Total Peritonitis Rant!

[highlite36]

I just left the hospital today after being in for about a week for severe peritonitis.  First of all, it HURTS!!!  This was the first time that I've ever gotten it and it's been over two years since I've started PD.  But it was bound to happen.  Here's the thing:  on the day that I got sick, I was FINE!!!  I even had CLINIC that morning.  The morning was spent with my nurses and doctors  discussing my medical care.  It wasn't until I got home in the early afternoon and had lunch did I start to cramp up just a bit.   I originally thought that it was lunch (and it was a great lunch: Lettuce, tomato, provolone, alfalfa sprouts, and guacamole on wheat bread!  AWESOME!) but it was a sandwich that I had all the time so it was hard to believe that there was something wrong.  It was fine and dandy until I ended up on an ambulance at rush hour on a Friday afternoon trying to get to the hospital.  Of course it doesn't help that I live about thirty miles from the hospital so the driver had to take a few major interstates to get there.  And at rush hour, trying to get through traffic at 80 mph is virtually impossible.  After I received REALLY GOOD medicine for the pain, the PD nurse was finally called and came in to see me in the ER.  I guess the drug they gave me was REALLY good, because I started barking and growling at people like a dog.  And when asked what day it was, I didn't hesitate to say, "It's PURPLE!"  When the fluid was emptied from my abdomen, it was dark yellow, dense, opaque, and I was told that it had "floatie" brown things in it.  TOTAL EWWWW!!!  The cell count from the dialysate was 8500!!  I think the worst part about this experience was actually learning about what had caused the peritonitis.  It wasn't that I touched  my tubes in the wrong place and caused an infection.  The bacteria found in my fluid came from a family of bugs called "neisseria."  The most well known forms of this bug are meningitis and gonorrhea.  OMG!!!  Let me tell you how HARD it was to try and explain to conservative, old fashioned, traditional Asian parents what gonorrhea is and why their unmarried daughter would need to get tested for it.  Thankfully, I tested negative for both.  However, what I caught was a respiratory form of the bug that traveled into the peritoneum.  This bug was caught by just being around people who breathed.  No one can tell me who I got it from and how I got it, just that someone who carried a larger amount of it breathed in the same vicinity as I did.  On top of that, the doctors think I caught it THAT MORNING while I was up and about at clinic.  Man, I can DEFINITELY say that I never want to go through that experience EVER AGAIN!!!!!

[KR Cincy]

Wow what an ordeal! I'm glad you are home and feeling better. Spooky that you can get that sick, that quickly, and can do little about it (unless you seal yourself up in your house and avoid all other human beings...UGH!)

Take care of yourself and keep getting better...and I'm VERY glad for you that it wasn't gonorrhea!!!!!

[mysty]

Wow!. You had one heck of an ordeal.  Like you stated.. thankfully it tested negative.  Sooo glad you are doing well now.

[stauffenberg]

The insurmountable problem with PD is that even if your attaching and removing technique is 100% sterile, you can still get peritonitis, since it can be caused by the germs which are naturally found to occur in the peritonium!  So as long as you are on PD it is just a matter of Russian roulette when an attack is going to occur.

[willieandwinnie]

highlite36, I'm glad you are home and on the mend.   People think I am crazy for wearing a mask everywhere. Those nurses at the clinics are exposed to all kinds of sickness. Take care of yourself and let us know how you are doing.

[donnia]

What a horrible experience!  So glad you are better.  

[xtrememoosetrax]

Egads, this sounds horrible! How scary! However, it sounds like your sense of humor came through this very unpleasant experience intact (next time somebody asks me what day it is, I'm gonna say PURPLE! ), and it's good to know that your parents are still breathing. Anyway, sorry you had to go through this. Rest up, take care, and hang in there, okay?  

[MyssAnne]

I can sympathize!! I've had it 3 times in 2 years. Plus other stuff...But peritonitis HURTS!!!  BAD!!!!!  OW!!!!!

I did not have as good a medicine as you got....barking...and a day called purple? Well, you had the color right!!!!  LOL!!!

Seriously, man, that is scary, to know that you can get it so easily.  And we are around sick people all the time, too, by the nature
of our condition. Yay.  Wearing a mask at all times sounds awfully darn smart now......

[Laurie]

That sounds horrible. I had no idea you could get peritonits from people breathing. Very scary. 
So glad you're doing better. 

[petey]

highlite, glad you're home and better.  Marvin had peritonitis once right after he started on PD (I think it was around 1996).  Anyway, after that, he quit PD and went back to hemo.  He says peritonitis was as close as he's come to wanting to die because it hurt so bad.  Hemo has its negatives, too, though.  Basically, dialysis (any way you get it) sucks!  But, we gotta do what we gotta do!  Hang in there!

And, willieandwinnie, I keep a box of masks by the front door.  If we're going out, I stick one in Marvin's pocket.  He hates wearing the masks, but he'll do it if I nag him....and, I'm pretty good at nagging. 

[Sluff]

Highlite I'm glad it's over and that you are better but I truly think it was the guacamole.    I'm sorry you had to go through that though. 

[KICKSTART]

So sorry you had to go through all that and glad you are better now Do you think you could find out what they gave you and smuggle us all a bit out !

[rose1999]

Sounds horrid, glad you are better now, take it easy  

[Psim]

What an ordeal! Glad you're better now. And glad you had some good drugs (nice doggy, pat pat, nice doggy).

[KT0930]

I never knew it was THAT easy to get peritonitis! From people breathing?? I got it once, but never knew where it came from...and you're right, it hurts like the dickens! Glad you're on the mend, and so are your parents  Take care of yourself.

[Ken Shelmerdine]

Sorry to hear about this Highlite it must be an awful experience. I've not had it yet (touch wood) but I'm dreading of when I do.

[devon]

I'm glad you're on the better side of that issue!

Jeeze! It sounds terrible!


This emoticon says it well.... 


I hope you don't have to ever experience that again!

-Devon

[st789]

I got it twice.  Hurt like hell.  Take care.