A new round of concerns

Sara is doing ok today. Cute as hell, as always.

We are starting to see some things that are concerning her doctors - specific to infection. Those little fevers she's been getting have not really been a problem, but we've been kind of chasing our tails with them and her respiratory issues. I was finally able to nail a doctor down to an explanation of what they are seeing and how it is concerning.

Basically, when she gets a fever they immediately worry about infection. They take cultures of everything and see what grows. Everything being blood, urine and sputum (lung junk.) Sometimes she grows something in the culture, other times not. When she grows something they give her antibiotics and that's that. Kaiser is VERY good (reknowned, in fact) for their prududent use of antibiotics against specific pathogens, instead of using a broad-based antibiotic to wipe out anything and everything. They have a much lower incidence of antibiotic resistance than most hospitals/medical plans.

So, Sara grew stuff in all three cultures this time. They think what she grew in her blood culture may be from contamination of the sample, so they are going to re-do it - (Gram positive). What she grew from urine may be a urinary tract infection starting - (eColi). But what she grew in her lungs is the most concerning -(Acinetobacter). Basically, with bacteria there are two types - colonizers and invasive. Colonizer bacteria are bacteria that move in due to someone's condition and just hang around as a result. They don't do a lot of damage - they are just there. Invasive bacteria move in and wreak havoc. Because she is both on a chronic vent and has three indwelling catheters (peg tube (feeding), foley (urine) and a PICC line (central catheter IV) the risk of any type of infection is real and everpresent. The doctors have to make sure not to over treat or under treat.

So, they look to see if her white blood count has gone up, if she has a fever, or if her appearance and status are declining. Over the last two days, she's had all three (WBC ^ and fever up and down, and having to go on a ventilator rate).

I don't yet know what the plan of attack is on this, but we're all watching it closely. I'll keep you posted...