP at 9:19 AM
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