Surgery...

Yeesh. The waiting must be so trying! I hope you get an answer very soon (today would be nice!!) and then some much-needed and overdue relief, whether it is surgery or different meds.

I am so sorry. Many healing vibes and that they figure this all out.

Thinking about you! Hope all goes well.

Nikki I am so unhappy to hear this. Good health and a very big

You have been through quite a bit lately. Sending you mega good luck vibes for whatever procedures the docs recommend for you.
I know how school is so important for you but you need to focus on regaining your health and then finish up your schooling.
Hopefully next year you can pursue the dog training too.

Take care of yourself and I hope this current health problem is resolved soon.

No updates yet. I started to get a little concerned that I had not heard back from the surgeon last night, so I called his office around 8:30pm and they said that he was still in surgery. (His office is in the doctor's wing of the hospital). I thought that maybe he was having a late ngiht so I let it go and tried calling back around 7am. I got the lady at the answering service and she said that he was not on call and wouldn't be back until Monday. I asked her if she could pull up my chart and see if he left a note and she said that she didn't have access to the patients charts...it seems like her calling him was out of the question too when I asked! So yeah, I'm not pleased he left me completly hanging after he mentioned the dangerous possibility of things rupturing/etc!

Seriously, you don't tell your patient that there's a chance you'll have surgery over the weekend, so to prepare for that and you'll call that same night after you confirm the CT scan to let you know...then don't call?! I understand doctors get busy, but that's a little bit of a serious thing to leave someone hanging on, you know! I'm still in a lot of pain, but I'm going to try and tough it through the weekend and call back on Monday. If I don't get an answer first thing on Monday morning, I'm calling my GI doctor back and asking him for a referral to a surgeon who will actually return my calls! Unbelieveable; you do NOT treat patients that way!

Sorry to rant, but I was already stressed out...

Oh Nikki, I wish your health would give you a break

That's one of the things I hate about a lot of doctors. What's even better is when you're in extreme pain, in the hospital, and after 3 hours of complaining a nurse finally does trying calling the doc who because of how it's already now late can't be reached.

No respect for patients.

I hope you're ok for the weekend. And I hope you get a chance to lay into that surgeon Monday!

Oh, Nikki. I can't believe he did that. I hope it means that he looked at your tests and concluded that you were not in imminent danger... but even if so, he should have called!

I would have been beside myself with worry and eagerly waiting a phone call. Hoping you cn hang in there without too much pain until monday morning.

I think I would have to give that guy a piece of my mind, he has no right to do that to you, after telling you to be prepared to have surgery.

for you and hope things get better for you quickly.

Thankyou guys I'm still in a good bit of pain, but I'm just trying to hang in there and tough it out until Monday. (The pain is staying consistent, so as long as it doesn't get worse, I'm planning to stick it out at home.)

My GI doctor called me about 30 minutes ago. He's apparently on call this weekend so while he was at the office, he pulled up my case again and called to check on me. He said that when he went over my test sample results, that it was positive for Clostridium Difficile Toxin (C. Diff- for reference, it's highly contagious, but proper handwashing should head it off...when I did clinical rotations at the hospital, we would put patients with that in contact isolation for that just for perspective). He said that he thinks the antibiotics the ER doctors put me on caused it, especially since they resulted in me getting Thrush also. I have the worst immune system uggg!!! Apparently the antibiotics wiped out my system and caused those bacteria to flourish and make me feel even worse (if that's possibel!)

I told him that I had yet to hear from the surgeon about surgery and he sounded incredably pissed off. He appologized that I was left waiting all weekend and he said that he would be contacting the surgeon first thing in the morning to take care of things! (Thank goodness at least someone's on top of things!) My GI doctor said that he wants me to fast after midnight and he would call in the am with a time so that I can come in for a colonoscopy so he can get some more decisive answers. (I asked nicely, and he agreed to knock me out for it! They have an outpatient medical facility near their office and he said I can do a quick prep beforehand since it's short notice and he doesn't have a set appointment time yet). Even though there's a risk with doing a colonoscopy while having a diverticulitis issue, he said that it would be more dangerous for this to continue without proper answers and treatment, so he wants to go ahead and I agreed. I'm not sure what time I'll be going in for that tomorrow, but he said they should call around 8 am to schedule it (my dad said he'd drive, so thankfully that is taken care of.). Please pray I get some answers soon! I am SOOOOOOOOO frusterated!

