ahhh pseudamonas bug

[Wattle]

   Hi MISSis.

I am sorry to hear of your late night dash to the ER. I am glad you are now at home with nursing care. Its much better than being stuck in hospital. Peritonitis is the only thing that I am always paranoid about being on PD. I have been lucky up until now (touch wood) and have avoided any infections.

I wish you a speedy recovery.

[st789]

Perionitis is so painful.  I experienced it twice.  The place of exchange and no carpet definitely.  I did not know what kind of bugs I got.

Take care and becareful.

[Ken Shelmerdine]

Unfortunately pseudomonas is a difficult bug to treat - I have a patient with a p.aeruginosa exit site infection and we've been able to fend off peritonitis so far but she has been on Gentamycin in each exchange for almost four weeks now.  Good luck!

There's something I don't quite underastand about exit site infections. As I understand it the tube travels just under the skin from the exit site for about 3 inches and then down into the peritoneum. Along this three inch area the skin seals tightly round the tube so how can an exit site infection travel to the peritoneum. I thought the only risk from peritonitus came from from any contamination that went down the tube itself and directly into the peritoneum. The policy of my healthcare trust is to keep a dressing on at all times changing every other day using Betadene and Bactroban ointment but I know for a fact that certain Health Care Trusts in Britain allow their patients to wear no dressing at all except to achor the cather with tape to prevent trauma. I know someone who has been doing this for 3 years and has never had an infection. At the end of the day isn't it just similar to a body piercing?  If a body piercing got infected the infection would not go through to infect a major organ would it?

[MiSSis]

So far no sight of exit site or tunnel infection.  All indications lead to me getting this bug internally, probably from constipation.  (Sorry for the graphic detail!)  I have another 4 IV antibiotic treatments left unless blood tests indicate I'll need more.  It's been a rough recovery.  Even after coming home from the hospital, I was dizzy and nauseated for a couple of days but that seems to have finally resolved itself.  The antibiotics seem to make me restless and I'm having trouble sleeping so I'm extra weary during the day.  I have meds to help with sleep but hate to take them too often as I'm worried about dependency.  Those nights are when I wish I had a laptop! I'm looking forward to being off of "house arrest".  My husband's been able to get out and play some golf and I'm glad he's getting the break.  Even I'm getting tired of my company! 

Note to self:  Eat plenty of fiber and take colace.  Do all you can to prevent this from happening again!