Forward Motion

Stemming from my conversation with Dr. Kaufman on Wednesday, she was able to make positive contact with Dr. Hepworth to formulate a game plan. I was contacted today by her office that Dr. Hepworth’s office will contact me for cultures to be taken from my sphenoid.

Once that is done, Infectious Disease will place me on IV Meropenem and IV Daptomycin until cultures are completed, and we can adjust accordingly after the cultures result. I’ve been on Daptomycin previously in 2023 year after the 2nd mastoidectomy, the nice thing is it’s just a single dose daily. Meropenem on the other hand, I’ve never been on. I’ve been on one of its cousins Ertapenem before, but the dosing is different. It will be dosed 3x a day. So I’ll have to be diligent with the clock reminders on my phone so I can stay on schedule with meds.

https://wikem.org/wiki/Meropenem

https://wikem.org/wiki/Daptomycin

These antibiotics are a different class than what I was on previously, which was IV Vancomycin and IV Ceftriaxone.

https://www.wikem.org/wiki/Vancomycin

https://wikem.org/wiki/Ceftriaxone

The best part, is I won’t need constant trough level checks which are needed with vancomycin. Plus it’s a bit easier on my body. I’m just glad that we are creating a plan instead of the “I don’t know” or do nothing mentality I’ve grown accustomed to over the past 2 years. There is definitely an infective process going on here. Getting to the bottom of what this is, and where’s the source, is always been a challenge.

I’m currently headed to Infectious Disease for labs, so that way we have that prior to cultures with Hepworth’s office. The only problem is, is that I’ve left messages on voicemail, and portal messages to Hepworth that I need to be seen ASAP with no response.

My anxiety is through the roof. I feel like absolute shit. I keep getting itchy all over. My throat hurts. I gag whenever I blow my nose. This is getting worse every day. I’m still getting nightsweats. Fevers are low, but there. My vision feels like it’s getting worse. And the space between my eyes and the top/bridge of my nose just feels like Mike Tyson just laid into me. On top of that, my ears just hurt, and constantly ring. Another thing, is I just keep running into things. Whether is hitting my foot on something, or while I walk, I don’t walk in a straight line. So this is definitely impacting my balance.

I’m downright miserable, but it seems I’m starting to get forward motion. Instead of just being in a holding pattern since my talk with Kaufman on Wednesday. I’m pretty sure the IVIg infusion is making my body fight. That’s why I feel this way. At least I’ve got the energy to get out, and get this done.

Labs are done. We pulled Complete Blood Count (CBC), Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP), C-Reactive Protein (CRP), and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR). The two first labs look for overall infection and how my body is functioning. The next two are just generic inflammatory markers.

I was finally contacted by Dr. Hepworth’s office at 4pm. I have a culture appointment at 9:50am next Tuesday the 13th. Once the cultures are pulled, hopefully from my sphenoid, I’ll head to Infectious Disease to get started on the IV antibiotics. I just hate having my port accessed 24/7. It’s just uncomfortable. But if this is what it takes, so be it.

I can only hope we pull something out that is substantive. The last few cultures yielded nothing. Except for what was found during the Sinus Surgery last October.