Sunday I started feeling the symptoms of a urinary tract infection. I called the infectious disease doctor's after hours service, who then paged the doctor on-call (which was not my doctor). Of course the on-call doctor was not prepared to help me because of my history. She said given that she had no access to my records and that I had been unsuccessfully treated twice before, she couldn't help me. My only option was to tough it out or go to the E.R. but she said the E.R. probably wouldn't be able to help me until they had culture results to confirm the bacteria (we have heard that story before). So Nick bought some over-the-count AZO pills and they helped alleviate my symptoms temporarily.
Then yesterday we called the infectious disease doctor and he sent me for another urine culture. The culture from last week showed only yeast, however at that time I was still on antibiotics. So today we went to the doctor's office to discuss the results. Sure enough the culture from yesterday confirmed more bacteria, and my white blood cell count for urine was 20-40, whereas normal would be 1-2. The doctor wants to wait to confirm the type of bacteria, although we are all pretty certain it is e. coli. He said once it is confirmed, which should be by tomorrow, he will prescribe an IV antibiotic. I will have to go the hospital to have a pic line put in my arm so that the IV drugs can be administered. When they put the pic line in, they will also draw blood for a culture to see if the bacteria is still in my blood stream.
We will be able to administer the IV drug at home and go to the outpatient clinic once or twice a week. The IV therapy will be a two week treatment. The billing office already called to confirm we will be able to pay our portion of the treatment which is $350. Lovely! On top of two hefty hospital bills from having Claire and then my six day hospital stay afterwards. We should max out our deductible any second now.
At this point since we aren't sure yet which antibiotic I will be on we do not know if I will be able to keep breastfeeding. I have fought so hard to breastfeed this time with Claire that it will be sad to let it go. But at the same time, I am ready to beat this infection so I can start enjoying our little newborn without this hanging over my head. This entire experience has been emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausting. Any and all prayers are very much appreciated!
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