Tired & Can't Think of a Title

We said goodbye to fevers and chills, and hello to back spasms. My fevers subsided that Friday morning. The next day I woke up and was nauseous. I quickly grabbed a bucket only to feel my back start spasming. It happened about three times. My Mom was sitting on the couch and was mortified as she saw the pain literally jolt through my body. Immediately she hit the call button and the nurse came in. I was not in the mood to answer questions like "on a scale of 1-10...", "What meds. work best?", "Do you have anything ordered?", "Where is the pain?", etc. I wanted medicine and I wanted it ASAP. I was sobbing and I told her it obviously hurt where I was grabbing (I get slightly sarcastic when I'm in pain.), that I wanted Fentanyl, and with a final plea, "I NEED MEDICINE." she left to go grab it. It wasn't pretty. I was in a lot of pain. Two days later, after Oxycodon, Fentanyl, and a heating pad the pain has almost completely subsided.

They have identified the bacteria as Pseudomona. It is typically found in water. The think it is a line(broviac) infection. They also think the culture was contaminated and the second bacteria was a skin bacteria. The last two cultures they have drawn have been negative which means the antibiotics were successful. Originally the plan was to stay in-patient for 10-14 days on the three antibiotics. But, as we've learned, plans change quickly (and this time for better). They took me off all three antibiotics and replaced them with Meropenem, an antibiotic that runs over a half hour, every eight hours. Plus the two fluids we already infuse nightly. There hope is to send me home in the next few days and run the antibiotic ourselves. It will add stress to our schedule, but my bed sounds so good right now! I'm pain, fever, and infection free now; there is no need to be in-patient other than to finish the treatment. I'm so thankful this is the only encounter we've had with line infections.

The right side of my lungs are sounding slightly heavy so they have me back on the incentive spirometer and they are checking o2 sats frequently.

I've had lovely home cooked meals each day in the hospital. The nurses keep asking why I'm not 1,000 pounds since I know people who cook so well. (I think they're just saying that because they want to keep getting the leftovers.)

It's been a rough week. Although I find myself unhappy to be back; I've still got a lot to be thankful for. I got to see one of my favorite doctors that was on my team during the code in June of 2009. It was great to catch up! I'm excited to head home. I'm starting school again soon! (Home schooling, but school nonetheless.) Dad saw this rainbow outside the hospital after the back spasm episodes...there's a rainbow at the end of every storm.