Treating the Infection at Home

It was a nasty complication.....infection had set in and would have to be treated intravenously. After three days in the hospital Jack was given a choice. I could remain in the hospital to have the infection treated or Jack could bring me home and treat the infection himself under the supervision of the Hospital Pharmaceutical Inc. Health Services which is a private home health service. They would supply the training, the medicine bags, the tubing, the needles and everything that would be needed. Jack elected to bring me a home. He would have to drive me back to Columbia every week to pick up another supply of medicine and to have a new Heparin lock inserted in my left arm which would allow him - to inject the bags of antibiotic medicine.

His instructions were:

1. Get bag out of refrigerator and warm it up

2. Replace old bag with new bag

3. Get rid of old medicine in tube before you let new medicine in.

4.Let new medicine down in tube- get rid of air bubbles in tube

5. Change tube each day new medicine in bubbles in tube

6. Use saline solution to clean out rubber end of IV

7. Put needle in IV.

8. Put heparin solution in IV.

9. Put saline solution in IV

Use 4 needles a day.

He makes a note to himself: Every time I put needle in rubber end of in, I wipe it with alcohol

This procedure every six hours, 2 PM, 8 PM, 2 AM, 8 AM, would take about 20 minutes and after eight weeks finally knocked the infection out.

We were both so glad to get back to sleeping through the night.