Thursday, August 23, 2012

Cancer or C. Diff Leftovers?

Larry's endoscopy showed some inflammation in his esophagus but no reason as to why he cannot keep food or drink down. After the procedure and when I left the hospital very late last night he was miserable. His stomach spasms are back and he is very anxious. It has now been 8 days since he had any food or drink. We are very worried that the pancreatic cancer is causing his problems. Looks like I will again have to ask about additional testing without someone deciding that it should be done. We have not had any Dr. explain what is next. Tomorrow I am contacting each Dr personally. I am also going to set up an appt. with someone in hospital administration about the lack of coordination, communication, poor decision making, poor response and why we are still in the dark after the 5th day of hospitalization.

Could his colon be messed up from the C. Diff? I was not able to find any information on spasm or vomiting with C. Diff. Larry had one negative stool culture C. Diff test. When I asked about false negatives, the answer was very vague. Again per the web, not the Dr's, I find that 3 negative stool tests is the best proof that it is under control. False negatives occur when specimens are not promptly tested or kept refrigerated until testing can be done.Clostridium difficile toxin is very unstable. The toxin degrades at room temperature and may be undetectable within 2 hours after collection of a stool specimen. Molecular tests: FDA-approved PCR assays, which test for the gene encoding toxin B, are highly sensitive and specific for the presence of a toxin-producing Clostridium difficile organism. http://www.cdc.gov/hai/organisms/cdiff/cdiff_faqs_hcp.html





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Thank you for commenting and letting me know you are keeping up to date on Larry's health. Please don't feel hurt if I don't comment back. My time has been very limited lately. Hugs, Melody