Re: Back Surgery, osteomylitis

In Reply to: Re: Back Surgery, Staph, and Osteomylitis posted by Brenda on January 15, 2000 at 16:01:08:

: : I ruptured a disk at work, laminectomy May 24, 99 Did'nt go well 2nd lami. June 25, 1999 one week later high fever and could'nt walk, re-admitted to hosp. they found Staph. went home on IV antibiotics, for 8 weeks, off IV's 1 wk. and re-admitted to hosp. in terrible shape, now with Osteomylitis, back home and have been on 1.4 grams of Vancomycin IV twice a day since Sept. I had to have a Port-a-cath inserted in my chest because my veins wore out!!!! It has been a true nightmare, I never have any energy and my whole life has changed, I am only 41 yrs. old. If anyone knows anything about all this, I would love to hear from you, I have 5 more months of IV's to go, seems a bit lengthy, and what will happen when I go off of them this time? The pain is horrible, and never goes away. Thanks for listening, and God Bless, Liz

: Liz,
: My husband had back surgery Dec 3, 1999. Nerve decompression.
: On Dec 17, 1999 was admitted back into hospital because of staph.
: The staph was deep in the wound. Surgeon said the staph was on
: the bone but did not indicated osteomylitis. He is on Vanco 1.5
: a day for 6 weeks. We are seeing an infectious disease doctor,
: are you? You probably should be. My husband had a pic line
: inserted in his arm because you can not give vanco continuously
: through a regular IV, it destroyes the veins. Our problems is
: that his blood count is missed up. White count low, red count
: low, MCH low, RDW high, etc, etc. We are now seeing a blood
: doctor. Ran more test, will know next week. When he takes the
: vanco WBC really goes low, in the critical area. Would love to
: visit with you and offer any incouragement I could. Brenda

I found that I was not able to lift or carry things that I used to, and had difficulty walking. I ended up in the ER of a hospital. After much testing I was diagnosed with osteomylitis, medication was not working as it should and ended up with a laminectomy. Had 3 surgeries, 3 months hospitalization, and 6 weeks IV medication at home. Now I am finding that I am not moving as easily and my back is begining to bother me again. Is it possible to have this reoccur?