Update on me

Well, I just got out of the hospital. On Wednesday, after I made that
post about spiking a fever very early in the morning, I spiked a fever
again, about 2 hours before my regularly scheduled doctor's appointment.
I took Tylenol and crawled under the covers until the shakes stopped,
then got ready to go. I had my son drive me to the doc's. Good thing,
because he sent me to the emergency room - the same one from early in
the morning - for a CT scan - normal, with bone and brain intact - and
drainage and to start treatment. My WBC count was 42, with normal
being 4 to 11, so they knew this was an infection. The ER doc drained
this thing, and it produced about 30 cc of pus; this was no cyst but a
raging abscess. I was admitted that night. IV antibiotics every 6
hours round the clock. They did blood cultures in addition to culturing
the stuff that drained. The blood cultures stayed negative, so the
infection had stayed localized. Took them a few days to identify just
what kind of bacteria we were dealing with, and then it turns out to be
a strep that's normally found in one's mouth and is harmless there.
It's also a cause of bacterial endocarditis, so an echocardiogram was
ordered and was normal; they did find a heart, though g

Yesterday the infectious disease specialist called in a hematologist to
check my blood work and see if he may be missing something since my WBC
count was still elevated at 18 (but it was still decreased from the
previous day and had been decreasing since I was admitted). The
hematologist saw me afterwards and said that everything looked normal
and I'm probably just having a slow response to the antibiotics. I
start to think I'm gonna go home soon.

Today around 1 PM a technician comes into my room and says that one of
my docs has ordered a test that was gonna take a few hours. At that
point I just melt down completely. No doc had been in to see me yet,
and no one had mentioned anything about any test to me yesterday (this
was to be an iridium scan, where they take blood out, label the WBCs
with iridium, then reinfuse the blood and see where the WBCs migrate, to
check for other sites of infection or other pathology), and I just
wanted to go home because my 2 or 3 night stay had turned into 6, and I
needed to get back to work 'cause I'm self-employed and my clients are
understanding but not *that* understanding. The nurse called both my
admitting doc and Dr. Perez to say that I was quite upset about this
since it was a surprise. Dr. Perez got to my room a short while later
and apologized profusely. Apparently he had written the order before
the hematologist had seen me, and after speaking with the hematologist
he decided the test wasn't necessary but neglected to cancel the order;
he also forgot to mention it to me yesterday, for which he also
apologized. My admitting doc got to the room and the docs agreed that
there really was no reason to keep me in the hospital, so they let me go
home.

I'm not completely done with this thing yet. I'm on antibiotics for
another 2 weeks, at least, and a visiting nurse is supposed to come over
every day starting tomorrow to do daily dressing changes; I can't
exactly do this myself 'cause it's on the back of my head. I go back to
my doc on Friday for follow-up blood work, and if this doesn't get
better or flares up I'll deal with it then.

I'm just happy to be home :-)

The Other Kim
kimagreenfieldatyahoodotcom

OMG Kim! What a nightmare you've been through. Heres a giant
cyber ((((HUG)))) and an even gianter prayer that you're feeling better
and back to normal soon!
Marie and the cats


The Other Kim wrote:
Well, I just got out of the hospital. On Wednesday, after I made that
post about spiking a fever very early in the morning, I spiked a fever
again, about 2 hours before my regularly scheduled doctor's appointment.
I took Tylenol and crawled under the covers until the shakes stopped,
then got ready to go. I had my son drive me to the doc's. Good thing,
because he sent me to the emergency room - the same one from early in
the morning - for a CT scan - normal, with bone and brain intact - and
drainage and to start treatment. My WBC count was 42, with normal
being 4 to 11, so they knew this was an infection. The ER doc drained
this thing, and it produced about 30 cc of pus; this was no cyst but a
raging abscess. I was admitted that night. IV antibiotics every 6
hours round the clock. They did blood cultures in addition to culturing
the stuff that drained. The blood cultures stayed negative, so the
infection had stayed localized. Took them a few days to identify just
what kind of bacteria we were dealing with, and then it turns out to be
a strep that's normally found in one's mouth and is harmless there.
It's also a cause of bacterial endocarditis, so an echocardiogram was
ordered and was normal; they did find a heart, though g

Yesterday the infectious disease specialist called in a hematologist to
check my blood work and see if he may be missing something since my WBC
count was still elevated at 18 (but it was still decreased from the
previous day and had been decreasing since I was admitted). The
hematologist saw me afterwards and said that everything looked normal
and I'm probably just having a slow response to the antibiotics. I
start to think I'm gonna go home soon.

