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hubby has four chronic medical conditions which all feed into each other.... A sedentary lifestyle has combined with depression and he is overweight. Being overweight has caused his sleep apnea to be worse. All of this increases stress on his body, and works on the system septic infection he got a decade ago. The infection hides in his psoriasis, so there is no chance in heck of getting rid of it without a seriously good doctor/set of doctors. Getting under treated for the infection, usually because his weight is not taken into account for the antibiotics, means the infection has been going berserk and he is having flare up after flare up...
So there is a nasty catch 22 here. He is not getting treated correct for the infection, so his psoriasis now covers almost 1/4 of his skin. It holds the bacteria that makes him sick. When he is sick, he can't work on getting undepressed and lose the weight which is helping make him sick...
How does this come to me? Two hours today spent on the phone with the clinic where his new GP is, followed by a walk in visit to the clinic, to be diagnosed with cellulitis and psoriasis like it was something new. Ten minutes explaining to this doctor that no matter how much she thinks we should 'just take this up with our GP' we only have a few hours of a window to get him on antibiotics before it turns into a week long stay in the hospital. Then a ten minute discussion that she has to treat him with enough antibiotics so that he does not relapse in two weeks.
OK, she sends the Rx electronically to the pharmacy. We stop at McDs for a very nutritious breakfast at 11:30am - BUT he has not bounced it so that is GREAT!!!
Get to the pharmacy and the Dr did not fill out the Rx correctly and the pharmacist, who we KNOW after ten years of this, can't fill it. This is followed by another 30 minutes on the phone with the clinic that there is a problem and they need to fix it - no it is not fine. Finally we walk out with the needed meds and head home!
I pulled into the driveway at 12:20pm. Yup, I pulled in. I had to drive. It was the first time this calendar year I have driven. In order to do that, it meant that I skipped my night dose of all meds, both pain killers and PTSD. The only meds I took this morning were my thyroid meds - no pain killers. To say that I was/am in pain is an understatement. Oh, and I have not slept in over 36 hours.
Just to make matters worse, my Service Dog Misha, is in the tail end of a huge allergy reaction to some corn oil she get into... and can't go into public looking like she has mange. Yeah, I went into public without a Service Dog for the first time in almost three years. The nurse at the doctor's office actually had to stop checking hubby in and walk me through a breathing exercise to short circuit my panic attack - and she was REALLY good at that!!
But we are home now. Hubby has taken his antibiotic and a vicoden and is curled up in bed with Misha. I have taken my noon dose of pain meds and am hoping that is enough to stop the agony that is my spine.
I managed to drive. It scared me at first, but I did it.
So there is a nasty catch 22 here. He is not getting treated correct for the infection, so his psoriasis now covers almost 1/4 of his skin. It holds the bacteria that makes him sick. When he is sick, he can't work on getting undepressed and lose the weight which is helping make him sick...
How does this come to me? Two hours today spent on the phone with the clinic where his new GP is, followed by a walk in visit to the clinic, to be diagnosed with cellulitis and psoriasis like it was something new. Ten minutes explaining to this doctor that no matter how much she thinks we should 'just take this up with our GP' we only have a few hours of a window to get him on antibiotics before it turns into a week long stay in the hospital. Then a ten minute discussion that she has to treat him with enough antibiotics so that he does not relapse in two weeks.
OK, she sends the Rx electronically to the pharmacy. We stop at McDs for a very nutritious breakfast at 11:30am - BUT he has not bounced it so that is GREAT!!!
Get to the pharmacy and the Dr did not fill out the Rx correctly and the pharmacist, who we KNOW after ten years of this, can't fill it. This is followed by another 30 minutes on the phone with the clinic that there is a problem and they need to fix it - no it is not fine. Finally we walk out with the needed meds and head home!
I pulled into the driveway at 12:20pm. Yup, I pulled in. I had to drive. It was the first time this calendar year I have driven. In order to do that, it meant that I skipped my night dose of all meds, both pain killers and PTSD. The only meds I took this morning were my thyroid meds - no pain killers. To say that I was/am in pain is an understatement. Oh, and I have not slept in over 36 hours.
Just to make matters worse, my Service Dog Misha, is in the tail end of a huge allergy reaction to some corn oil she get into... and can't go into public looking like she has mange. Yeah, I went into public without a Service Dog for the first time in almost three years. The nurse at the doctor's office actually had to stop checking hubby in and walk me through a breathing exercise to short circuit my panic attack - and she was REALLY good at that!!
But we are home now. Hubby has taken his antibiotic and a vicoden and is curled up in bed with Misha. I have taken my noon dose of pain meds and am hoping that is enough to stop the agony that is my spine.
I managed to drive. It scared me at first, but I did it.
Big supportive purrs.
It was actually a bit more complicated than that too... my daughter, who is working two jobs, accidentally took ALL vehicle keys to work with her this morning. We had to call her work as she was not answering her phone so she could drive 20 minutes each way to drop off the SUV keys...
Unfortunately, we were still going through trying to get things done over the phone so it was not feasible to make her even later for work when she is the only one in the house working...
Has it been checked ?
Have they taken cultures to figure out which bug does this to him ??
Has anybody ever talked about the possibility of putting him on prophylactic, low dose antibiotics ... in an effort to prevent these cellulitis episodes from recurring ??
Note: I know nothing about nothing, but .... y'know ... I care ;-)
Have they thought of using IVIG? I have a friend with an immunodeficiency, and she takes prophylactic antibiotics against recurrent sinus infections (she's had them so bad she was hospitalized and in surgery), and they also give her IVIG (IV immunoglobulin) to help boost her system as needed. And she also gets IV antibiotics when she needs them. It's not the same as your case, I know, but I do want to let that info out there, just in case it sparks ideas.
Good luck and purrs,
Leo
Congratulations for being able to literally take the wheel and drive through all of this. It's good to know you made it home with the right meds finally in hand and both of you safe and sound. I'm amazed at your fortitude. You did it indeed.
Trust me, I trust every one here with their learned the hard way knowledge than the doctors who read about it in a book once 20 years ago!!!
To date, the only actual tests he has been given is a couple of blood cultures to find the specific bug and what antibiotics are good for killing it. That was EIGHT years ago. What we know is that it all started after he had an ingrown toenail removed... the bacteria that is in his system stems from my equines. At the time I had a pony mule in the yard as a lawn mower/self fertilizer. Our best guess is the dogs tracked manure into the house.
Other than that, it is MY opinion that his immune system is not right. It is MY opinion that he should be on a continuous low dose antibiotic.
I think, that had the doctor who originally did the cultures stayed healthy himself, things would be a lot better. But the man is in his 70s and suffered a stroke five or six years ago. Since then he is just not the great doctor he once was... which is why we are trying this local clinic rather than driving 90 minutes each way to his old doctor.
IF he gets this job, in 9 months he will have health insurance again, and we can pursue this a bit more aggressively.
I will say that the doctor today had a good piece of advice... to make a picture log of the sites he breaks out. Pictures of before a flare and then every day during a flare. That will give us more evidence in a new doc that we need to do more about this.
Hugs to everyone... I really really need the emotional support today. In the last 48 hours I have only managed a couple one hour naps. I am physically exhausted and emotionally just freaked out... him being sick triggers my panic like nothing else!!!