LadyK's Case History - A Walking Infected Experiment

[ladyk]

How can you pass a test when no one knows the answers?

My introduction to Clostridium Difficile followed an emergency room visit for a seriously swollen left labia which water ballooned to the breaking point over a three day period of time. And so my story began... The emergency doctor decided immediately it was a Bartholin Cyst. Being female of lets say “slight” advancing age, I did not know such a gland existed. He assured me this was a common affliction he had faced many times. His cure, was to whip out a scalpel on a Sunday afternoon and cut down the center of my left labia and extract this cyst. After an hour of cutting (and stopping multiple times for re-injections of numbing agent each time he heard my screams feeling his knife cut through un-numbed tissue) he changed his diagnosis to tumor. Tumor! My husband and I were floored, strongly disagreeing in the presence of his obviously frustrated demeanor at not being able to remove whatever “it” was. Let me just say after having a normal relationship for 26 years, surely this would have been something one of us would have noticed since three days before the ER “things” were quite balanced being of equal size, with no one sided protrusions. He called in an OB/GYN specialist who cut for another hour while I was on the ER table. He offered to take me to the OR to remove “it” but I was scared and declined. Long story short... it was nothing one could remove! The “it” was a skin infection easily enough treated with non intrusive measures, as it has been voiced by several professionals since. It has been said by these other professionals of the what I call “Sunday afternoon vagina hating slashers” that they had used less than appropriate judgement and set me up for the biggest fall of my life. From these cuttings I acquired a staph infection, found by way of a culture done “5” days post ER surgery when the first true professional did the “first” culture of the surgical wound site.

Twilight Zone

It took only days for the staph infection to mutate. I won’t get into more of the details of what all this entails unless some are interested and ask, but I will say this... this mutation was found via a needle-stick culture taken from the scariest outbreak of lesions equal to the drama of any si-fi movie one might see. The returning culture grew MRSA. Talk about horrifying since no one I know has ever heard of such a thing, and that includes most of the 21st century medical professionals I was to see on my quest for cure. In these past six month I have seen 10 doctors, 16 appointments between them since acquiring MRSA. MRSA is “Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus.” As it reflects this life threatening bacterial infection is “resistant” to most all the modern day arsenal of antibiotics the medical field holds precious today. It’s mutation is so fast medical science cannot keep up with it’s mutation with each introduction of antibiotics initially sensitive. Since acquiring this I have found through research MRSA is in epidemic proportions throughout the world. The US is no exception although quite a bit more on the hush than other countries. There is no known cure.

Antibiotic Experiments
In the medical community today there is no known cure for this “super-bug” as they call it. I have become only one in a long line of experiments where attempts to save lives from this beast are made, yet have inconclusive results. I am currently on my 11th course of antibiotics in the past six months, all different in name, strength, duration, and still no productive outcome/cure. Instead... I’m sure there should be a drum roll here~~~
I have now acquired C-diff.


And Then There Were Two

MRSA & C-diff. Now I’m in a very scary place. Alien poo! It is sad to reflect on being reduced to sitting on my toilet while gacking into a towel on the floor at the same time. At other times my head on the wall, looking up, in the very middle of the night while on my porcelain throne mouthing NOOOOOO go away, leave me alone! I’m sure my expressions after looking into the bowl could equal the horror of a close up on any good scary movie. My now heavy footed walk resembles Frankenstein's, where fatigue can be measured with each lift of a single foot.

My Flush Buddy and I

I never thought I’d be so appreciative of the bowl that carries this monster’s calling card away in a swirl. Appreciative and scared of my flush buddy at the same time. Since trying so very many avenues, no one can figure out how to stop either of these invaders. What an introduction to an unknown world. There is Flagyl, last resort Vancomycin, Xifaxan, Acidophilus, Black Currant oil, vitamins and multi-nutrients, Activia and Manuka honey, Tea Tree oil, Bactroban antibiotic ointment in the nostrils as this is where MRSA colonizes, potions and lotions and still my alien invaders seem to be never more content in their new host. Me.

Now it is mash potato, rice, rice cakes, bread/toast. An old world made new prisoner’s diet.

Truthfully, I’m so very tired. Dying seems simple. Dying with grace is the harder part. Tears replace all too easily where a contented life once was. I have resigned to knowing I’m now an infected untouchable. Contamination in the forefront of every thought, where bleaching the world will only make these super bugs stronger. And still I do. Its a measure actively taken for the protection of everyone not knowing what else I can do.

I miss everything

Thank you so, for the cathartic opportunity to write this down. And if by chance the weighted length of my story helps another not go through the life altering dilemma I and mine have been facing... it will have been worth it’s bulk I pray.