Dear fellow c-differs,
It's been one year since my gall bladder surgery and my battle with the beast. It was about three weeks after the surgery and antibiotics that I began to feel quite ill (to say the least). Initially I thought I was having a problem with dumping syndrome, but it went way beyond that.... I was diagnosed by my surgeon without even a stool spec. He put me on a massive dose of flagyl for 10 days and I actually thought I had gotten rid of the ugly bug, but alas... 3 days later I was raging again. This time I took a specimen to the lab and was found to be positive. Another round of flagyl (nasty drug) and again I started feeling better. I relapsed again and this time I started the vanco. After a few days of that and dosing myself with probiotics (none of the doctors I saw even suggested them), I finally tested negative. The time frame of my battle was from early February until mid May. It took me a long time to start to feel human again. I had a colonoscopy in June that was pretty much normal.
As a registered nurse, I have spent the past year educating my patients and my co-workers (I have printed many of the articles from this site and spread them around), I have encouraged my patients to request their caregivers to WASH THEIR HANDS, and I put in a complaint to JACHO telling what happened to me and why it happened. I have noticed some positive changes in the hospital that I work at - better cleaning policies have been enforced, doctors have been more careful about antibiotics, and isolation policies have been reviewed.
My son had a laparoscopic appendectomy this past summer (while we were on vacation) and his experience was very good. We happened to be camping in New Hampshire at the time and ended up at Memorial Hosptal in Conway. I was VERY IMPRESSED with this facility. There were signs everywhere reminding the staff to wash their hands. The facility itself was clean even though they were in the middle of reconstruction. The surgeon did send us on our way with a prescription for augmentin and he noticed how concerned my son looked when he heard this and asked what was wrong. I briefly explained that I had contracted c-diff following my surgery and the surgeon looke me square in the eye and said "That should never have happened." Anyway, we spent the week camping my son made an excellent recovery and we allcame home in good health. (talk about a busman's holiday)
Then, unfortunately my mother had to have gall bladder surgery in October. She was hospitalized where I work and I let it be known there was going to be a BIG PROBLEM if my mom contracted c-diff. I personally cleaned every surface in her hospital room with bleach. She was started on flagyl to help prevent c-diff. My mom is 86 so her post-op course was a bit rocky, but she got through it. I made sure she got lots and lots of yoghurt. After a couple of weeks in a rehab nursing home, she's back home with her 2 cats and they are all happy and healthy
As you can see I've had quite a busy year! I 've learned a lot from this site and I want to thank all of you for your valuable contributions - I honestly think I would have gone crazy without you! And for those of you who are still battling the beast - you will beat it. It's hard when you are feeling lousy and spending most of your time chained to the bathroom, but you have to try to keep a positive attitude, keep up on the fluids, eat your yoghurt, and know that you WILL feel better at some point.
Well, I've taken up enough of your time, but Marcsan,you did ask where we were - and now you have my success story.
I'm doing pretty well....
-
marscan
- Regular Contributor
- Posts: 193
- Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:29 pm
Congratulations to you and your family, and thank you so much for sharing your story with those of us doing our "countdown"...its so encouraging to hear the successes, and reminds us all that we too will be there soon. What a wonderful way to pay it forward - by educating your co workers and patients, they are truly blessed to have you. Again, congratulations on beating the beast, Im so happy your family is also doing well.
"Doctor to patient: I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you are not a hypochondriac....."
-
arlyed
- New User
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 2:35 pm
Marscan, and Christina,
Thank you for your kind words. Marscan, I have followed your posts and I understand your concerns and fears- you will get better I promise. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
Christina,
You have been an inspiration to me. Your wisdom and knowlege guided me through some of my worst moments. I thank you from my heart.
Best wishes-
Arlye
Thank you for your kind words. Marscan, I have followed your posts and I understand your concerns and fears- you will get better I promise. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
Christina,
You have been an inspiration to me. Your wisdom and knowlege guided me through some of my worst moments. I thank you from my heart.
