Hi friends,

Long time no update.... :)

Today was my last follow up appointment with Infectious Disease. Since my last update, there have been some changes. Right before Christmas, I had a follow-up appointment with Infectious Disease. The day before this appointment I had my routine weekly blood work and PICC-line dressing change with my nurse Toni. She would come to my work and hang out with me to do this for about 15 minutes every week since I came home from the hospital. She and I would chat medical things and animal rescue things. Turned out that day was my last day seeing her.

Within an hour after seeing Toni I got a call from HealthPartners asking if I felt sick and letting me know that my WBC (white blood cell count) was down. There is also a specific kind of WBC called neutrophils. These little neutrophils are important in fighting off infections from bacteria. Well, my count was ZERO. Basically, I had no immune system keeping me from getting sick/fighting the infection I already had. So this was a problem. The nurse informed me to stay away from sick people and just be extra cautious. She informed me that she would speak with a doctor and they would call me back if need be. They called me back later that evening and informed me that I needed to skip doing my antibiotic that day if I hadn't already infused it. They also told me since I already had an appointment the next day that they would talk to me more about it then but they let me know that I was probably going to stop with the IV antibiotic infusions and switch to oral antibiotics. I found out at my appointment the antibiotic was causing the WBC to drop and keeping my body from making neutrophils. So I had to start taking oral antibiotics instead. They instructed me to start taking Cephalexin 500mg three times a day. So with switching to oral antibiotics meant I got to get my PICC-line out. It was a total of 38cm long. I didn't feel anything getting it out. I was so happy that it meant I was able to shower like a normal person again! 

I finished my last oral antibiotics on Friday (1/4/19). I was so excited for my appointment that I had today. I was hoping that it would be good news. Thankfully my WBC and neutrophils shot back up to normal levels within a few days and I was told that I can be done with antibiotics!!!! Woooo!!!! 

So hopefully that concludes this journey. I'm happy that it's finally over with. I still have a little bit of swelling and firmness where the infection was. I did have surgery and they had to get all up in there and clean out everything really well. So I'm expecting that will take a while to completely disappear. I just can't wait for when I can fully open my jaw again so I can eat a burger or a sandwich. :) 

Thanks for tagging along and being there for me. It's meant the world to me. 

Emilie