BRUCE CHAMBERS JOURNEY
E. COLI BACTERIAL INFECTION AND HOSPITIALIZATION
MAY 20TH – MAY 27TH 2011
In April 2011 I had my regular physical exam and my PSA was elevated to 4.7 from .9 prior annual physical. My Family Doctor, Dr. Hanna, put me on antibiotic Cipro for 4 weeks ending May 3rd to determine if the elevated PSA was caused by an infection. On May 3rd Dr Hanna rechecked my PSA and it was 4.4 so he sent me to a Urologist at Palmetto Greenville Urology. I selected Urologist Dr. Andrew Bullock in the PG Urology Group.
On Thursday May 19th 2011:
At 11:00am went to Dr. Andrew Bullock/Palmetto Greenville Urology for a prostate biopsy, at which time he took 12 tissue samples. Except for the needle to numb the prostate, it was uneventful. Dr Bullock said to call him immediately if I got a temperature of 100.5 or greater or if blood in my unrine increased.
On Friday morning May 20th:
I was feeling good and even told Dianne that I wanted to cut my grass, and she readily said, you are not going to do that, Chad will cut the grass for you.
Around 5:00pm we took our granddaughter Bella to Barnes and Noble for story time, and then met our son Chad to listen to live music outside. Chad and Dianne got Bella some ice cream and asked me if I wanted some, and I said no, which was probably the first time ever I did not want ice cream. I was beginning to feel weak and somewhat nauseous.
About 6:00pm I told Dianne that I needed to go home since I was feeling worse and worse.
By 6:30pm my temperature soared past 100.5 and Dianne called Palmetto Greenville Urology after hours answering service and asked them to contact the Urologist on call for the weekend to call us. The answering service said the Doctor would call within 20-30 minutes. My temperature had now escalated quickly to over 102.0, I was urinating bright red blood, had bad headache, and awful chills.
Dianne called Palmetto Greenville Urology 4 more times and did not receive a return phone call from the Urologist on duty.
I was now having severe chills, all my muscles were quivering uncontrollably, my head was throbbing, the blood in my urine was getting greater, extremely nauseous, and my temperature was up to 102.8. I really felt like my body was being taken over by some infection and I had to have help immediately. My son Chad told Dianne that we have to quickly take Dad to the closest Emergency Room which was St. Francis Eastside.
At 7:30pm Dianne took me to St. Francis Eastside Emergency Room and they took me back fairly quickly after she told them how bad I was getting over the last several hours. The ER took my vitals, put me on IV fluids, gave me more Tylenol, took urine sample and blood sample. Dianne asked the Nurse as well as Dr Hale/ER Doctor to again call Palmetto Urology.
St Francis ER called Palmetto Greenville Urology multiple times and never received a return phone call while I was in the ER from 7:30 pm Friday night until 6:30am the next morning when I was released.
Around 9:00pm Dr Hale came in and said I had urinary tract infection and put me on an IV of Cipro, which is commonly used to treat urinary tract infections and prostatitis. [However, the blood culture received the following Thursday revealed that the bacterial microorganism in my blood was a strain of E. Coli which was resistent to Cipro - which means Cipro was having no effect on treating the E Coli in my blood stream]
Saturday morning May 21st:
By 6:00am early morning I was somewhat stabilized and Dr Hale said I could go home. He gave me prescription for Cipro, Hydrocodone with 500mg Tylenol, and Phenergan for nauseau.
Saturday afternoon May 21st:
After Dianne took me home Saturday morning at 6:30 am, Dr. Monroe/Palmetto Greenville Urology finally called Saturday at 12:30pm from St Francis Hospital phone. He stated that he had not received any of our phone messages when we had had called him Friday night, nor did he receive any messages that St Francis had called him while I was in St Francis Eastside ER. My wife Dianne told Dr Monoe what had transpired since Friday afternoon starting around 5:00pm, as well as the prescriptions that Dr Hale had given me. Dr Monroe gave Dianne his cell phone number in case we needed him over the weekend.
