I was discharged yesterday afternoon. While I was in the hospital they fitted a mid-line so I can continue the intravenous antibiotics at home. Apprently a particularly nasty bacteria has taken up residence in my lungs and has now officially been served with an eviction notice. It was ignored, so the sheriff has been called to remove the bastard.
The IV routine isn’t all that difficult; certainly no more difficult than any of the other medical adventures I’ve gone through since 2004. It’s just very time consuming. (The pharmacy that’s supplying the medication did not have the 200 mg dose available that was requested so they provided two 100 mg doses each, effectively doubling the infusion time. ) Still, it’s better than being stuck in the hospital for the next five days.
And though there’s no proven correlation, I can’t help but think that these recurring pneumonias are related to the cellulitis-like skin rash I’ve been fighting for the same length of time. All this time I’ve been referring to it as “Keytruda Rash” but it may in fact be caused by the same bacteria that’s squatting in my lungs. Keytruda didn’t cause these maladies; but it sure as heck opened the door to the bugs via the compromised immune system it is responsible for.
It will be interesting to see if the rash clears up more quickly than it had been with this new therapy. If it does, then I would say that confirms my hypothesis.
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