Infection and Fixing Step-on-me's Plumbing
Wild Wednesday
Last Wednesday Stephanie was admitted to the hospital because there was a suspicion that she had an infection. My mother was also hospitalized last Wednesday for stomach issues. It was a stressful day. Fortunately, my mother is now doing well and is at home getting better each day. Stephanie however, is still in the hospital.
Infection
After being admitted, her physician team ordered a number of blood and urine cultures in an attempt to identify where an infection could be. For those that do not know, a culture (used in this context) is a form of medical test that takes fluid of some sort from the body and in a lab they nurture the fluid in an environment conducive of bacteria growth. After a couple of days, if there is bacteria present in the fluid it will grow and they lab will be able to identify exactly what time of infection is present. Steph had cultures of her urine and blood. Each drain was tested and blood was tested from her arm and from her port. A CT scan was performed on her chest and abdomen to see if there was any visible infection or cause of her acute changes. All they found in the CT was a pocket of fluid within her left pelvis that appeared to be infected.
The team decided it would be best to have Interventional Radiology (IR) place another drain to relieve Steph's abdomen of the fluid. On Friday morning she had another pelvic drain placed right at her left hip bone. It goes in right where your skin creases when you do a knee raise. It is a very uncomfortable spot for her especially with a pelvic drain exiting from her right butt cheek (clinical terminology). The initial suspicion of the fluid in the left pelvis being infected was wrong and, frankly, none of the doctors are sure what it is. They say it is just fluid in the abdomen that happened to collect in a pocket. Stephanie is now back up to 3 drains - one in the kidney and two in the pelvis.
On Saturday we learned from one of the cultures that her infection is located pelvic cavity. It is infected with obscure bacteria with a name I do not remember and cannot pronounce. This bacteria is rare but is easily and effectively treated with a specific antibiotic. She has been on this specific antibiotic for about 24 hours and she is feeling much better. Stephanie is very fortunate that she noticed the signs of an infection at an early stage on Wednesday because an infection can be serious for anyone who has a weakened immune system from chemo.
At this point, even though she is showing progress, her physician team feels that it is best for her to remain in the hospital until she has the procedure to reimplant her ureter and ultimately fix the complications leading to her tubes. One of the physicians said "nothing good can happen at home for you right now so we feel you should stay in the hospital to address your infection and ensure any issues are addressed quickly so that we can fix your pluming as soon as possible."
Surgery
On Wednesday of this week Stephanie will be having surgery to reimplant her ureter. This is another major abdomen surgery that is made more complicated given the scar tissue and inflammation within her abdomen. This surgery will snip the remaining injured portions of her ureter and the urologist will pull her bladder up to reconnect it with the healthy ureter. He will sew the bladder and ureter to abdomen muscles for support and stability. The team will also repair some stitches in her abdomen that deteriorated from constant leaking of urine.
Stephanie’s primary oncologist will scrub into the surgery to place a port called the IP port. This port will be used to apply chemotherapy drugs directly into her abdomen. She will also "take a look around her abdomen" to investigate any remaining visible cancer or other concerns.
As mentioned before, this is a major surgery that has very serious outcomes for her and the external plumbing she has. We are both happy that we are getting closer to a solution but we are also both nervous about going through surgery.
As we learn more this week I will update the blog with information. Please keep Stephanie in your thoughts and prayers this week.
Last Wednesday Stephanie was admitted to the hospital because there was a suspicion that she had an infection. My mother was also hospitalized last Wednesday for stomach issues. It was a stressful day. Fortunately, my mother is now doing well and is at home getting better each day. Stephanie however, is still in the hospital.
Infection
After being admitted, her physician team ordered a number of blood and urine cultures in an attempt to identify where an infection could be. For those that do not know, a culture (used in this context) is a form of medical test that takes fluid of some sort from the body and in a lab they nurture the fluid in an environment conducive of bacteria growth. After a couple of days, if there is bacteria present in the fluid it will grow and they lab will be able to identify exactly what time of infection is present. Steph had cultures of her urine and blood. Each drain was tested and blood was tested from her arm and from her port. A CT scan was performed on her chest and abdomen to see if there was any visible infection or cause of her acute changes. All they found in the CT was a pocket of fluid within her left pelvis that appeared to be infected.
The team decided it would be best to have Interventional Radiology (IR) place another drain to relieve Steph's abdomen of the fluid. On Friday morning she had another pelvic drain placed right at her left hip bone. It goes in right where your skin creases when you do a knee raise. It is a very uncomfortable spot for her especially with a pelvic drain exiting from her right butt cheek (clinical terminology). The initial suspicion of the fluid in the left pelvis being infected was wrong and, frankly, none of the doctors are sure what it is. They say it is just fluid in the abdomen that happened to collect in a pocket. Stephanie is now back up to 3 drains - one in the kidney and two in the pelvis.
On Saturday we learned from one of the cultures that her infection is located pelvic cavity. It is infected with obscure bacteria with a name I do not remember and cannot pronounce. This bacteria is rare but is easily and effectively treated with a specific antibiotic. She has been on this specific antibiotic for about 24 hours and she is feeling much better. Stephanie is very fortunate that she noticed the signs of an infection at an early stage on Wednesday because an infection can be serious for anyone who has a weakened immune system from chemo.
At this point, even though she is showing progress, her physician team feels that it is best for her to remain in the hospital until she has the procedure to reimplant her ureter and ultimately fix the complications leading to her tubes. One of the physicians said "nothing good can happen at home for you right now so we feel you should stay in the hospital to address your infection and ensure any issues are addressed quickly so that we can fix your pluming as soon as possible."
Surgery
On Wednesday of this week Stephanie will be having surgery to reimplant her ureter. This is another major abdomen surgery that is made more complicated given the scar tissue and inflammation within her abdomen. This surgery will snip the remaining injured portions of her ureter and the urologist will pull her bladder up to reconnect it with the healthy ureter. He will sew the bladder and ureter to abdomen muscles for support and stability. The team will also repair some stitches in her abdomen that deteriorated from constant leaking of urine.
As mentioned before, this is a major surgery that has very serious outcomes for her and the external plumbing she has. We are both happy that we are getting closer to a solution but we are also both nervous about going through surgery.
As we learn more this week I will update the blog with information. Please keep Stephanie in your thoughts and prayers this week.
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