Neo-bladder - now an infection

Hi Andrea - Harry is doing well, thanks for asking. He got over his infection and actually started his chemo yesterday....so far so good. Your dad has had a time of it with his repeated hospitalizations...how many days was he in the hospital total? Harry was there 28 days - a long time that he would rather forget! Hopefully your dad will get the infections under control with the antibiotics and Harry will get through the chemo ok.

Margot

Margot, how is Harry doing? Did he conquer the infection? My dad has had two different infections since your post...none particularly bad in the sense that they didn't cause fever and chills...he seems to have pain associated with them. I have a feeling he is going to be living on antibiotics for a while. As long as it stays contained within his neobladder, we'll hopefully he ok!

Hope all is well, andrea

Margot, I hate to say it, but we are practically on a first name basis with the nurses who staff the small ER here at night. My husband, also, only gets his fevers at night/on weekends, and in bad weather.

Last night, it was 2:00 am when we finally got home, with another infection diagnosis. Hang in there, and treat it fast. I, too, thought he was over-reacting, but the cultures don't lie.

His is probably from the low blood counts from his chemo, but the insurance company still hasn't OK'd the filgastrin (sp?). We're still waiting to hear from them.

Stephany in Iowa

Thanks for all the info. Although I hate to see anyone have these problems, it is comfortinng to know that others have dealt with it too. This came on quickly, fine Thursday and sick Friday. I know he thought I was "over-reacting" to take him to the doctor so soon after the fever came on...but I am glad I insisted! Harry said he had an ok night sleep last night. His fever was lower this morning, 100.8, and got another dose of Tylenol and the antibotic, Levaquin. Right now he is sleeping, so that is good. I will definitely be following up with the urologist on Monday regarding the outcome of the tests to see if another antibotic is warranted. We still plan to go to the oncologist on Monday as scheduled - just to hear what the treatment course will be. Thanks again for your posts and support.

Margot

I see that my mom as already replied...my dad seems to be the king of the UTI since his surgery. Probably doesn't at all help that he is also diabetic.

His latest infection is a Pseudomonas which is always a very resitant one. The funny thing is that he looks and feels fine, but he apparently has an infection that was once again identified when his catheter was pulled in hospital, but took more than a week to be told about it and get on antibiotics. Pseudomonas is probably one of the better ones to have as it rarely leaves the bladder.

His last infection was a really bad one...Enterococcus faecalis Dad woke up with a slight fever, but by the end of the day was dizzy, had low blood pressure, and a very high fever. Admitted to hospital with sepsis (due to a bloodstream infection) and this is the one we nearly lost him with. Enterococci are not happy to stay in the bladder and manage to escape into the bloodstream and other organs very easily.

I would suggest that if your husband does not improve dramatically over the weekend with the antibiotics that you take him back in immediately. If he is on the right antibiotic, it should improve things quickly. Some of these bacteria (especially after a prolonged hospital stay) can be very nasty, and literally dad was knocked on his a$% in a matter of a few hours. So, if he is feeling great, fantastic, but if he is feeling worse, take him to your local emergency.

My dad only seems to get sick on Fridays and weekends too. It can be a little bit of a pain considering you can't get all the diagnositics on the weekend easily.

Good luck! I hope that he is feeling better with his antibiotics! andrea

Hi Margot

I had the chills and shaking just as you describe. Not in the hospital but in the weeks afterwards while I was recovering at home. The onset was rapid and often accompanied by sodden bedsheets from all the cold-sweating I was doing. I too had antibiotics which cleared it all up within 4 or 5 days. Eventually I got the doc to give me a supply that I could call upon if it happened again without the hassle of going for the tests - I knew when it was an infection - and I could nip it in the bud. also my appetite went south and I had the raised temperature you describe. The good news is that Im now nice and settled down and these days only get the odd minor infections which I deal with by increasing my fluid intake. The main culprit in those early days was the catheter and just all the messing about that had been done down there. im good now.

all the best

tim