Today around 1 PM a technician comes into my room and says that one of
my docs has ordered a test that was gonna take a few hours. At that
point I just melt down completely. No doc had been in to see me yet,
and no one had mentioned anything about any test to me yesterday (this
was to be an iridium scan, where they take blood out, label the WBCs
with iridium, then reinfuse the blood and see where the WBCs migrate, to
check for other sites of infection or other pathology), and I just
wanted to go home because my 2 or 3 night stay had turned into 6, and I
needed to get back to work 'cause I'm self-employed and my clients are
understanding but not *that* understanding. The nurse called both my
admitting doc and Dr. Perez to say that I was quite upset about this
since it was a surprise. Dr. Perez got to my room a short while later
and apologized profusely. Apparently he had written the order before
the hematologist had seen me, and after speaking with the hematologist
he decided the test wasn't necessary but neglected to cancel the order;
he also forgot to mention it to me yesterday, for which he also
apologized. My admitting doc got to the room and the docs agreed that
there really was no reason to keep me in the hospital, so they let me go
home.

I'm not completely done with this thing yet. I'm on antibiotics for
another 2 weeks, at least, and a visiting nurse is supposed to come over
every day starting tomorrow to do daily dressing changes; I can't
exactly do this myself 'cause it's on the back of my head. I go back to
my doc on Friday for follow-up blood work, and if this doesn't get
better or flares up I'll deal with it then.

I'm just happy to be home :-)

The Other Kim
kimagreenfieldatyahoodotcom

The Other Kim wrote:
Well, I just got out of the hospital. On Wednesday, after I made that
post about spiking a fever very early in the morning, I spiked a fever
again, about 2 hours before my regularly scheduled doctor's appointment.
I took Tylenol and crawled under the covers until the shakes stopped,
then got ready to go. I had my son drive me to the doc's. Good thing,
because he sent me to the emergency room - the same one from early in
the morning - for a CT scan - normal, with bone and brain intact - and
drainage and to start treatment. My WBC count was 42, with normal
being 4 to 11, so they knew this was an infection. The ER doc drained
this thing, and it produced about 30 cc of pus; this was no cyst but a
raging abscess. I was admitted that night. IV antibiotics every 6
hours round the clock. They did blood cultures in addition to culturing
the stuff that drained. The blood cultures stayed negative, so the
infection had stayed localized. Took them a few days to identify just
what kind of bacteria we were dealing with, and then it turns out to be
a strep that's normally found in one's mouth and is harmless there.
It's also a cause of bacterial endocarditis, so an echocardiogram was
ordered and was normal; they did find a heart, though g

Yesterday the infectious disease specialist called in a hematologist to
check my blood work and see if he may be missing something since my WBC
count was still elevated at 18 (but it was still decreased from the
previous day and had been decreasing since I was admitted). The
hematologist saw me afterwards and said that everything looked normal
and I'm probably just having a slow response to the antibiotics. I
start to think I'm gonna go home soon.

Today around 1 PM a technician comes into my room and says that one of
my docs has ordered a test that was gonna take a few hours. At that
point I just melt down completely. No doc had been in to see me yet,
and no one had mentioned anything about any test to me yesterday (this
was to be an iridium scan, where they take blood out, label the WBCs
with iridium, then reinfuse the blood and see where the WBCs migrate, to
check for other sites of infection or other pathology), and I just
wanted to go home because my 2 or 3 night stay had turned into 6, and I
needed to get back to work 'cause I'm self-employed and my clients are
understanding but not *that* understanding. The nurse called both my
admitting doc and Dr. Perez to say that I was quite upset about this
since it was a surprise. Dr. Perez got to my room a short while later
and apologized profusely. Apparently he had written the order before
the hematologist had seen me, and after speaking with the hematologist
he decided the test wasn't necessary but neglected to cancel the order;
he also forgot to mention it to me yesterday, for which he also
apologized. My admitting doc got to the room and the docs agreed that
there really was no reason to keep me in the hospital, so they let me go
home.

I'm not completely done with this thing yet. I'm on antibiotics for
another 2 weeks, at least, and a visiting nurse is supposed to come over
every day starting tomorrow to do daily dressing changes; I can't
exactly do this myself 'cause it's on the back of my head. I go back to
my doc on Friday for follow-up blood work, and if this doesn't get
better or flares up I'll deal with it then.

I'm just happy to be home :-)

The Other Kim
kimagreenfieldatyahoodotcom


Kim,

I second Marie and the Cats word for word. I will make sure you are in
our prayers.

Hugs & God bless,
Dennis & Gail

The Other Kim wrote:
Well, I just got out of the hospital.

Good grief, Kim, that doesn't sound very good! Have they completely decided
what is wrong? Where, exactly was the infection? (Where did they drain the
pus from?) You take things easy, and don't do more than your body will let
you.