Saturday night at 7:00pm Dianne called Dr Monroe's cell phone because my fever continued to spike, and now was up to 102.0 again and I was having severe chills, muscle spasms, vomiting, still urinating a red stream of blood, pain when urinating, could not empty my bladder, nausea, and a bad headache. Dr Monoe and he told her to give me the 1000mg of tylenol every 3 ½ hours versus 4, which seemed to minimize the severe spikes in my fever that night, but my fever stayed still over 100.0. Dr Monroe said I needed to call the office Monday morning and come in and see one of the Urologists [info: my Urologist Dr Bullock was on vacation for the week].
Sunday May 22nd:
My fever stayed over 100.0, urinating blood, continuous nauseousness, could not empty my bladder, pain when urinating, hard to urinate and could not produce a steady stream, trying to urinate every 10-15 minutes, continuous headache, and getting weaker.
Monday May 23rd:
At 8:00am I called Palmetto Greenville Urology and told the receptionist what had happened over the weekend and that Dr. Monroe had told me to call 1st thing Monday morning and see one of the Doctors. The receptionist stated that all the Doctors were booked for the day. I told her I had to see a Doctor today and that Dr. Monroe had told me to call and schedule an appointment Monday morning. She said, I do not know why we are so booked today. She said, hold on, and then put someone else on the phone and I told her that the same story, and she said she could get me in to see the Nurse Practioner. I told her I need to see a Doctor and not a Nurse Practioner, and she said hold on. then someone else came on the phone and said to come in at 1:45pm to see Dr Sterrett.
Dianne took me to my 1:45pm appointment with Dr Sterrett he talked to us about what was going on. He then took urine and blood sample and came back in and said we need to get you in the hospital immediately. In 5 minutes he had my papers and Dianne took me straight to St Francis downtown and my Room 617 was ready.
At 2:30pm I was in Room 617 at St Francis.
The Nurse started an IV with fluids, took my vitals, and blood and urine samples.
I was told that I had gram negative rods bacterial infection; which is a class that could be one of a thousand bacterial infections. However, the Vancomycin and Gentamcin were the strongest antibiotics for gram negative organisms and should work effectively until the culture results come back from the lab with the specific bacteria identified. In addition to the gram negative rod infection in the blood, there was a urinary tract infection as well as prostatitis of the prostate.
Then I was given intravenous antibiotics Vancomycin and Gentamicin which are used to treat the most serious blood infections, one oral tablet of Flomax daily which was used to treat my enlarged prostate and make it so I could urinate, as well as 650mg tylenol every 4-6 hours for my fever.
I was having such a hard time urinating, could not empty my bladder, blood in urine, and the pain in my bladder was horrendous.
I really wondered if I was going to make it. My body was getting weaker. I was having urges to urinate every 5-10 minutes and had to get up and down constantly. Dianne had to help me every time I got up because I was so weak, and being hooked up to an IV it was so hard to go back and forth to the bathroom. I could not sleep and had not really slept since last Thursday night before I got sick on Friday.
Dianne spent 24 hours a day every day with me in the hospital and we were up all night. Dr Sterrett gave me ambien to try to get some sleep, but since I was up and down so much with urinating, I could not sleep even with the ambien. I felt so sorry for Dianne because she had no rest since last Thursday night before I went into the hospital emergency room on Friday evening.
Tuesday May 24th:
This was the worst day of my life and I really prayed that God would help me pull through it even though I felt like I was going down hill fast. It was very scarey because it felt as if my body was shutting down. They told me I had to eat and I was so weak that I tried to open my cereal box for breakfast that morning and did not have enough strength to open the box, and Dianne had to open it for me. The IV fluids were administered 24 hours/day at 3 times the normal rate in order to hydrate my body which also made me have to urinate more and that was so so painful.
Dr Sterrett came to see me at 7:00am and said the blood culture results should be ready in hopefully 2-3 days and they could then tell what was the specific bacteria organism in my blood. However, he did know the blood infection was in the bacterial class of infections called gram negative rods, and in the meantime he had me on the strongest antibiotics to treat the gram negative rods as well as the prostatitis and urinary infections.
Dr. Sterrett said it would be several days and I would see improvement.
Even though I was having such a hard time urinating, he did not want to give me a cathecter because he said he did not want to do anything to irritate the prostate any more than it was already.