My GI doctor said that he was calling me in a prescription for a new medicine to treat the C. Diff toxin in my body, so Jack's going to take me to pick that up in a little while. Please pray it works and I don't have anymore issues.

I'm so glad this doctor followed up. Sending extra vibes that everything goes perfectly tomorrow!

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

I'm so glad this doctor followed up. Sending extra vibes that everything goes perfectly tomorrow!

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Thankyou for the vibes I need them right now! I'm still feeling incredably weak/sick...but hopefully that will change soon.

The GI doctor's office called me a little while ago. They scheduled me for a flexible sigmoidoscopy tomorrow morning at 11:15 (Since I'm already in a ton of pain, they're going to go ahead and completly knock me out, thank goodness!). I told my dad and he said that's still ok and he'd drive me, so thankfully that works out. I started the medicine for the C. Diff Toxin last night (something called Alinia). Hopefully it will kick in soon and make me feel better.

Last night I scrubbed my apartment top to bottom and tried to sanatize everything I could. I also picked up a ton of hand sanatizers/etc when I picked up my prescription last night and placed them all throughout my place. Hopefully anyone who comes over will be ok as long as everything's clean and everyone washes their hands. (I was already religious about washing my hands as I got into the habit of doing long hand washes when I did my first two clinical rotations in the hospital, so hopefully that diligence will pay off).

You think hand sanitizers will take care of c. diff? Sorry dear, they don't. That's why you would have picked it up in the first place. Antibacterial soap just washes some endospores off. There's only two commercially available things that deactivate the endospores. Bleach and concentrated lysol. (the rest of the sterilizing agents, like formaldehyde, aren't something you'd be able to go buy or even want to). And for those two sanitizers to fully work they need to sit on a surface for a while (~30mins). Really the only defense others around you ultimately have is hoping they have a decent immune system.

I was lucky, I slipped by the threat of a colonoscopy when I had an acute flare of it. I hope your liver numbers aren't looking too rough.
If you get the cholestyramine powder (likely) it's easier to get down if you mix it with some juice or gatorade. Just mixing it with water is terrible.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

You think hand sanitizers will take care of c. diff?

Sorry dear, they don't.

That's why you would have picked it up in the first place. Antibacterial soap just washes some endospores off. There's only two commercially available things that deactivate the endospores. Bleach and concentrated lysol. (the rest of the sterilizing agents, like formaldehyde, aren't something you'd be able to go buy or even want to). And for those two sanitizers to fully work they need to sit on a surface for a while (~30mins). Really the only defense others around you ultimately have is hoping they have a decent immune system.

I was lucky, I slipped by the threat of a colonoscopy when I had an acute flare of it. I hope your liver numbers aren't looking too rough.
If you get the cholestyramine powder (likely) it's easier to get down if you mix it with some juice or gatorade. Just mixing it with water is terrible.

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The majority of humans carry C. Diff in their GI tract. Most people aren't affected unless they are immunocompromised or they are placed on antibiotics which destroy their good bacteria and allow the C. Diff to flourish (the latter is what happened in my case.) Cidex takes care of C. Diff in a lot cases. I have tons of it left over from my last clinical rotation, so I was able to santatize a large portion of my apartment last night. There is nothing on the market right now made specifically for C. Diff as far as disinfectants go, so the best things available are bleach and cidex. I cleaned all of the hard surfaces/etc in my home with Cidex (tubs, counters, and toilets got bleach cleanings and then the non-bleached parts got Cidex) last night and the rest of the soft surfaces, I cleaned another disinfectant. (The Phenols in Lysol make it ineffective against C. Diff Toxin and can be flat out dangerous in homes with dogs & cats.)

