After pulling an all-nighter at ER the night before, Patrick and I hit the sack early to get some well deserved sleep.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
At 3am in the morning, we were jarred awake by the sound of the phone ringing. When I answered the phone, there was a very urgent tone coming from the person talking. It was the lab technician who was analyzing Clark’s blood culture. He said Clark’s blood culture had grown and was showing signs of a category of bacterial infection called “gram negative rods”. He said we needed to go to Oakland ER immediately for antibiotics, as this strain of bacteria can be very dangerous if not treated properly. And just to understand how dangerous he was talking about, E-coli is one of the bacteria found in this category.
We quickly packed our overnight bags and headed to the Oakland ER. The trip turned out to be a very long one. Over the next 8 days, we “lived” in the hospital while Clark was given antibiotics and a series of blood culture tests.
By the 4th day, the doctors were finally able to identify the strain of bacteria. Unfortunately, the antibiotics Clark had been on up until then were the wrong ones! Clark had a rare bacteria that the current antibiotics were not effective at killing. The bacteria, Pseudomonas, can be normally found in dirt, plant spores or just blowing around. Most people are not affected by it, but as it so happens, this bacteria loves broviac’s, and people with compromised immune systems.
Since Clark wasn’t showing many signs of an infection (no fever and he was happy and energetic), the doctors assumed the bacteria was harboring inside of Clark’s broviac. So they decided to have his central line removed. This on its own is not a big deal since we were planning on switching it out for a double line this week anyways. The problem was that we would not be able to put the double line Broviac in until the bacteria is completely out of Clark’s system. And without some type of central line, giving Clark infusions or medicine would be difficult (or near impossible).
So, during the surgery to remove Clark’s original broviac, Clark had a PICC line inserted in his arm. This is basically a mini broviac, or catheter that was inserted in his arm to receive his medicine, or blood products if needed.
Late on the 8th night (Monday August 4th) we were finally sent home with oral antibiotics and instructions on how to care for Clark’s PICC line. We were very glad to be heading home. It gave us 2 days to plan for Clark’s upcoming BMT, and more importantly, some much needed TLC with Connor.