Please excuse my use of Lactnet for this.
I have received 60-70 emails a day since my daughter posted her message to
all of you. I could never write to thank you all individually.
Those messages of love and support came from people all over the world ,of
all beliefs, tied together by a common thread--Lactnet. I feel like George
Bailey in that American Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life." In the
very beginning of the movie, voices are calling out his name in thought and
prayer. The Deity cannot ignore their pleas and sends an angel to help him
through his troubles.

You were the voices. You are all my angels. O :-)

I was started on IV antibiotics last Sunday. They wanted to use Vancomycin
but I had a severe reaction to it in less than 10 minutes. So I was switched
to Gentamycin and Clindamycin. After battling with this since June,  early
Tuesday morning, I was feeling like an human being again. The low grade
fever, cold sweats and fatigue were all gone. My appetite even returned.
(I've  lost 30 pounds during this ordeal).
I received the good news Friday that the Gallium scan showed no evidence of a
bone infection. The odd thing is that whatever those gram negative rods were,
they refused to grow in a culture dish with antibiotics (sensitivity). They
only grew in the original blood culture vials. A number of other tests showed
no infection except for large colonies of yeast in my intestine.

Did the gram negative rods disappear magically or were they never a threat in
the first place? I prefer to think it was all that positive energy directed
my way.

The infectious disease specialist still isn't sure what happened but she has
an idea.  Here's the scenario on how it may have gotten in my blood stream:
The antibiotics killed off all the good intestinal bacteria and caused a
colitis type situation. I had vomiting and horrible diarrhea during my
previous 6 weeks of IV antibiotic treatment.  The offending bacteria, one
that was most likely  a  part of my normal intestinal flora,  was absorbed
into the blood stream through the irritated wall of the GI tract.
There  was just enough bacteria to give me vague physical symptoms but
nothing that drew the doctor's attention in the direction of infection.  [I
won't go into all the things my ortho doctor thought were going on but
suffice it to say he didn't think it was physical.]
I had my last IV dose on Saturday (after 7 days of treatment) and I still
feel very well. If (God forbid) the symptoms return, the infectious disease
doctor wants to do all the lab tests BEFORE they start antibiotics again.

I am taking Acidophilus (10 mg equal to 100 million active lactobacillus
acidophilus) three times a day for the yeast in the intestinal tract. If
anyone knows if I should be taking more or something else, please let me
know. Also how long should I take it?

The LC in me learned  that we can never take the use of antibiotics lightly.
Wether used during labor for prophylaxis (I have to take antibiotics just to
get my teeth cleaned) or used for treatment of mastitis. We must remain aware
when prescribing, that any antibiotic can cause a superimposed infection.
Most often we as LC's  see yeast as a result but other pathogenic bacteria
are also possible.
One last thought: we, a medical providers,  have to LISTEN to our patients
and our instincts. We can not let *vague complaints* or *vague concerns*
misdirect our thoughts and point us away from further investigation. Our
popular culture is such that, on a whole, we believe that illness is a sign
of weakness in personality.  We tend to think that  people are just
complainers, or  overly concerned new mothers,  or (worse yet) malingerers,
especially when we can't SEE anything wrong.

Thank you and keep me in your thoughts. I'm not out of the woods yet but I
sure can see a LOT of daylight!!!!

Marie Davis RN, IBCLC