The hand washing and sanatizers are certainly not fool-proof, but they are a precaution for visitiors (which I'm trying to keep to a minumum since I was diagnosed). Alcohol based hand sanitizers will kill Clostridium difficile vegetative cells (the bacteria). However, like you said, hand sanitizers will not kill the endospores (the resistant spores) of C. difficile. Soap and water will also not kill the endospores of C. difficile, but it will kill the vegatative cells, so that's at least something- it can also remove fecal matter from germs & bacteria from hands after someone uses the bathroom, so that's why hand washing,etc is helpful.

C. Diff is commonly spread from fecal to oral transmission, so proper handwashing is one of the best ways to head it off and at least kill the vegetative cells. I also made sure to santize both bathrooms exceptionally well with bleach and cidex. After I scrubbed down the guest bathroom, I shut the door and I'm going to only use my restroom until I'm fully recovered so that way guest don't have to share the same bathroom as me.

I heard from the surgeon a little while ago (apparently my GI doctor called him! He appologized for leaving me hanging all weekend and said that he wants the GI doctor to go ahead with the test tomorrow and get the results from that before they decided what to do next. (He doesn't want to do surgery unless he feels it's 100% necessary, and I agree- that being said, I do not want to deal with this kind of pain much longer, it feels like someone is constantly stabbing the left part of my abdomen and I've yet to get much relief ). He said that with the medicine I'm on for the C.Diff, I should hopefully feel better within a few days as far as that issue goes, so that's good news. He still wants the test done though as they don't know what's causing the other issues and they need to make a proper diagnosis so they can treat me.

I'm not sure what my liver numbrs look like right now, but thankyou for bringing that up; that's a very good question to ask my doctor about when I go in tomorrow! (Also plan on discussing my heart issues with him when I go...I JUST had all of that work done on my heart recently and my heart tissue will take several months to heal which leaves me susceptible to endocarditis....not good. So I'm going to see with the GI doctor & my cardiologist think. When I asked the surgeon about my heart, he said that in his experience he's never had anyone get endocarditis from c. diff, but that it wasn't impossible and he never had a patient develop C. Diff that soon after that kind of heart procedure...so yea, I'm going to talk that one over with my Cardiologist since I don't want to chance it after all of the work I just had done on my heart. I don't trust my body not to do something wacky again at this rate! )

Thankyou again for the vibes and the mention about my liver numbers.

Originally Posted by StarryEyedTiGeR

The Phenols in Lysol make it ineffective against C. Diff Toxin and can be flat out dangerous in homes with dogs & cats.

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There are some studies that show the industrial strength/concentrated stuff working. And it would be fine to clean a toilet with (unless it doubles as a pet water bowl). Whatever you're using right now, I'd ban the pets from your bathroom and always keep the toilet lid down. (the toxin isn't the infectious part, btw, it's what the bacteria produces while inside your colon)

I don't believe that I always had it. During the course of my life I've unfortunately been on several fairly strong antibiotics. I think it was the combination of finally being put on a extended course of them (beyond what is advisable for that antibiotic even) and having worked at a place where people would smear feces on dvds and on shelves in the store itself - plus working with people who did not like to clean. Ugh.

At one point my AST was up over 500.. the max base at my lab is 42 or something. I'd have to dig those copies out. ALT went over 300, iirc. That was pretty much the reason they wouldn't let me out for four days.
They stuck me on vancomycin, which surprisingly had no side effect for the antibiotic that it is. My regular GP was also flipping out over my heart a bit, convinced he was hearing something that shouldn't be there. My cardiologist said he didn't hear any rubs or anything else. (I had been sick with it for around 2 weeks at that point, though)
Hopefully the antibiotic you're on starts showing some results within a couple days.

Hope the antibiotic WORKS!

I keep thinking of you and hope everything settles down and you have a fast recovery!