Looking for imformation

[Guest guest]

Hey Group,

Sorry that I've been off list for so long. A week before memorial

day I went in for an outpatient steroid injection to the SI joint and

was " accidentally " infected with Staph Aureus. Thinking it just the

extremes of a bad reaction, I ignored it for almost a week and then

was admitted to the ICU with septicemia, Toxic Shock and DIC (for

those of you not familiar with that oddity its the clotting of blood

on the walls of the blood vessels which can quickly cause death).

They say I was 24 hours away from dying. I am beginning to

beleive it. Anyhow its a long road back to even as good as I was.

Ok here is the question............I have been through the depths

of medical incompetence and forced to take three different

antibiotics, all of which have made me ill. In a bit of a snit I

pulled out one PICC line two weeks ago because the infectious disease

guy never answered my pages (yup plural). The antibiotic I was

calling him on was causing nausea, vomiting and explosive diarrhea, I

smelled like an oil refinery and finally called when I developed

hives running up my legs. The guy claims he " wrote down my message

and forgot to return it " until he found the note in his pocket the

following Sunday. This same guy insisted that I HAD to have more

antibiotics and had a third guy insert a new line that is sitting in

my right atria. The line hurts like hell, causes chest pain, and I

can feel the extra systole rhythm and a bunch of PVC's.

So here is the question. I know a lot of you guys are

knowledgable in a lot of different areas. Please help if you can..

I have been given no real choice about this line or the antibiotics.

I am currently submitting to 1 gm of vancomycin IV q 12h. I am

really scared when the chest pain starts, thinking with Graves and a

history of atrial fib what kind of complications might happen next.

I am also wondering what the criteria for treatment with these things

are. How long? Its already been at least eight weeks of antibiotics

if you count all of them

Please..........can anyone point me in the right direction? I'm

close to losing what mind I have left.

As always thanks.

Laurel