Darcy's case history

[dmetcalfe]

My first bout with C. Diff. was in April of 2009. I had just finished taking prolonged antibiotics for chronic sinus infections and dental problems. I had finished Cleocin in March and by April 9th was hospitalized with 20-30 bloody diarreha's a day/ dehydration and a lower GI bleed. Luckly I had a good internal medicine doctor who immediately knew what it was, got the positive stool test and hospitalized me for 6 days.
The C. Diff. relapsed again in June, July, October and now again today Thanksgiving day. I initially was on 16 days of Flagyl, then 3 weeks of Vanco, then a two month vanco taper, followed by 3 weeks vanco and 2 weeks rifaximim. I am going to ask this next time to do another vanco taper, as at least I might have a prolonged period of time without being terribly sick with it. I have been in the emergency room several times with c. diff. with GI bleeds and dehydration and have had 3 colonoscopies in a year. Good times... I had to quit my job in Aug. and move home with my parents. That can be challenging at 30-years-old. However, I am going to try this January to go back to school for a graduate degree, and see how I do. I am moving away from home to do this, so I'm a little nervous...but I am tired of C. Diff. ruling my life and am going to try my best to continue as I can.
After 2 GI doctors, 2 colo-rectal doctors, and one infectious disease doctor, I have finally began traveling to Cleveland Clinic and getting treated there. I have so many healthcare nightmare stories over this last 8 months, and I had always heard C.C. was the best, so I just decided to make the trip and try to find people that were serious about getting me better. I have found more than anything that I have to do my own research and be my own health advocate. The majority of dr.'s I've seen with this seem not too interested in treating me and getting me better, I think mainly because they don't know what to do, so they do nothing. I am very happy with Cleveland Clinic and have confidence they will get me better eventually.
I guess right now, I'm really looking for some encouragement through this site. I want to be able to feel that I am going to be able to continue my life and pursue my goals, even if the this monster c.diff. is lurking in the background.
determined to beat it
Darcy

[dmetcalfe]

Just an update. After my sixth relapse and 10 months with c. diff. Cleveland Clinic transferred me to a Dr. Stienecker in Lima, OH who just did a fecal enema trasplant this last week. He did one enema on Tues. and one on Wed. Today is Friday and I am relapsing already. The doctor's thinking is that diverticulosis of my colon is harboring the c.diff. and the only way to prevent continuing relapses is to cut out those diverticuli. Does that make sense to anyone? After this 10 months and 30 different doctors and $24,000 in vanco, I have lost all faith in doctors and no longer know who to trust. I hesitate to trust the advice I'm being given only because no one has really been able to help me at this point. Today I had 9 stools and the doctor is asking me to let the c. diff. go long enough to be admited to the hospital and not to start the vanco. Bottom line - I don't care anymore what they do - I just want to be better - I want my life back.