anyone dealt with "C DIFF " during RC recovery?

Hey Holly.......i forgot about the yogurt.....definately take that every day...puts the good bacteria back in the bowel. Sorry i mistook your meaning the local hospital for Mayo on the neobladder. I have the same thing here...no one has ever heard of an INdiana Pouch...they keep calling it an Indian pouch!! When you see your nurse ask her if she knows of anyone that has done a neobladder in your part of the woods. Thats how i found my local uro that knows what it is at least but has never done it. When i had my emergency where my ureter trapped part of my small intestine i found that NO hospital in this city would admit me because they didn't know what i had!...That was comforting. My husband drove me back to Cleveland in a record 3 l/2 hrs at 3 in the morning!!! It never occured to me that a hospital would reject me!!!
I don't know what to say about weight gain....if you don't have a lactose allergy...you could always try an ensure milkshake with a pint of ice cream...thats how i managed to put weight on my Dad!! It actually took me about a year to put my 20 lbs back on and i think that was because for once in my life i was trying to eat 3 times a day plus snacks which totallly freaked out my metabolism and made me burn more calories!! Go figure...so i went back to eating when i was hungry and having a main meal in the evening and that did the trick...plus a lot of hot fudge sundaes!!
And oh Yuck..you have to drink that potassium!! My sympathies!!! Try tomato juice and baked potatos.
This may not apply to you but for some reason magnesium causes my heart to go into pvc's...in any form....can't even take an antacid that has it .
Good luck with everything....so glad you're back and made a great decision on where to go.......But do try the yogurt.
And Clur...what the heck is 7 stones translated to in our hillbilly English? Pat

Hi Holly
You certainly do it right dont you lets hope the old antibiotics have kicked in and your feeling loads better.In the Uk we are aggressively targeting these sort of infections and luckily I avoided them but they really hit you broadside.
I am so glad you are starting to get back up at home it helped me so much in those first few weeks after surgery to know that someone would be coming in to help.Weight generally has been a huge issue I cant hang on to any I am down to about seven stone at the moment and really fight to gain any but its worth trying to before you start chemo as it will fall off you then I lost 10 lbs in 3 days.
Take Care love Claire

Holly,

I just googled C Difficile, and there is news about it on the web....a new study came out in the UK, saying:

"A study published today in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy1 provides the best available evidence that cases of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI)---one of the most common and increasing types of hospital-acquired infection---can be reduced in hospital wards if doctors prescribe narrow-spectrum antibiotics rather than broad-spectrum agents."

Perhaps it's worth getting gathering up the new info to discuss with your doctor.

Wendy

Hi and thanks for the input. I was on flagyl and pepcid (among other drugs) atMayos. And the c diff hit me like a freight train in just about a day after coming home. Now I am on flagyl, macrobid, bentyl and taking vicodin as needed- haven't needed to rake any more colace yet either. The weight loss seems to freak out dr's more than me. I went from almost 140 pounds down to 105 when I had the hsyerectomy, and it took 2 years to get past 118 pounds. I am really trying to get my weight healthy so the chemo does not get delayed. All the other pills I had to take at hospitol ove the weekend - were potassiom, magnesium, and the like. They gave me several bags IV fluid, but after a few bagsof potassium my vein blew out so I had to choke it down. They said my electrolytes were low enough to affect my heart, and it was racing at times, and jumpy like at times.

  Starting Wed a nurse is stopping at the house- I am looking forward to the help and info.

   Mayo's knows all about the neobladder LOL.... But my local hospitol - no Dr or nurse treating me had even seen someone with a neobladder. I asked each one before they tried to do anything to me.

   I go back to Mayo's on April 9th - the foley comes out then, I meet the oncologist and I get taught self cath etc then.

   Well, think I'll start getting my 80+ ounces of fluid going, get some breakfast. Love you guys, and thanks again,  Holly

Hi Holly,

Welcome back home, it sounds like it's been a rough ride. C Diff is horrible. My sister had that infection after having very high dose chemo...both (over-use of) antibiotics and chemo can cause CDiff, as well as those stomach acid pills Pat mentioned, and of course it's also contagious throughout hospitals. Hospitals are becoming very dangerous places to be these days.

Be sure to include pro=biotics in your diet, either through supplements or eating yogurt with acidophilus in it.

You really need to be all cleared up from infection and have your strength back before starting chemo. That's good news that the cancer was stage 3 and no lymph nodes involved.

I hope you start to feel better soon.
Wendy

Hi Holly....C diff is making a big comeback it seems and very resistant to most antibiotics. They have associated heartburn drugs, ie..Prevacid, Nexium, etc with it. I know when i was in the hospital and home i was on Flagyl which is to combat C diff but i was also on Nexium as my stomach is not conducive to pill taking. At home i switched to Keflex for 6 weeks...off the Nexium after 3 weeks. I also lost 20 lbs in the hospital but trust me it will come back. I found with the new bowel which was having much trouble adjusting that i had diarhea often but i could associate it with certain foods or drink..especially milk products.
I know the Flagyl kills at least 97% of the nasty bug......Vancomycin is a last resort drug to use.
The crazy thing is this can be prevented by simply washing your hands...not using those sanitizers...but actually using soap and water. Nurses just don't do it between patients...i always insisted to their joy that they do it before they touched me. I was very popular as you can imagine!
I also had some heart fluctuations but that seemed to be more related to the anesthesia than anything else. It has since corrected itself.
Good luck Holly.......i'm not sure what they do with neo-bladders but i know with the Indiana Pouch i had a stoma nurse with me everyday and one that came to visit 3 times a week after i was home. I find it hard to believe noone knew what a neobladder was at Mayo?????? Have you been tought how to self cath?..measure your output? and input?
What tubes are still in you?
I don't know the 27 pills you're on but i hope one of them is Flagyl.......oh and by the way don't get near anything with alchohol in it while taking the drug..even mouthwash..will make you one sick puppy. Pat