The pain to urinate was horrible as I could only drip urine for 5 seconds and stop. Every 5-10 minutes I was having severe pain and urges to urinate. I had gotten diarrhea and when I would strain to urinate I would have diarrhea. The nurse brought me diapers so that I would not do it in my underwear or on the floor every time I got up. My rump got so irritated that Dianne brought me sensitive wipes and cortisone with 1% hydrocortisone to use to help with the irritation.
I was so weak that Dianne had to help me out of the bed every time to be able to get to the bathroom every 5-10 minutes.
We stayed up all day and all night and Dianne was my little Angel who was by my side every minute and was my constant prayer warrior. What a real blessing my Sweetie has been in my life for 38 years. God blessed me with an earthly Angel who has always been my Sweetheart and Soulmate. I was fighting for her as well as myself. I was asking God to give me strength to fight to live because I know he has more plans for me on this earth.
Wednesday May 25th:
Dr Sterrett came by at 7:00am and said they still do not have the culture results, and hopefully by tomorrow. Dr Sterrett said I have to get up and walk some because of potential blood clots by not moving my legs.
Today I was now beginning to urinate a slight stream instead of dribbling but could in no way come close to emptying my bladder, and therefore I was urinating every 20-30 minutes. The pain was not quite as bad as yesterday and I constantly prayed that I would keep improving.
Thursday May 26th:
Dr Sterrett came by at 7:00am in scrubs to see how I was doing. He stated the culture may be available today.
Dr Sterrett came by at 11:00am and said that the culture results were in and that I had E. Coli bacterial infection in my blood stream. He was going to put me on 2 oral antibiotics for 2 weeks that specifically targeted E. Coli and they would kill the bacterial infection.
Dr Sterrett said I could stay for rest of the day and take my Gentamicin at 6:00pm or I could go leave the hospital now and start my oral antibiotics - it was my choice.
Dianne and I talked about it and decided that since my day did not end until 12:00 midnight, we would stay and I would take my last IV of Gentamicin antibiotic at 6:00pm.
Dr Sterrett was God sent, and I could not have asked for a better Urologist that made the very best decisions to pull me through this horrible ordeal. Once he saw me Monday he knew from looking at me that I was very very sick. He said you need to go to the hospital immediately without any hesitation. He said you are also extremely dehydrated and need hydration quickly.
Dr Sterrett made the correct decisions in everything that was done and I attribute my life to his decisions and most of all my Lord God above who gave him the wisdom to do so.
My sweetheart Dianne was by my side 24 hours a day from Friday May 20th until she took me home on Thursday night May 26th. She did not sleep hardly any, even though she had a pull out bed right beside my hospital bed. God bless you baby, I love you so much Sweetheart!
Friday May 27th:
Called Dr Sterrett about thrush mouth and he called me in a prescription.
Thursday June 2nd:
Met with Urologist Dr. Bullock today and he confirmed “no” prostate cancer in the 12 biopsies. I broke down and cried when he told me the great news. Thanks to my Lord and Saviour for his abundant grace!
I am continuing treatment of the E Coli infection with antibiotics Macrobid and Vantin for another week. Dr Bullock wants me to continue the Flomax indefinitely.
Dr. Bullock has scheduled my appointment in 6 months to check my PSA. He stated my PSA baseline at that time will be 4.7 since I do not have cancer with my PSA at 4.7. He stated that he has some patients with PSA at 15 and 22 who do not have prostate cancer.
You know, only God knows why these things happen and it again opens my eyes to the fact that God is in "total" control and in the blink of an eye your life or mine can change drastically.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9 the Lord says "My grace is sufficient for thee". In this life the Lord does not always remove suffering and struggles in our lives, but he says he will give us the grace to bear the suffering. God has given me the divine strength to bear this pain and suffering, and we can be assured that when we feel our weakness God will, by his grace, strengthen us.
I could not begin to thank my friends and family and many that do not even know me for all the prayers, phone calls, emails that we have received during this period of difficulty. I felt the power of prayer and out pouring of love in my healing.
God bless.
BRUCE CHAMBERS
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