Help Devon heal her kidneys
Donation protected
Please help, Devon has a job without insurance and has already missed 10 days of wages and is being ordered to miss 2 more weeks. She is at risk of losing her car and her home because of medical issues.
Devon is in isolation at Shadyside hospital since Monday 8/6 and will be here until at least tomorrow. They’re trying to convince her to get an IV picc line in her neck/arm/heart whatever so she can continue care at home. She’s been on fluids and broad spectrum antibiotics via IV since Monday but the antibiotics are not working against the bacteria infection in her kidneys. The bacteria she’s got (that we’ve all got) has developed an enzyme (that’s rare) and this enzyme is making common antibiotics useless. The enzyme chews up penicillin and cephalosporin like candy.
Devon presented with what she thought was the flu or maybe appendicitis at the ED in Shadyside Monday morning. She was admitted before noon and I changed my flight to come home and be with her and have been advocating on her behalf ever since with doctors, nurses, phlebotomists, IV team and the infectious disease specialist. She has no appetite and can’t sleep because there are heart monitoring alarms going off 24/7 and every nurse, aide and doctor we ask about it says they should be ignored (then why are the alarms going off if they are just being ignored?!?! – yeah we asked that too). These alarms are for other patients on this ward, not Devon’s. She was on a heart monitor until yesterday but it’s been removed. Also they come and take her vitals every 4 hours, blood draws, etc. Lack of sleep is wearing her down.
She has multiple abscesses on her kidneys due to this infection which is caused by bacteria that has developed an enzyme called ESBL and requires IV antibiotics to eradicate from her kidneys. She’s going to need 10-14 days of IV antibiotics administered by home health care after this picc line is installed. The home health care nurses will also collect blood work to monitor her leukocytes once a week and I’m trying to schedule that for Mondays when I work from home. She’s going to hate Mondays more than Garfield.
The IV antibiotic that will be delivered in her picc line is ertapenem which is less susceptible to the enzyme that noms on penicillin (and its ilk). Ertapenem (brand name Invanz) isn’t available in pill form so this lucky girl gets a port in her neck.
Devon is in isolation at Shadyside hospital since Monday 8/6 and will be here until at least tomorrow. They’re trying to convince her to get an IV picc line in her neck/arm/heart whatever so she can continue care at home. She’s been on fluids and broad spectrum antibiotics via IV since Monday but the antibiotics are not working against the bacteria infection in her kidneys. The bacteria she’s got (that we’ve all got) has developed an enzyme (that’s rare) and this enzyme is making common antibiotics useless. The enzyme chews up penicillin and cephalosporin like candy.
Devon presented with what she thought was the flu or maybe appendicitis at the ED in Shadyside Monday morning. She was admitted before noon and I changed my flight to come home and be with her and have been advocating on her behalf ever since with doctors, nurses, phlebotomists, IV team and the infectious disease specialist. She has no appetite and can’t sleep because there are heart monitoring alarms going off 24/7 and every nurse, aide and doctor we ask about it says they should be ignored (then why are the alarms going off if they are just being ignored?!?! – yeah we asked that too). These alarms are for other patients on this ward, not Devon’s. She was on a heart monitor until yesterday but it’s been removed. Also they come and take her vitals every 4 hours, blood draws, etc. Lack of sleep is wearing her down.
She has multiple abscesses on her kidneys due to this infection which is caused by bacteria that has developed an enzyme called ESBL and requires IV antibiotics to eradicate from her kidneys. She’s going to need 10-14 days of IV antibiotics administered by home health care after this picc line is installed. The home health care nurses will also collect blood work to monitor her leukocytes once a week and I’m trying to schedule that for Mondays when I work from home. She’s going to hate Mondays more than Garfield.
The IV antibiotic that will be delivered in her picc line is ertapenem which is less susceptible to the enzyme that noms on penicillin (and its ilk). Ertapenem (brand name Invanz) isn’t available in pill form so this lucky girl gets a port in her neck.
Organizer
Heather Covington
Organizer
Pittsburgh, PA