Went and saw the Dr today - was told that unless I have surgery to fix the fistula then there's no point to treat the e-coli and doing so would probably make matters worse because it's part of my normal gut flora at this point and treating the e-coli wouldn't eliminate it from my gut but only decrease the bacteria load in my gut. He said that he wouldn't treat it with gentamicin unless I'm in the hospital and he would preferably treat with erterpanem (not that the sensitivity showed that it would be sensitive to that).
After that I went to my hospital and paid for my sick note (cuz the surgeon wouldn't just provide one - nope, I had to pay for it!) and brought it to Oc health and talked to the nurse there. She was very accomodating about time frames and going back to work. Just today the home care nurse said that my wound looks so good that we can go down to once a day for wound care (YAY!). We'll be doing that every evening (because the evening nurses are MUCH better than the day ones and they're also nicer).
Also trying to make plans for clinical this upcoming week. I figure if my bottom is doing that well that I could do clinicals next week. This semester I'm doing it in a school setting. It should be interesting to see what they do to keep busy on a day-to-day basis. What I like is that where I'm doing clinicals there are three schools on the same site so the nurse doesn't have to travel daily from one school to another.
What I'm a bit nervous about for clinicals is that I have to do an education piece for this community (school setting) of a vulnerable group that actually needs something done. I'm thinking pregnancy prevention education, tobacco prevention & risk factors, or head lice prevention & treatment - but I don't know enough about this community to choose one over another or to come up with something new. Hell, perhaps obesity is huge and that needs to be dealt with. We shall see.
My mom just got back from the Dominican Republic and was letting her know about what's going on and while talking to her we were discussing the upcoming appointment with the fistula surgeon and while looking at my papers found that I missed my appointment with the immunologist (not that he's willing to do anything about my IGg deficiency). Speaking of immunology - I went to the lab to get my follow-up bloodwork to find out what my levels were and to get another specialized test done - well the lab in my town says that they have NO idea what "oxidative burst assay" is and that it doesn't exist (as though the specialist that ordered it doesn't know what they're doing!) and that to have my IGg levels done would cost me $200!!! Dude, this fucking test didn't cost me a thing 6 months ago and now all of a sudden it costs a bloody fortune?! So I told them forget it about both of the specialized tests and I would go ahead with the general tests of CBC, lytes & urine culture.
Since I have immunity issues, little tyke is coming up on 2 yrs since she was immunized and so we wanted to test her MMR & Varicella levels to see whether she has issues as well. So I took her with me to the lab and they give me a hard time saying that because the test wasn't ordered on a public health form that they wouldn't do it. So since I had to wait for me to be called for my blood work to be done I called my Dr's office and talked to the main secretary (who is also a phlebotomist) and talked to her about the issues that the lab was giving me and asked her whether she would just do the blood test.... and she said that she would fax the stupid form (all filled out) to the lab. Goodness she's awesome. Then it was our turn. Little tyke did awesome. She was really brave and only cried a little when they poked her (tho the stupid phlebotomist told her that it wouldn't hurt at all and so she was quite upset when it did and said that I had told her it wouldn't hurt.... set her straight that I had told her it would hurt a little but that she had to stay perfectly still and could cry (but not scream) if it hurt) and I rewarded her with a kinder surprise - a special one... my little pony which she absolutely loved. Now she's telling everyone about her "ordeal". It's really cute.... she even points to the little poke mark and everything. She did very well for the first time having her blood work done.
Now to wait on results!
Good gracious, I cannot imagine what you are going through. This all seems so stressful, and yet you find the silver linings. I hope it all gets figured out for you.
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It's stressful - but like I tell you, I take one day at a time! Plus, when you set yourself to it, you can always find something to be positive about (sometimes VERY difficult to do)
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