So Mom had this really nasty gastrointestinal bug called C. Difficile, difficile being French for difficult, since it’s a bear to get rid of. After one course of Flagyl, she tested negative. Fingers crossed she stays that way.
It seemed to me, a hospital would be better equipped to deal with … er … the side effects of a gastro bug. Seemed to me it would be easier to keep her environment sterile there. But guess what? Turns out they don’t hospitalize for C.Diff anymore, unless blah blah not my mom.
The ER where I took her twice (once they said she was dehydrated; the second time they said I was probably giving her too much water) gave me a paper on dealing with C.Diff. The home health angels her doctor ordered for her gave me more paper. But the internet gave me the best working advice.
Here’s what we did.
I changed her sheets every couple of days and her clothes and nightwear daily and washed them in hot water with bleach added. I took up her bathroom rugs and took her towels and washcloths and washed them in hot bleach water. She and I used paper towels to wash and dry. We washed our hands often and long.
I bought bleach spray and wiped down everything she touched. The pole that holds her feeding pump, her cane — I wiped everything down with bleach. Everywhere she sat had plastic protecting it. The clothes hamper where I put her stuff before taking it to the laundry room I sprayed with bleach.
So far, I don’t have it, Charlie doesn’t have it, and she tests negative for it. Now we have an appointment to have the rugs cleaned just to be on the super-duper safe side before anybody visits.
Her water bill and her electric bill were sky high for the month from all the washing, but man is it worth it!
I end this unappetizing post by directing you to Fatal Foodies, where I’m sharing an unappetizing dish Charlie made out of an ingredient I painstakingly prepared.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Write about a character fighting a dreadful infection.
MA
dan antion
September 12, 2017 at 7:55amI hope you have beaten this thing 🙂
Marian Allen
September 12, 2017 at 8:04amThanks, Dan. I sure hope so, too. It’s a bear!
joey
September 12, 2017 at 7:58amI will not have ketchup on my tofu, thank you.
I’m glad it looks like y’all have the all-clear on the sick. Sounds rotten and time-consuming, no wonder difficile. Rotavirus is the worst, time-consuming ick I’ve had to deal with in that arena. The second day, I recall my husband’s cousin came to pick up soiled linens and wash them at her house, because I literally could not keep up with the er, soil. I am forever grateful to her.
When my girls had it, my friend’s twins in another town had it (got it all together, they did) and one of her girls had to be hospitalized for severe dehydration.
Marian Allen
September 12, 2017 at 8:23amYeah, that part of it is pretty dreadful, for the sufferer and for the cleaner-upper. As hard as it was to keep up with one elderly lady, I can’t even imagine what it would be like to deal with kids’ output. Bless your husband’s cousin!
Holly
September 12, 2017 at 10:18amC. Diff can be deadly; glad you went full frontal attack mode on it. And no, a hospital is not the place to be if you’re not dying. There’s nothing much sterile about them, except maybe in neuro ICU, cancer isolation wards, and the OR. You can pick up some of the nastiest bugs there. Much better to be home with a loving, diligent daughter to single-handedly wage WAR on what’s attacking the ONLY patient she needs to care about.
Marian Allen
September 12, 2017 at 3:22pmI suppose you’re right. And I’m telling you: I went Rambo on that sucker.
Deborah
September 12, 2017 at 4:23pmI was going to say what Holly said. Hospitals are full of bugs, and sick people! Not the place you want to be.
I’m happy to hear your Mom is testing negative. I hope that continues, and you’ve beaten it!
BTW: Just last week I turned up the temp on my water heater so the water is REALLY hot. Hot enough to really kill the germs, and get my whites white…I hope!
Marian Allen
September 12, 2017 at 4:43pmDeborah, be careful with that REALLY hot water — you can scald yourself with tap water, if it’s hot enough. It sounds like Mom was lucky not to be admitted to the hospital! “…full of bugs, and sick people” — LOL!
Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt
September 12, 2017 at 8:12pmHospitals are not always optional. I spent a total of nine days this spring – long story – in two hospitals twice, ER and hospital rooms. I am so grateful I managed to emerge with nothing extra in the infections department.
The rest – I think the Post-Traumatic Stress is dying down, finally, but it was major.
Marian Allen
September 13, 2017 at 7:32amI remember reading about your nightmare experiences in the ER and hospital. And I do see the point. Now I remember the time when my grandfather was in the hospital and he and I caught a really nasty flu from a fellow patient. When Mom had C.Diff, I was reading online about hospital protocols to keep from spreading infections, but I don’t think all hospitals follow those protocols. I probably followed them more closely at home than some hospitals do.