Finish Line

Dunno if it was me waking up at 5:30am and going over the infectious disease conversation about 1000 times, but infectious disease required 0 effort to get them to pay attention.

Officially the culture grew MRSA, which stands for Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. It’s one of two strains that an immunocompromised person doesn’t want. Why? Because our bodies put up 0 defense to it. This strain has evolved over the years hence the “resistant” part. This why only the big gun antibiotics work on it anymore. Vancomycin, Dalbavancin, Linezolid to name a few are the only antibiotics that work.

As Dr Kaufman came in, she had her assistant pull the records from PSL. Surprisingly, they found something else. Mold. I was shocked. How the fuck did I get mold!? Since I was able to satisfy her requirements of source control, as well as a positive culture, she caved pretty quickly. At first she said that the bacteria is skin flora, but I had to remind her of the 8 other positive cultures. She immediately folded. I began to tell her that none of the scans were even showing anything, which indicates that my body just isn’t fighting it, at all.

She initially offered Linezolid, but I told her that we need to stay away from anything oral. I explained that my STD expires Nov 27th, and at that time I lose the most important asset I have right now, health insurance. I told her that we can only approach the MRSA infection with IV, so our choices are either Dalbavancin, or Vancomycin. She immediately agreed to the Dalbavancin.

I was immediately relieved. I think she could get a sense of how over all this I am. I just spoke from the heart, and it must have struck a chord.

Secondly she said they see mold, but they haven’t done any further work up on which one it is. If I had to guess, it’s probably Aspergillus. But that would explain the constant fevers that come and go, the sheer exhaustion. The crawling sensations I get. The night sweats. But she said she’s just going to treat it regardless. so she ended up prescribing voriconazole.

Since the Dalbavancin has to be mixed and immediately used, I hung out waiting for the auth to go through (it only costs $5,000 per vial, and I need 3 of them). I’m just glad that it didn’t take much effort to get what I needed.

I’m hoping that this will push me across the finish line of the longest marathon of my life. This has got to be the most physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging thing I have ever had to endure. Yes. There were times where I was ready to just give up. Quit. Just let this win. But my stubbornness proved to be a good trait to have during all this. Plus having the support of a loving wife, my aunt and uncle, and real friends that constantly check up on me making sure I’m “ok”.

Without that, I don’t think I would be writing this today. The GoFundMe that work put up has had an overwhelming response too, which has also helped.

So if all this works, maybe next year will be the comeback year. I could really use a break from all this. The constant doctor visits, ER trips, surgeries, infusions, mental breakdowns, and chronic illness I’ve had to endure over the years pushed me down to the lowest I’ve ever been. Stretched so thin trying to balance my career, the illnesses, and just trying to keep my head above water physically, emotionally, and financially.

I started off there at 10:30am, and just finished my infusion at 2:30pm. I’m exhausted. I’ll have to go pick up the voriconazole later. I’m just wiped out.

My STD was also re-approved so I can take a little more time to bounce back from this.