Best wishes-
Arlye
-
arlyed
- New User
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 2:35 pm
Dear Roy,
Thank you for your kind words. C-diff has impacted my life and changed it, just as it has yours. However, infecting the nurses of the world just wouldn's solve a thing. It's true - there are many nurses who just don't give a darn, but (I think) many more who do. You needn't have a heart attack in order to help someone who has. My profession is a difficult one that I have devoted nearly half of my life to. I work long hours on my feet, lift people that weigh much more than I do, clean up nasty things that no one wants to look at, much less smell, and put up with egotistacal doctors who don't give a darn about their patients - and because of my mother's and my own illness resulting in lost time from work, I made just above poverty wages this year. Roy, I'm one of ones who cares and I contracted c-diff as a patient, not as a nurse. I was a victim, too.
Thank you for your kind words. C-diff has impacted my life and changed it, just as it has yours. However, infecting the nurses of the world just wouldn's solve a thing. It's true - there are many nurses who just don't give a darn, but (I think) many more who do. You needn't have a heart attack in order to help someone who has. My profession is a difficult one that I have devoted nearly half of my life to. I work long hours on my feet, lift people that weigh much more than I do, clean up nasty things that no one wants to look at, much less smell, and put up with egotistacal doctors who don't give a darn about their patients - and because of my mother's and my own illness resulting in lost time from work, I made just above poverty wages this year. Roy, I'm one of ones who cares and I contracted c-diff as a patient, not as a nurse. I was a victim, too.
-
Bobbie
- Administrator
- Posts: 12688
- Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2005 8:00 pm
arlyed,
Wish all nurses were like you. Sorry you had to learn how awful C. diff. can be the hard way, but sounds as though you've helped us all with your pro-active methods. You are right -- as in every profession, there are the "good & the bad."
Glad you & your family made it through the year.
After years of health problems, I finally learned how to handle the hygiene problem. When a doctor enter the exam room, I say, "And now for the question that endears me to doctors everywhere. "Do you wash your hands between patients." Most take it well -- & wash their hands -- altho. sometimes not well, & many turn off the faucet with their just-wash hands. I think all medical personnel (& restaurant workers) should have continuing ed. in "Washing Hands 101l"
Another thing I wonder about. How many times have you seen people "out & about" in hospital "scrubs?" I thnk it should be mandatory to put on & take off scrubs in hospital. Read recently about doctors not wearing long sleeves because of bacteria. One nurse ER told me the minute she comes home, she takes off her scrubs & takes a shower because she has small children & is exposed to so many "bugs" ever day. I called the head of infection control & left a compliment for her -- & the rest of the staff (including the doc.) who all washed their hands when I took my 90 yr. old mother to ER several years ago.
Hard to walk that fine line between the real world & being "careful." Afraid C. diff. makes us a little paranoid - with good readon
May I have a nurse like you if I (or a family member) wind up in the hospital again! (God forbid.)
Congrats. on "beating the beast." Glad the site was helpful. Good to hear from a professional.
Wish all nurses were like you. Sorry you had to learn how awful C. diff. can be the hard way, but sounds as though you've helped us all with your pro-active methods. You are right -- as in every profession, there are the "good & the bad."
Glad you & your family made it through the year.
After years of health problems, I finally learned how to handle the hygiene problem. When a doctor enter the exam room, I say, "And now for the question that endears me to doctors everywhere. "Do you wash your hands between patients." Most take it well -- & wash their hands -- altho. sometimes not well, & many turn off the faucet with their just-wash hands. I think all medical personnel (& restaurant workers) should have continuing ed. in "Washing Hands 101l"
Another thing I wonder about. How many times have you seen people "out & about" in hospital "scrubs?" I thnk it should be mandatory to put on & take off scrubs in hospital. Read recently about doctors not wearing long sleeves because of bacteria. One nurse ER told me the minute she comes home, she takes off her scrubs & takes a shower because she has small children & is exposed to so many "bugs" ever day. I called the head of infection control & left a compliment for her -- & the rest of the staff (including the doc.) who all washed their hands when I took my 90 yr. old mother to ER several years ago.
Hard to walk that fine line between the real world & being "careful." Afraid C. diff. makes us a little paranoid - with good readon
May I have a nurse like you if I (or a family member) wind up in the hospital again! (God forbid.)
Congrats. on "beating the beast." Glad the site was helpful. Good to hear from a professional.
