It's the little things.
In honor of stopping IV antibiotics next week, I'd like to give a review for posterity's sake of each one, because, hello!, FUN TIMES!
I have done each IV daily from home, four nights in a row (usually Monday through Thursday). Every week I switch antibiotics. Next week will wrap up three months (fourteen weeks) of this regimen. Wee!
Week 1: Rocephin 2 g
This is, by far, my favorite antibiotic of the roundup. It takes a half hour to infuse and has the fewest side effects. All it really does is make me really tired the next day. It's great. Winner winner chicken dinner!
Week 2: Azithromycin 500 mg
This antibiotic makes me feel pukey. I have a strong stomach and can usually resist the gag reflex, but this one almost does me in from the very start. Worse, it takes two hours to infuse. The things that help are 1) having food in my stomach, 2) dipping into a very small, very old stash of zofran twenty minutes before, and 3) having water and something to suck on at the ready to reverse the gag reflex by swallowing. I also keep a bowl handy just in case; I came oh so close once, with the chills and the sweats and the watery mouth. It passed in about five minutes though. Luckily, I can clamp the IV off for a few minutes if it gets too intense, and the nausea goes away not long after the infusion is done.
This antibiotic also makes my ears ring pretty loudly for quite a long time, from a few days to three weeks. That's a boatload of fun. As long as I avoid silence, I don't notice this much. I am also wiped out after this antibiotic, obvi.
Week 3: Clindamycin 1200 mg
This antibiotic is nasty, and by nasty I mean that it tastes and smells like bile. I smell it coming out of my pores that week. My body fluids are horrific: I leave a bad smell in the bathroom after going number one. The smell makes me feel like saying bad words.
It's frightfully fascinating how awful something can taste when it's being infused into your body. Last time I had this antibiotic, I told my husband I was breaking my own sugar rules and requested Jolly Ranchers, wintogreen Life Savers, and gum to help me out during infusions. I just can't bear it, I tell you; it's too much. E to the W, EW! I drink tons of water to flush it out as soon as possible. I'm not nauseous or anything else--just tired (and stinky? sorry world) the next day.
Week 4: Penicillin, unknown dose (and cancelled in its second round)
Oh penicillin, we all remember YOU. You're that little bedlamite that made me itch, get hives and puffy lips, have explosive GI reactions, and go a little CRAY CRAY. I blame you--now stand in the corner and think about what you s done. You and your relatives are no longer welcome in my body. Harrumph.
Having this much stuff makes my liver and spleen work hard with the die-off. I'm supposed to get a basic set of labs every couple weeks to check on my body systems and blood count. They're kind of a train wreck, but that's because of the active warfare taking place. If you think of your worst cold or flu ever, and how run down you were with your immune system in hyperdrive, that's what my body is doing all the live long day, every darn day, for like, years now. The antibiotics help, but all the while I've had to focus on strengthening my own immune system (which was pooped out when we started all this) so I don't relapse after all this hard work.
Thus, I approach the next few weeks with trepidation as the outcome of all this treatment will manifest. With all that I am, I hope I'm getting better. It's been kicks and giggles, but I'd like to get off this merry-go-round now. ¡POR FAVOR!
Not that it's up to me exactly...otherwise, I'd be over this by now.
I am SO EXCITED to get my PICC line out next week. Guys! I can take a shower without sealing off my dressing. Or a bath. Or use my sauna. I can wear longer sleeves without looking exceptionally buff on one side. I can lift my kids. I can step into the rain without sleeves. I can sweat and not wonder if a rash is breaking out under an airtight dressing. I can scratch my dang arm whenever the heck I wanna. I can and help my kids in the bath and scrub toilets. I can NOT go to the hospital every two days to have my arm scrubbed and dressed in sterile gauze because I keep breaking out in blisters. I can go to bed without having my sweetheart flush my IV first. It will be so utterly awesome to have my arm back after these additional three months off PICC line fun. Eeeeee, I'm stoked!
I think that is plenty of updates. I've felt a lot of doubt lately, but I don't want to write about that every two shakes, because, EW!
Hope all is well for you, my pretties. Mucho amor and stuff. XOXO!
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