12 Days of Antibiotics

Karen was released Saturday evening, and did we sleep in today! She's feeling better since starting the new antibiotic. In fact, she's feeling better than she's felt in months. This again makes me wonder if this infection had been around for a while. Perhaps some other issues we've been dealing with were related to this infection? Despite receiving ertapenem, the antibiotic, once a day for 3 days in the hospital, we've been prescribed another 12 doses over 12 days. They aren't taking any chances with this one. The only way to administer this antibiotic is via IV, so our options were either home health care, or coming into Mayo Clinic every day. It's a half hour drive, but we've opted to come in. Karen did well when we had radiation every day for 3 weeks, and we like the quality of the care we receive at Mayo. We actually had our first infusion today and it went smoothly. We received the same great care and accommodations we've come to expect from Mayo and are happy with the decision.

As far as home health care is concerned, over the years we've probably had six or seven different home care nurses, but there was only ever one we really liked. Perhaps Mayo has spoiled us, but a lot of home health nurses don't measure up. And the one we did like ended up getting a job somewhere else, but the company wouldn't say where. We've primarily used Arizona Home Care. It's recommended by Mayo and is covered by our insurance. They claim to be the largest home health care provider in Arizona, but we've never had much luck with them. Each nurse seems to have their own ideas of how things should be done, and what is and isn't sanitary. This lack of consistency causes concern. While they try to give you the same nurse each time for the same procedure, when a substitute comes by they often do things in an entirely different way. This either leaves you worried about how the current nurse did something, or how the previous nurse had done it. They also have to call from your home phone to prove they were here, but we don't have a home phone line. So one of us has to unlock our mobile phone and hand it to them to use, which can be a bit uncomfortable with a stranger. Surely they could lend the nurses a company phone and use that to track their GPS coordinates - or at the very least ask them to install something on their personal phone that will track their coordinates while they're working. Sure, there are other home health care companies, but we don't have any recommendations from anyone we trust, and this feels too important to leave up to chance.