-
arlyed
- New User
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 2:35 pm
Bobbie,
Thank you. Sorry I took so long to answer, but I had to think. Yes, I do agree that uniforms or scrubs SHOULD be left at work, however, my hospital (and I presume most hospitals) do not supply scrubs except for staff who work in the OR amd maternity. We do not have a place to change clothes. I do wear my work clothes to and from work and I do stop on my way home to do my grocery shopping about once per week. In the area that I work, I virtually have no contact with patients with infectious diseases. Not a great excuse, I know. By policy, nurses who are attending patients with c-diff ( or any infectious disease) are supposed to glove and gown before patient contact, if they are following policy, their nursing attire should not be exposed to any pathogens. So DO people follow policy? I think they probably DO NOT all of the time. I did walk into the ER and announced that I had c-diff. No one gowned and gloved, and in fact, until I made an issue of hand washing after I had been examined, no one did. Until hospitals mandate and provide clothing and a place to change, this will be a problem. But what about the doctors? Most doctors do their rounds in street clothes that they either wear to the office or from the office after seeing patients. If they wear a lab coat, it probably isn' t one that has been washed recently.(just because it's white, doesn't mean it's clean) I don't have any answers for this, but I will try to see what can be done - at least where I work.
Arlye
Thank you. Sorry I took so long to answer, but I had to think. Yes, I do agree that uniforms or scrubs SHOULD be left at work, however, my hospital (and I presume most hospitals) do not supply scrubs except for staff who work in the OR amd maternity. We do not have a place to change clothes. I do wear my work clothes to and from work and I do stop on my way home to do my grocery shopping about once per week. In the area that I work, I virtually have no contact with patients with infectious diseases. Not a great excuse, I know. By policy, nurses who are attending patients with c-diff ( or any infectious disease) are supposed to glove and gown before patient contact, if they are following policy, their nursing attire should not be exposed to any pathogens. So DO people follow policy? I think they probably DO NOT all of the time. I did walk into the ER and announced that I had c-diff. No one gowned and gloved, and in fact, until I made an issue of hand washing after I had been examined, no one did. Until hospitals mandate and provide clothing and a place to change, this will be a problem. But what about the doctors? Most doctors do their rounds in street clothes that they either wear to the office or from the office after seeing patients. If they wear a lab coat, it probably isn' t one that has been washed recently.(just because it's white, doesn't mean it's clean) I don't have any answers for this, but I will try to see what can be done - at least where I work.
Arlye
-
Bobbie
- Administrator
- Posts: 12688
- Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2005 8:00 pm
Thx. Aryed. I've noticed same thing - sometimes docs.' "white coats" (if they wear them) don't look "that white" & the cuffs look gray. Others wear street clothes in examining rooms. Read one article where it suggested docs. wear short sleeves -- to keep sleeves from "dragging across bacteria." Also mentioned C. diff. bacteria on many BP cuffs.
Don't think we'll get anywhere until we can "educate" docs. -- not easy to do.
Thx. for all your efforts. Medical personnel who've had C. diff. "get it." Afraid many of the rest don't.
Again, wish there were more nurses like you.
Don't think we'll get anywhere until we can "educate" docs. -- not easy to do.
Thx. for all your efforts. Medical personnel who've had C. diff. "get it." Afraid many of the rest don't.
Again, wish there were more nurses like you.
-
jill wirfs
- New User
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:05 pm
I too am a nurse and my daughter caught this bacteria while she was in the hosp. I know because they tested her in the hospital and she was negative, but then 2 months later she was on a antibiotic for a sinus infection and developed cdiff. She was diagnosised in early July and has been on 2 rounds on flagyl and now is on her 2nd course of vanco tapering. She did have a colonoscopy in December and was positive for infection and possiblie colitis (ulcerative colitis). She is on a medication for the colitis and now on once daily vanco and still tapering down. After being on the medication for just 2 weeks her stools were back to once daily and formed. This site can be scary for the first time user, but the information is valuable and the support is well appreciated. It was like having angels. I know it is still early but I believe we finally have the upper hand over the beast. I will let you know because the success stories are what got me through. For those you who are starting this process keep the faith and believe you two will get through this.
jill
-
Bobbie
- Administrator
- Posts: 12688
- Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2005 8:00 pm
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 61 guests