Higs,
Katherine

On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 22:50:11 -0700, The Other Kim spun a fine yarn

Well, I just got out of the hospital. On Wednesday, after I made that
post about spiking a fever very early in the morning, I spiked a fever
again, about 2 hours before my regularly scheduled doctor's appointment.
I took Tylenol and crawled under the covers until the shakes stopped,
then got ready to go. I had my son drive me to the doc's. Good thing,
because he sent me to the emergency room - the same one from early in
the morning - for a CT scan - normal, with bone and brain intact - and
drainage and to start treatment. My WBC count was 42, with normal
being 4 to 11, so they knew this was an infection. The ER doc drained
this thing, and it produced about 30 cc of pus; this was no cyst but a
raging abscess. I was admitted that night. IV antibiotics every 6
hours round the clock. They did blood cultures in addition to culturing
the stuff that drained. The blood cultures stayed negative, so the
infection had stayed localized. Took them a few days to identify just
what kind of bacteria we were dealing with, and then it turns out to be
a strep that's normally found in one's mouth and is harmless there.
It's also a cause of bacterial endocarditis, so an echocardiogram was
ordered and was normal; they did find a heart, though g

Yesterday the infectious disease specialist called in a hematologist to
check my blood work and see if he may be missing something since my WBC
count was still elevated at 18 (but it was still decreased from the
previous day and had been decreasing since I was admitted). The
hematologist saw me afterwards and said that everything looked normal
and I'm probably just having a slow response to the antibiotics. I
start to think I'm gonna go home soon.

Today around 1 PM a technician comes into my room and says that one of
my docs has ordered a test that was gonna take a few hours. At that
point I just melt down completely. No doc had been in to see me yet,
and no one had mentioned anything about any test to me yesterday (this
was to be an iridium scan, where they take blood out, label the WBCs
with iridium, then reinfuse the blood and see where the WBCs migrate, to
check for other sites of infection or other pathology), and I just
wanted to go home because my 2 or 3 night stay had turned into 6, and I
needed to get back to work 'cause I'm self-employed and my clients are
understanding but not *that* understanding. The nurse called both my
admitting doc and Dr. Perez to say that I was quite upset about this
since it was a surprise. Dr. Perez got to my room a short while later
and apologized profusely. Apparently he had written the order before
the hematologist had seen me, and after speaking with the hematologist
he decided the test wasn't necessary but neglected to cancel the order;
he also forgot to mention it to me yesterday, for which he also
apologized. My admitting doc got to the room and the docs agreed that
there really was no reason to keep me in the hospital, so they let me go
home.

I'm not completely done with this thing yet. I'm on antibiotics for
another 2 weeks, at least, and a visiting nurse is supposed to come over
every day starting tomorrow to do daily dressing changes; I can't
exactly do this myself 'cause it's on the back of my head. I go back to
my doc on Friday for follow-up blood work, and if this doesn't get
better or flares up I'll deal with it then.

I'm just happy to be home :-)

The Other Kim
kimagreenfieldatyahoodotcom


Oh, Kim, how horrendous!
Hugs,
Noreen


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Ooouch, sorry to hear about all that Kim, and it seems that finally someone
believed you!! I hope that someone (the same or a different someone) gets to
the bottom of the cause of it all soon.
Sympathy and higs coming your way
Love
Christine


"The Other Kim" wrote in message
...
Well, I just got out of the hospital. On Wednesday, after I made that
(Lots of worrying stuff snipped)

Thanks, everyone, for the good wishes.

The latest hassle is that my insurance company won't pay for a visiting
nurse because I'm not housebound. I have an appointment with my doc
today to work this out. His office is open Monday through Saturday so
they could do it there, but they're closed Sunday. There's an urgent
care clinic real close to home (and in the office of one of my clients
for work) that may be able to handle this, but I'll see what my doc
suggests. Worst case, there's gotta be a way the hospital could do this
on an outpatient basis. We'll see.

The Other Kim
kimagreenfieldatyahoodotcom

Kim,
I am way behind on messages and just saw this thread. I am so sorry for
all that you have gone through! I hope you are feeling better by now.

Janise


"The Other Kim" wrote in message
...
Thanks, everyone, for the good wishes.

The latest hassle is that my insurance company won't pay for a visiting
nurse because I'm not housebound. I have an appointment with my doc today
to work this out. His office is open Monday through Saturday so they
could do it there, but they're closed Sunday. There's an urgent care
clinic real close to home (and in the office of one of my clients for
work) that may be able to handle this, but I'll see what my doc suggests.
Worst case, there's gotta be a way the hospital could do this on an
outpatient basis. We'll see.

The Other Kim
kimagreenfieldatyahoodotcom

Thanks, Janise. It's a slow process, but it's getting better every day.
The wound needs to be packed until it's dry inside, probably for the
next couple weeks just to be sure, then it can start healing.

The Other Kim
kimagreenfieldatyahoodotcom

Kim,
I am way behind on messages and just saw this thread. I am so
sorry for all that you have gone through! I hope you are feeling
better by now.

Janise


"The Other Kim" wrote in message
...
Thanks, everyone, for the good wishes.

The latest hassle is that my insurance company won't pay for a
visiting nurse because I'm not housebound. I have an appointment
with my doc today to work this out. His office is open Monday
through Saturday so they could do it there, but they're closed
Sunday. There's an urgent care clinic real close to home (and in the
office of one of my clients for work) that may be able to handle
this, but I'll see what my doc suggests. Worst case, there's gotta be
a way the hospital could do this on an outpatient basis. We'll see.

The Other Kim
kimagreenfieldatyahoodotcom