Sunday, February 10

Poor Regina.

Attention---- I made huge mistake not backing up my blog before updating. Because of that I lost all my FAVORITE blogs. I am in process of getting them all back, but in some weird reason It does not let me add few pages. Maybe it is just blogspot issue right now. :(

( Reginas Hospital art. She drew my pic, and she hopes that I have baby sister for her soon... I am all about granting her wishes, but she is going to extremes....


I just found out that Regina has C-diff. Right now I do not feel bad at all about getting mad at nurse, and asking for her help when Regina was in major pain and cramps. And all nurse told me - Sorry, we can't do anything.... ugh. :(

Reginas White count is coming up. Tomorrow her ANC will be most likely 500 and she will be out of hospital with no time. She will get some antibiotics for C-diff and hopefully this will be end of her problems.

Now- this is picture of Reginas neulasta- This is medication that I usually give her right after we find out that her ANC has dropped to zero. This medication helps to recover her white count faster. Our home health care agency Crecent has to deliver it to us, since Pharmaceutical companies are not making it available to hospitals... which is weird. Price for that ONE syringe is 3000 dollars.

Hospitals can administrate other drug that is called G-csf. We used it before on Regina and it is very painful 10 days she has to be on it. It is a shot to her thigh muscle and it burns like no other drug- Price for this drug is also 3000 dollars - BUT 10 shots is worth 3000 dollars. So I am really not sure what pharmaceutical companies are thinking or how they decide which drugs to they make available for hospitals to use... weird..

Facts About Clostridium difficile
Clostridium difficile is an anaerobic spore-forming
bacteria, normally found in the digestive tract. When a person
takes an antibiotic for an infection, germs everywhere, in and
on the body, are killed. This allows remaining germs to
multiply out of control. When that happens, loose or watery
stools, cramps and fever can result.
Groups at Risk
Persons at highest risk of becoming infected include
people on long-term antibiotic therapy, people of advanced
age, women, patients undergoing chemotherapy, people with
inflammatory bowel disease, patients in areas with high
endemic C. diff rates and people with renal disease.
Patient Care Infection Control Interventions
Evaluate room placement - private room,
contact precautions
Contact physician and D/C all antidiarrheal medication
Indicate positive C-difficile and contact isolation status
Document stool frequency and consistency
Use dedicated thermometers. Several outbreaks have
been directly linked to contaminated electronic
thermometers.
Disinfect ALL equipment before it leaves the patient
room. C-difficile spores can live for years on
environmental surfaces.
Disinfect shower chair after use
If patient remains symptomatic, contact physician
Patient may be taken out of isolation after s/he has
received 7 complete days of therapy and is
asymptomatic. Contact Infection Control before
discontinuing isolation.

2 comments:

Steph said...

C-diff....brings back nightmares from last March....Asher had it during stem cell rescue....

Still checking in and thinking about you all the time.

Steph,
Asher's mom

Anonymous said...

I was just about to ask you what C-diff was and then I realized that Clostridium difficle was C-diff and you gave the facts about it. That sounds awful! I hope she is feeling better.

I agree with Regina...you should give her a sister and a girlfriend for my little one in the making.