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anyone know about blood infections?...updated in my last post
Wondering if anyone might have some info, or experience with this. I will give a bit of info to see if it may help answer my question too...
My dad is in the hospital (since Sat) with what they have determined is a blood infection. He was sick with a cold/sinus/almost like the flu (but when went to dr they just said the first 2 things i mentioned) for quite awhile. then on Sat he was so dizzy he had to get rushed to the hospital, was dehydrated and dizzy again when got up at hospital yesterday. My mom was afraid it may have had something to do with his valve replacement that was done almost a year ago, but cardiologist said no. they have done bunch of tests (ct, mri, echo, blood work) with no answers yet. he was supposed to have a more indepth heart test (put to sleep and down throat- not sure what called), but was cancelled b/c couldn't get tube down throat. they just don't know what is causing the infection in his blood. has anyone ever had or know anyone with a blood infect? i am just so worried, more so now that they couldn't do the test and have to wait until tomorrow to try again. I have looked it up, the one thing i saw that worries me too is that antibiotics should be started and they don't want to until test is done- so not to mask anything. ugh... thanks for any info you may have.
Re: anyone know about blood infections?...updated in my last post
My grandfather had several while he was still alive.
I believe the usual course of action was high dose antibiotics. The first time he had one was after a knee surgery when he already had a weakened immune system from his cancer treatments. They thought they had gotten it all good and it came back worse, so they did a longer dose of meds and it got better.
I think later on when he had pnemonia and his immune system was weak again he got another one and it was the same course of treatment.
Once they started the meds each time he improved very quickly.
Good thoughts to you and your family that they figure out what's wrong and he gets better soon.
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I'm sorry that your dad is dealing with this. My FIL has been hospitalized with a blood infection 2x in the past year. The most recent was just this past January. Both times he ended up being sent home with a PICC line inserted in his arm to administer the antibiotics. The first time he had a nurse come to the house every day to insert the drugs into the PICC line, but now he drives to the hospital after work and gets it done there because his health insurance wouldn't pay for the nurse. He's still being treated from the most recent infection, and the first time it happened I believe he had the line in for about 2-3 months.
I hope this information is helpful to you. I know it's scary, but I hope you get the answers you need, and that your dad recovers soon.
first, thank you for all your responses- T&P and info. :-)
As far as they type of infect, i don't think they know yet- at least i was not told. He does not have a pacemaker, just a valve replacement was done a year ago. no fevers tha i know of, well, i think he may have had one on sat b/c my mom said he had the chills, but never told me any further from then and nothing of fevers since that day. they did test urine and blood )daily and did the blood test where they try to see if anythng grows- my dad told me tonight they should get that back tomorrow hopefully. he did cough up (was actualy throwing up the first day) sputum- still coughing up stuff, but not a ton. I did find out tonight they put him on a strong antibiotic though- that made me feel better. my dad did say tonight thta he hopes they find out what is causin this and he can just get the med to get better - so that leads me to think they are still in teh unknown completely right now. I think i answered all your Q's.
ETA: Found out there was something growing on the valve he had put in, causing all this...lovely. They upped/added antibiotics and will add him to the PICC list. I don't really get teh whole list thing and when i tried to understand it when asking my mom she got all mad at me and kept saying she didn't say things she just said to me...she gets on my nerves, but when someone says osmething and then a second later says they didn't say that i get so frustrated, no matter how stressed they are. I tried to ignore it, but she kept pushing me and saying things to me to get to me...ugh. Then my dad gets on teh phone b/c he knows exatly how my mom can be and understands how i was feeling- he said he will call me back later...aka when my mom leaves. ha
Well im glad they found the source of infection and can treat it better. It usually takes 48 hours for cultures to come back. Depending on the bacteria he might be on something strong like vancomycin. I now at my hospital the IV team does the PICC lines. You have to be certified to put them in so depeding on whos working they can do it that day or the next. So hes probably on a list to get one. Hopefully soon. The great thing about the PICC line is they can do blood draws off of it too so he doesnt have to be stuck a million times a day. Good luck!!!
well, no picc lines for now... he has to have a whole new valve put in.
this just completely sucks. it hasn't been quite a year and he has to do this all over again. he is so depressed about it, me too! He goes in Monday for the surgery and they will test the ald valve and possible send it to Washington he said. it would be good to find out what the actual cause of the infection was. they said he prob got it about 2 months ago. his new valve will be a human one this time, for several reasons i guess.
Thank you so much for explaining things (and everyoen else for telling me info to help understad what coudl be coming up too), it has really helped understand things so much better- and if he does get teh picc line after this time i have a better understanding if it all now. I just can't believe that less than a year he has to have open heart surgery all over again. I just feel so bad for him. today when i was leaving to meet my mom with my daughter, I couldn't stop crying b/c i didn't want to leave him- just wanted to stay with him as long as i could. ugh...