Partial results

The wound drainage cultures have grown out E. Coli and a 2nd germ. E. Coli is found in our gut, so I asked if it was probably from getting pee or poo on the wound and they said probably, but it is unavoidable. Pretty much all kids like Ellie get pee and poop on their wound, but they don't all get infected.

The 2nd germ has not been identified yet, probably by tomorrow afternoon.

No MRSA has grown out. That is really good news. MRSA is germs resistant to antibiotics. So that is really really good news.

The good thing about E. coli (so I'm told) is that there are a lot of antibiotic options to treat it.

For now we will be going home with an IV antibiotic called meropenem and they are stopping the Vank. Which is good, because with Vank you have to check levels (do blood work). The meropenem needs to be given 3 times a day (8 hours apart). If they can pin down what the 2nd germ is, then they might be able to switch to a different antibiotic that is more specific and is only twice a day. (Meropenem is more broad spectrum, but if they knew what they were treating, then they could do a more specific antibiotic).

Two times a day would be ideal. 3 or 4 times a day is A LOT harder to remember. We already give meds twice a day, so to add another med at the same time (twice a day) is not that hard. But with 3 times a day...it actually means we're giving meds 4 times a day. For example...7:00 AM and 7:00 PM for her normal meds. If we gave the IV med at 7:00, then we would have to give it again at 3:00 PM and 11:00 PM. So we would then be giving meds at 7, 3, 7, 11. With meds 4 times a day you could do 7, 1, 7, 1...but that means getting up at 1 AM. So we usually opt for 5, 7, 11, 5, 7, 11 (7 AM and 7 PM for normal meds and 5, 11, 5, 11 for the 4 times a day because it means not getting up in the middle of the night even though it means you're giving meds 6 times a day instead). Whew...that makes me tired just remembering doing those time schedules before.

We will be doing antibiotics for 6 months. 6 weeks of IV and the rest oral/g-tube.

I asked if it is possible for it to come back after the 6 months and they said yes. They have had good results with this regiment, but it can. I asked what to watch for, they said drainage from the wound, redness, pain, fever (the same things she had this time). We also need to watch for fluid gathering around the baclofen pump (if the tubing was infected).

I also asked about pseudomonas. Because her two really bad pnemonia's and a sore on her nose have all cultured out pseudomonas. Pseudomonas is harder to kill. And once you have pseudomonas, you can't ever really get rid of it. They said they were worried about it at first because E. Coli and pseudomonas look similar under the microscope at first. But thankfully it has not cultured out pseudomonas.