Several weeks ago, I saw my infectious disease doctor. A few days prior to the appointment, I had been released from the hospital. Despite being septic and having pneumonia, I was discharged after having only received five and a half days of antibiotics. My infectious disease doctor explained even with a minor infection, the standard protocol was a seven day course of antibiotics. With my complicated pseudomonas infection, I needed at least a fourteen day course. The only solution was for me to get a PICC line and be started home IV antibiotics.
The doctor wanted me to get the PICC line as soon as possible. I, however, wanted to desperately go home. I had been at the medical center, which is located nearly 400 miles away from my home, for ten days. Since it was a Friday, I would have to wait until Monday to get my PICC line inserted. I did not want to spend anymore time away from home. I explained to the doctor it would take a week for my antibiotics to be approved through my insurance company. So, there was no advantage to staying the weekend and getting the line on Monday since the antibiotics would not be shipped out until later in the week. I asked if I could come back on Wednesday or Thursday of the following week for the PICC line. The physician agreed. He said he would follow up with me in two weeks.
The request for my PICC line was submitted to interventional radiology. I waited and waited for the department to call me and schedule an appointment. I called the facility and was told my PICC line request was being reviewed. I had to wait a few more days before the procedure was approved. Now, it was late in the week, and most of the appointments were scheduling into the following week. Since it takes a day to drive to the facility, having an appointment to get my PICC line placed on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday seemed like a waste of time and energy. We were already committed to driving to the medical facility on Thursday to be able to attend my Friday morning appointment with my infectious disease doctor. So, placing the PICC line on Monday meant we would drive to the medical facility on Sunday, have the procedure done on Monday, drive home Monday, rest Tuesday and Wednesday and drive back Thursday. Having a Tuesday PICC line placement meant driving to the medical facility on Monday, having the procedure done on Tuesday, driving home on Tuesday, resting Wednesday and driving back on Thursday, etc. I decided the best thing to do was to schedule a late afternoon PICC line placement on Thursday. This way, we could leave early Thursday morning for the medical center, have the PICC line placed, stay overnight on Thursday, attend my Friday morning doctor's appointment and then drive home.
In hindsight, having a Thursday PICC line placement was an excellent idea. The infusion company processed my IV antibiotic request; however, they failed to communicate that they did not accept my insurance. After calling my doctor's office and the pharmacy multiple times, finally I was able to find out why I was going to be charged an exorbitant amount of money for my antibiotics--they were not using my insurance to process the claim. So, the Tuesday before my doctor's appointment, I along with my doctor's nurse were trying to find a different infusion pharmacy. We found one which accepted my insurance, and then all the paperwork had to be submitted to the company.
I was able to have my PICC line placed on Thursday and have my doctor's appointment on Friday. Since it had now been over three weeks since the bacteria in my lungs was cultured, the doctor ordered another sputum sample. I went home and continued to wait for the home infusion company to process my antibiotic request.
On Monday, I was growing very impatient with the infusion pharmacy. Why was this taking so long? I decided to let God handle everything. I continued to wait. On Tuesday, I received a call from my doctor. The bacteria in my lungs was now resistant to the antibiotic he had prescribed. He needed to place me on a different antibiotic. New paperwork was submitted to the infusion pharmacy.
After receiving the physician's call, I was praising God. There was a reason there was a delay to the infusion pharmacy filling my antibiotic prescription--God knew I needed different antibiotics. Without all the delays, I would have been using an antibiotic in which my bacteria are resistant. This could have caused further complications such as a major flare-up of the bacteria. (This has happened in the past when I was placed on a drug in which my pseudomonas infection was resistant. The infection quickly spread and caused additional health issues.)
So, now I am waiting (again) for the home infusion pharmacy to process the new antibiotic request. Hopefully I will receive the antibiotic soon. The infection is slowly spreading in my lungs, causing more mucus production and an increase in coughing spells. I desperately want to be rid of this infection. Praying this new antibiotic will finally kill and eradicate both the pseudomonas and serratia bacteria in my respiratory tract.
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