I Spend the Night in the ER.

I spent Tuesday night in the ER. Here is an email about what happened:

I was in an extreme amount of neurological pain (10 of 10) Tuesday night, so P called my Neurologist. She had given us her cell phone number some months back. She asked what had changed recently and P told her about the Rimfapin, the medicine the Infectious Disease Doctor is trying on my MRSA lung infection. My Neurologist told me she needed to look it up and would call us back. When she called back she told us that it seems that Rimfapin decreases the effectiveness of both my Fentanyl and Oxycodone pain medicines so she told P to take me to the ER for morphine. So at 10:30 - 11:00 PM we went to the ER.

I stayed in the ER overnight as there were no beds available in IMCU. It's a little confusing as to whether or not I was going to be admitted. The doctor said yes as soon as there was a bed available. The nurses said there may not be a bed available and that I may be discharged. My understanding is that Neurologist wants me on an IV drip but for how long I don't know. My guess was that in the morning this would all be sorted out and that if necessary to admit me, or transferred me to another hospital.

The morphine injected through an IV certainly made me more comfortable.

In the morning after talking to both my Internist and my Neurologist they decided to put me on an oral form of Morphine and to increase my Fentanyl patch. My Internist didn’t want me admitted and thus be exposed to more hospital drug resistant lung infections. So after a miserable night I came home. I just pray this all works out and will clear up the MRSA. It certainly would be a shame to go through all of this only to find out that the MRSA has colonized like the Serratia has.

More and More Doctors

I went to my Pulmonologist on Friday to see what she has decided to do about the MRSA that has stubbornly refused to go away. I have been fighting this latest MRSA infection for a month or more.

Now my Pulmonologist has decided it is time to refer me to an Infectious Disease Doctor because she is beginning to think that the MRSA has colonized and therefore will never completely be cleared up. So Monday I go to the Infectious Disease Doctor. If the doctors decide that the MRSA has colonized, I will just live with it and will only treat the MRSA when it flares up and I have more symptoms of an infection. I already have Serratia colonized so I know how to tell if the symptoms are getting to the point where I have to call my doctor.

So I won't know until Monday what course of treatment the doctors decided. Treat or not to treat.

P.S.
Yesterday (Thursday) my Infectious Disease doctor called to tell me that he is ordering an additional oral antibiotic. So I will now be able to spend Christmas at home instead of in the hospital as I feared.

I Still have a Serious Lung Infection

Yesterday I received the results of my latest Sputum culture and I still have MRSA in my lungs. Today I have a blood draw ordered by the Infectious Disease doctor. Also today my Pulmonologist and my Infectious Disease doctor will have a conference and tomorrow I have an appointment with my Pulmonologist. If I end back in the hospital, I hope I will be home by Christmas.

Tippy is Here

When P. was on vacation in Florida K. and K. stayed here with me. This meant that while they were at work, Barley their Schnoodle was here with me. That is when I realized just how lonely the days are around here, so I began to think of getting a dog. I knew that P. wasn't allergic to a Schnoodle (a cross between a Poodle and a Schnauzer) which is what Barley is. After P. and I talked about this, I put my name on a waiting list with the breeder K. and K. used to get Barley. However, the family soon talked me out of the idea of getting a puppy. I wouldn't be able to train him and it would be just adding more work on P. who already has enough work.

So I looked in Craigslist for an adult Schnoodle, and found on up in Appleton Wisconsin. After exchanging emails and finally phone calls J. and K. left at 5:00 AM Saturday and drove the 220 miles there and back picking up my Schnoodle.

I wanted to name him Tippy2 after Tippy the dog we had in Kansas, but it soon became apparent that everyone myself included called him Tippy. So his name changed from Tippy2 to Tippy. He is a cute little guy and extremely calm. Yesterday he lay by me on the bed for over an hour. He was on his back and all he wanted was for me to scratch his tummy.

So here is Tippy.