Klebsiella Pneumoniae

Having had to learn more than I ever hoped I would need to know about medical stuffs, I am also all too aware of drug resistant infections.

My Mom had methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Necrotizing Fasciitis, so we have had a brush with the real danger of things that can’t be cured by medicine, and had to be cut out of her body, but Colin’s infection is caused by Klebsiella Pneumoniae which is also a super bug, and is resistant to most antibiotics as well. But we cannot just cut out Colin’s bladder, or his blood, or his intestines.

Our Doc phoned back late today to let us know what the exact bug was, and how we need to treat it. He said there was a choice – hospitalisation so he could be on a drip, or else we can try three days of a specific mooti that people usually take for one day, and then wait and see. He said it was most likely that Colin got the infection from the hospital, so perhaps it is not ideal to send him back there, but also, Colin really doesn’t want to go to hospital if it can be avoided.

We have a carer during the day time who is an ENA (enrolled nursing assistant), and I am confident that the three of us (including Colin’s medical knowledge from his days as a medic in the Army), we can handle most things and make a proper decision when we need to go to the Doc or Hospital. I cannot say enough good things about Jabu (our carer), and he is really an asset for us.

This is a weekend when Jabu is not working (he works every other weekend), but I am sure all will be well.

Our GP is such a wonderful man, and is what my Mom used to call a “healer” in the sense that he is a Doctor as a vocation and calling rather than a way to just make money. He truly cares about his patients, and he goes above and beyond for us. He is simply outstanding. He faxed the script for Colin’s meds to the pharmacy this evening before he left so I can go fetch it tomorrow. He has even offered to make house calls for us in case of emergency with Colin, and he has given me his personal cell phone number. We have so many wonderful people in our support structure, and I am just so happy about that.

Klebsiella Pneumoniae is a bacteria that usually manifests as a lung infection, although it can also show as a UTI. It is not a usual infection, so we hope that it will be sorted and never come back again.

Colin is impatient to be better as infections cause his spasms to be much worse. It is still really amusing to watch his body just do whatever it wants. I no longer get all excited and think that Colin has got some movement back, and watch with empathy as he jerks around. Sometimes the spasms cause pain, and just at the moment, they are really bad when he tries to sleep. So far, I have remembered to put up the railing every day in case of a repeat performance of him spasming out of bed, but the possibility still exists for such strong spasms to pull him all over the show. The last few nights he has spasm-d so much that he managed to wiggle his arm out of the sleeping splints. It sounds funny, but it is a bit of a worry. This morning I awoke to him having wriggled his legs almost completely out of the blanket. LOL

At least we can both laugh at this, and hope for a better day tomorrow.

Here’s to another sunny day tomorrow, and sitting on our veranda laughing at fart jokes.