Moose's Case History

[moose]

[b]August 23, 2005 [/b]was when the nightmare began. I had to leave my stop setting up my classroom because the pain in my upper right abdomen was worsening. I called my doctor's office, but was only able to leave a message. I drove myself to urgent care (35 minutes away) and waited in excruciating pain by now for an hour and a half. Finally, a doctor took me in and had me give a urine sample. He said I was having a severe gall bladder attack and that I should go right to my doctor and have blood work done. So I drove myself to my doctor's office and they informed me that they had no appointments available and that I should take myself to the emergency room. I am in horrifying pain by now. God only knows how I drove myself to the hospital. After waiting 8 hours in the waiting room, I was finally seen by a doctor who ran an ultrasound and bloodwork. I had not only gall stones, but severe pancreatitis and infection. They immediatly started me on bags of IV antibiotics. I was on the IV antibiotics for 6 days before my gall bladder surgery. The room I was in was on the oncology floor and my roommate was very sick with stomach cancer. She had severe diareaha and feeding tubes. The nurses were not very attentive to her needs. The room reeked of feces and undescribable odors. I didn't sleep for 5 nights because of the noises and smells. My IV occluded several times because the nurses would neglect to check the bag when the alarms went off.
Enough of that, on with the story. After my surgery I went home hoping to recooporate quickly and get back to work. Unfortunately, I had a bladder infection from the catheter so my doctor put me on more antibiotics. The infection cleared up but I wasnt feeling better yet. Six weeks passed and I still felt sick to my stomach and had no appetite. The doctor gave me Nexium and said I had gas. Three more weeks went by and I was not improving in fact I was losing too much weight. The doctor said I had stones left in my common bile duct, so he sent me to a GI to get an ERCP done. Two weeks later, during the ERCP more antibiotics were given IV. The GI could not get in to the common bile duct to release the stones. The next day at home, I was wiped out. I started having problems with controlling my bowel movements. Days went by and I was losing energy. By mid-November I had watery diarreha, no appetite, no energy, depression, sleeping 20 hours a day, lost 30 pounds. . . On November 23 I had blood, mucus, and pus in my stool. I called my doctor the day after Thanksgiving, he couldnt see me until Monday. On Monday I went to his office, he asked me to get a stool test done. I immediately did it! By Wednesday I hadn't heard anything and I though for sure that I was dying. I was in the bathroom over 30 times a day. It felt as if my insides were trying to come out. I called my doctor and told him how serious my diarreha had become. He prescribed flagyl 500 3 times daily for 6 days. My husband went and got it right away. After 6 days I was a little better but not completely so my doctor gave me 6 more days of it. The only problem is that the flagyl made me very sick to my stomach and gave me a taste in my mouth like I was sucking on dirty pennies. My GI also prescribed cholestyramine to help take the toxins out of me.
Well after 12 days of flagyl and cholestyramine I was thinking that it was over. Wrong! Day 13 I had a severe headache, extreme vomiting, tremors, and stomach cramps. I went to the doctors the next day and he said that all of this was in my head and that if I didnt change my mind I would end up in a rest home. I left totally stunned that this doctor would not believe that my symptoms were real.
Five days later, my nightmare was back. Runny diarreha multiple times an hour oh no! I called my GI and he saw me immediately. He said that I needed Vancomycin. So thats where I am now. I'm on day 6 of Vancomycin out of 10 and still taking cholestyramine twice a day. I'm going to try to start work tomorrow. I'm hoping I have enough energy to keep up with the students in my class. Thanks to this site I feel a bit more educated about C-diff. I hope I can help others too.