Out !!

I'm out ! Free to roam. 3 days in the hospital is quite enough !! There was no further rod infection growth 24 hrs after beginning the 2nd IV antibiotic. No further high fevers, nor rigors....and in light of now proactively getting patients out of hospital Asap, thereby avoiding any further exposure to other opportunistic infections, i.e. MRSA, they gladly discharged me. I happily accepted. I am free.... Whew !!

2 am visit to ER

Yep, Monday night/early Tuesday morn I had a surprising 2 am visit to the UW emergency room which evolved into a now several day stay. I left SCCA Monday morning with a sudden and unusually excruciating headache. I was actually a bit reluctant to drive home. When I did get home I napped (...not a napper) for a surprising 3 hours and felt much better. But as the evening wore on the headache returned. By 1:30 am I had been shaking uncontrollably with rigors for about an hour and 1/2 - literally unable to get out of bed, even for my phone. I finally managed to get a thermometer, resulting in a 102.0 fever. Which quickly, shockingly, turned into 103.0 degrees only 10 min later. No denying it, something was definitely wrong. Sure enough UW Med Center advised me to get into the ER immediately. A neighbor thankfully drove me.

I honestly though I was WELL beyond this stage. With talks of me potentially going back to work (super part-time), even with my low neutrophil and platelet counts and lack of robust immune protection, I truly thought the whole hospital thang was well behind me. Imagine my utter shock and disappointment. Apparently I have somehow acquired a rod gram-negative bacterial infection in my blood for which they are still investigating if it's related to my central chest line (hickman) still placed in my chest. It seems to be far more serious than I thought. The physicians here placed me on one IV antibiotic, but have since switched me to another slightly stronger more broad spectrum one after 2 more in-patient episodes of uncontrolled rigors. What an exhausting experience. Thankfully I'm doing far better. However they need to keep me a couple more days to make sure the meds are indeed working and that the following blood cultures taken do not grow out anything further (there had been talk of possible meningitis too..).

Talk about an utterly and truly Rude awakening. Just being back here brings back rather unpleasant memories. The smells in the sanitized bathrooms, the food on the menu I know oh soo well (yuck!), the sounds in the hallway, vitals every 4 hours, and the lights blinking at night. Not necessarily frightening, but certainly unpleasant unnerving reminders...

I'm a bit tired, but in far better spirits. And totally welcome any hospital hallway antics, preferably involving soft-Frisbees ....  = )