nephrostomy tubes and UTI

• By RockabyeBailey
• Reply 3358249
• September 8, 2012 at 11:44 am
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Please forgive me if I mention your age but if you have Medicare (or any Insurance) why don't you get your dr. to order Home Health Nurses to do your IV Therapy or even teach you do do it on your own. Also, with your chronic UTI's, what length of treatment do they usually give you? If the bacteria you have is colognized in your body, you may need two or three sessions of antibiotics one after the other. Also, once you complete whatever treatment session you are on, you should wait at least 4-7 days after your past antibiotic dose and have another urine culture done to make sure that the infection is actually gone. Another thing to ask your doctors is to do a blood culture to see if perhaps the VRE is in your blood stream and then going to your urine instead of just considering that it is only in your urine and treating that infection/symptom.

Hope that helps and I am a Nurse and used to do Home Health so no matter where you live, there should be an agency that would service you. Unfortunately most doctors and hospitals fail to offer that option to their patients usually due to lack of ingorgance on their part or maybe they don't want to lose the revenue. Currently I work in a hospital and I see patients coming back to the hospital one to two times a day for antibiotic therapy or catheter changes when they could have both done in their home by Home Health.

• By jillypooo
• Reply 3358476 · In reply to 3358249 by RockabyeBailey
• September 8, 2012 at 1:07 pm
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WE take care of my lines ourselves...This is not the problem...I go to MDAnderson CA Center. I've had 3 different cancers and now have a tumor on my bone, probably from having massive does of radiation in 1973. Yes, I have medicare and we know more about taking care of the sites than they do. I have had Home Health many times, but they do not mess with my lines. I have an IJ line because my veins are so scarred up, that is the only vein I have left that will work for this line. They do not put these in at home....I am put completely out and it is done in intervention radiation.They say that my case is very complicated. I've been to numerous urologists. I do all of the above that u are saying with the antibiotics. I've had so many that I am immune to so many. Right now I'm on ant-biotic for a different reason, and we are hoping it does not get into the blood stream. I've had sepsis twice. Coded twice and the last time I had CPR and the shot to the heart. They brought me back and no brain damage. I'm blessed.

I keep thinking there have to be other people who are having this UTI problem and what are they doing??

• By RockabyeBailey
• Reply 3359207 · In reply to 3358476 by jillypooo
• September 8, 2012 at 6:37 pm
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You are saying that your Home Health never did any IV Therapy? I am amazed if that is right. It sounds like you are well versed in your care. My only thought in mentioning what I did was that at least with Home Health you could stay home for at least your IV Therapy. I hope someone who has similiar issues as yours can offer some more suggestions. I wish you the best and hope someone can figure out something to help you.