Collin vomited twice this morning, and had diarrhea. The nurse sent a stool sample to be cultured for c-diff. Clostridium difficile is a bacteria found in the intestines. When someone uses antibiotics, like Collin had to to treat the urinary tract infection, the antibiotics can upset the balance of good and bad bacteria in the body. When the good bacteria is reduced, the bad bacteria can take over, and infections like c-diff can occur. C-diff causes diarrhea and sometimes vomiting, and is treated with yet another antibiotic. We should know in a few days whether or not he has c-diff.
The neurosurgeon felt that since the EVD had been clamped for four days without Collin having any major neurological changes, and the CT scans showed very little change, that the drain could be removed. Collin had a dose of morphine, and the neurosurgery resident gave him a little injection of a numbing agent at the site of the drain. Within just a few minutes, the drain tube was removed, a stitch was placed to close the opening, and it was done. On one hand I was glad that he didn't need a shunt, but on the other hand we still have to watch for signs of hydrocephalus, so I'm still fearful something will change. To need to have a shunt placed in the middle of chemo wouldn't be a very good thing due to an increased risk of infection. While the drain was in, I could look at the monitor and see the ICP number (inter cranial pressure; if the number was below twenty, things were good), which was reassuring to me. Now that the drain was removed, that number is gone, and I find it very unsettling not to be able to look and see that things are OK.
No comments:
Post a Comment