Cute blonde installing a port in my arm
So I’m laying in the hospital bed, tubes in each arm and one coming outta my belly, and I’m talking to the specialist (who, apparently, is the guy who handles things like I was going thorugh) and he says “…and we’ll also get you started on IV Flagyl..”
“Metronidazole?”, I ask.
“Yeah..”
“I was under the impression that metronidazole was for treating things like giardia and similar bacterial infections.”
“Well, yes, but…how do you know that?”
“Same way I know that I’m supposed to avoid alcohol while on it because it can give similar effects as the old antabuse.”
“Ok, really, how do you know that?”
“I’m one of those paranoid survivalist types. I memorized most of the drug section of a book called “Where there is no doctor”.”
“Never heard of it.”
“Its free online, but I can send you a copy. I keep it around in case I ever need to go through the shattered remains of pharmacy or something after the end of the world and I know what drugs I’ll need. Same reason I hoard my leftover antibiotics and pain pills.”
:::pause:::
“Yeah, I do that after oral surgery. I save my lortabs and stuff in case I need them later. I have a cousin who told me I could go online….”, he says.
“And buy antibiotics and similar stuff used for fish, right? Fishmox, etc, etc.”
“Yeah!”
“Thats why I save all my extra meds.”
And we chatted for a few minutes where he told me he saves his leftover meds as well for those times he’s off hunting or he otherwise might be away from a pharmacy. Basically, I let him talk himself into things.
“You know, if you could prescribe a little extra on those prescriptions youre writing I would sure appreciate it….”
And that is how you find sympathetic doctors and wind up with ‘a little extra’ in your prescription.
I have a few extra copies of WTIND and will drop one off at my next ABX infusion appointment. You never know……..
When life gives you lemons….
Just damn it. Hope things begin to improve. At least you have made a very smart connection. Good on ya.As always, if you need anything please ask.
You’re not networking properly unless you get the blonde’s contact info.
Pretty cool.
But you want to get out of there ASAP and avoid opportunistic infections and iatrogenic problems.
Yeah, when I asked the doc if the infection was from my appendix going kablooey or if it was nosocomial he was not amused.
Heh. I imagine not. (I’m a healthcare worker, meself)
“Nosocomial” is Latin for “Don’t sue us, we followed protocol”.
1) “Saved” Abx: Pardon the frankness, but STUPID. Your antibiotic course is done when the bottle is E-M-P-T-Y (unless you found a sympathetic soul who prescribed you a double course, and told you to stop after one). The standard time spans and dosages normally prescribed kill all the cooties (industry term). When you knock off the regimen early because you feel better, you risk both a return of the original infection, but now with bonus antibiotic resistance to the gentler Abx you used the first time. So for Round Two you may need something harsher on your system. And if your infection gets “out of the lab”, you’ve just gifted humanity with a shot at f**ing things up for the species.
cf. MRSA, resistant TB, and the infamous semi-mythological “Black Syph”.
So consider knocking that off, m’kay?
2) OTOH, if you find a provider who’ll write you for “just in case” doses (I had a DDS who, after the first dental abscess, wrote me for 2-3 Vicodin, and a course of Pen VK, which came in handy for (correctly self-diagnosed) abscesses #2 and #3, and he refilled them each time (because all dental abscesses happen Friday night of a three-day holiday, I swear). If/when they expired, I showed them to him unused for disposal, and he would write a new Rx. Guy is solid gold.) Those are the only Rx Abx you should have “just sitting on the shelf”.
(Nota bene that various veterinary abx are not Rx Abx; and that’s all I’m saying about that. Anyone bright enough to get ahold of Current Treatment texts and a Tarrascon Pharmacopeia, let alone memorize WTIND’s pharmacology entries can navigate those waters. Anyone not bright enough to do that doesn’t need my help to screw it up.)
3) Did you appendix rupture originally? If so, getting all the cooties the first time can be problematic. As you’ve found out.
I’m assuming the central line is so they can do IV Abx for a week or two, without having to restart a peripheral IV every 72 hours.
But unless they need you in the hospital for some other reason, see/ask if your Abx therapy can be managed at home, by a visiting nurse, amongst your native cooties, rather than in the C. diff/VRE/MRSA pit that is every modern hospital, unless they scrub everything floor to ceiling with carbolic acid 3x/day (which no one does).
Hospitals aren’t for staying in, if there’s any way you can get out and still get what you need.