House on hold – David needs work done now

Life has been difficult. That is such a simple sentence but what is going on is far from simple. David has been off work since Christmas. His back hurt and he just did not feel well. After repeated doctor’s visits he was referred to ortho. They advised him to get his shoulder reworked. He was bone on bone and it had been really bothering him for a long time.

Shoulder Surgery

Now it is early March. Dave had an uneventful recovery from the surgery. He healed well and went to physical therapy. In May or June, his shoulder was OK, but the back pain came back. His doctor ordered antibiotics. Dave got better. Several weeks later, all the symptoms come back but even more intense. More tests.

Diverticulitis

He is diagnosed with diverticulitis. We knew he had the pockets in his colon and the blood tests are showing infection. They do a CT and they “see” the infection. We talk to a surgeon who tells us that this will not get better on his own even with a controlled diet and a section of his colon needed to be removed. He needs a colonoscopy first but we can’t do that until the antibiotics clear the infection and his colon gets stronger. We wait a month.

Shivering So Hard It Hurts

During that month he is getting fevers and intense shivering which I’ve since learned is called rigors. In a blink of an eye he would go from feeling fine to shivering so hard he actually pulled some muscles. His whole body went hard and it affected his breathing. I was sweating as I piled the wool blankets on Dave.

Nothing Routine About the Routine Cardiac Visit

He is now due for his routine cardiac checkup. I was not at this doctor visit, but Dave told me that the Doctor turned white when he described the symptoms. He was quite concerned and immediately ordered blood cultures and a follow up just a few days later and a TEE (you swallow a camera and they get an ultrasound of the heart). I was able to go with him for the follow up appointment. The results of the blood cultures were also in. We were advised to go home immediately and pack a bag to check into the hospital. His TEE was already scheduled for the next day and they could coordinate his care better at the hospital. He now needed an Immunologist.

The Infection

The TEE confirmed the worst case scenario. The wires leading from Dave’s defibrillator to his heart had become infected. We were told by nurses and doctors that Dave had the classic symptoms of an infection in his heart:

• The symptoms came and went
• Low grade fever
• Rigors
• Weight loss
• Night sweats

The device needed to be removed but he had gotten a dose of blood thinner in the hospital. The surgery is dangerous enough without that complication, so the surgeon advised waiting.

A New Drug

About that time we learned that his bug was not MRSA and a penicillin based drug could kill it. MRSA can’t be killed, only suppressed. They stopped the Vancomycin which is used for MRSA and started Nafcillin.

Quickest Hospital Discharge Ever

Since that was the first dose, it had to be administered in the hospital, but Dave could go home and wait the week out at home. It was amazing how the plan came together in just a few hours. The medicine could be available at 3:00, making his next dose due at 7:00. While it dripped through his IV they finalized the discharge paperwork. He was signing papers, someone was typing his blood, we packed up his room and about the time everything was done, Radiology showed up to whisk him away for his pre-surgery chest x-rays. I got the car while the x-rays were getting done and Radiology delivered him to the curb.

At Home

We had about a 40-45 minute drive. The pharmacy called to coordinate a time for delivery. We got home, the delivery happened about 20 minutes later. The nurse called to verify that the drugs had been delivered and came right over. The new IV was pumping at 7:15, only 15 minutes after the goal time. The pump in his backpack would take over and deliver the correct dose every 4 hours around the clock.

The Plan

I watched the nurse hook up his IV the first day. I did the hook up on the second day with prompting from the nurse and today I’ll do it while the nurse watches. Eventually I’ll be changing his IV every 24 hours on my own for at least 8 weeks.

Friday morning he’ll have surgery to remove the defibrillator.

Thank You

If you got this far, thank you for reading. Writing this out has helped me a lot. I’ll do another post after the surgery. Writing it out like this is easier than telling the story over and over to family and friends.

If you know someone with a defibrillator. . .

and they have these symptoms:

• The symptoms came and went
• Low grade fever
• Rigors – VERY intense shivering that comes on quick
• Weight loss
• Night sweats

Ask the doctor to rule out an infection of the wires. From the bit of reading I’ve been doing on the internet, infections like this are becoming more common.