Steve's hospital thread

[glennjridge]

dammit!! I always come to the thread in the hope of hearing something good. well anyways, like fugitive I'm hoping it was caught early.

[Firthy2002]

I hope the wash-out op and antibiotics do the trick this time!

[BecciJ]

Good luck with the latest treatment. Hope it all goes well.

[StevePSB]

Managed to get on the ward computer again.

Well, at the moment I am still on iv antibiotics and have had the infection 'washed out' twice now. As far as I can tell from what I have been told the situation isn't good. I won't go into detail but I am trying to get hold of my usual consultant to see if he says the same thing, as at the moment the only person who has said all that is a registrar (I think) who did the wash out operations. Other than him doing those operations I have never really had much to do with him, so a second opinion from my usual consultant would be appreciated so I know exactly what is going on.

I'll post again when I can.


StevePSB

[Deschanel]

Feel awful that you have to go through all this. Thinking good thoughts for you. And thanks for keeping us informed- we do care. Best to you.

[territorygal]

Feel awful that you have to go through all this. Thinking good thoughts for you. And thanks for keeping us informed- we do care. Best to you.

My sentiments exactly.
Take care, Steve.

[StevePSB]

Well, after a fortnight of being in hospital I finally get to see my consultant! He has put my mind somewhat at rest, but only a little as the general feel I got was one of concern/worry on his part for my situation and what will happen.

They're keeping me on iv antibiotics until the start of next week. If the results of blood tests are good and show little/no infection then I should be able to go home with some oral antibiotics for 4 weeks, then we hope for the best.

If there is still too much infection in my blood results by the start of next week then it looks like I am here for another month or more on further very, very strong iv antibiotics (Vancomycin).

Either way, at the end of the antibiotics we will then get to see if there is still infection because it will soon show itself once the antibiotics have stopped if it is still in there.

If it clears then we will have had something of a minor miracle and I'll be very, very happy. The only problem then is the constant worry of this happening again at any point at the drop of a hat. I knew this could happen before, but it hadn't happened in 12 years so I never worried about it, but now I know how easily it can happen it will be very tiring to have at the back of my mind - the worry that at any time it could happen again and the consequences of it all.

If it doesn't clear then things get decidedly bad for me. There is a chance that they'd be willing to remove my prosthesis and try again to clear the infection and put it back in again, but the over-riding feeling I got was that they probably wouldn't want to do that again and would probably be more inclined to steer me towards the only other option remaining, and that would be for me to lose my leg. That is a real nightmare scenario for me and one I had never really envisaged happening and I would be devastated to have to face up to it, but in reality at some point we'd all have to say 'enough is enough' and bite the bullet to enable me to return to normal life - well, normal minus one leg.

This has dragged on for a long time (7 and a half months now) and even in a best case scenario I can't see me back to work before winter, so it wouldn't be very good if this dragged on for months and months more.

Anyway, all I can do now is wait and see what happens in this next week or so. With any luck I will be back home at some point next week. It's about time I had some luck, so let's hope that happens.


StevePSB

[BecciJ]

I hope that everything works out for you. Good luck with the anti-biotics.

[No Muscle Mary]

Sorry to hear it Steve. Life less one limb might seem very daunting but what you're going through right now is hell. It seems like a choice between frying pan or fire. I don't envy you.
Fingers crossed that you get some good news soon.

[StevePSB]

Getting a 'review' tomorrow. I've had blood taken today and if tomorrow they decide the infection marker level is low enough then I should get to go home on oral antibiotics. If the level is considered too high then I remain in here on iv antibiotics for x more weeks.

Unfortunately, either way I am still unsure of whether the antibiotics are going to fix the problem and I doubt I'll know for a few weeks more yet. Due to how I think I am doing, previous experience and past let downs I am not pinning a lot of hope on the antibiotics fix chances and am trying my best to brace myself for the possible consultant decision that losing my leg is the only way of sorting it once and for all. We shall see...


StevePSB

[Fugitive1979]

Hope it's good news this time, Steve. Good luck.

[Scandal]

Hoping for the best, Steve.

[StevePSB]

Consultant was a little happier - blood test results heading in the right direction day by day but I'm waiting on whether the microbiologist looking at my last blood sample deems it safe to send me home on some fancy new oral antibiotics. I really hope he does because I'm totally fed up with hospital after three solid weeks of it!


StevePSB

[billiejo]

Far safer at home - fingers crossed - we look forward to you reporting that you are back home -bless you.

[StevePSB]

Home.

Now I just need these new oral antibiotics to pass off safely for 4 weeks (I need weekly blood tests as they can do serious damage) and keep fingers crossed that afterwards things return to normal and there is no small trace of infection still in there waiting for the antibiotics to finish before knocking me down again...


StevePSB