After 10 surgeries in 3 years, and probably hundreds of attempts to grow cultures...
an intra-operative deep tissue culture sample finally grew something!
As was often opined, the bastard culprit turned out to be an ordinary ugly old bug that we all have on our skin. Propionibacterium acnes, however, just adores creating little thriving bio-communities on orthopedic hardware.
It's a bear to get rid of (as the last three years have surely shown) and I am down, essentially, to one antibiotic.
Somehow, though, just having a name and imagining an ugly little butt-smushed smarmy face to it makes the battle seem more... winnable.
There's some suspicion (mostly mine) that the ugly little butt-smushed smarmy faced bastardized community piled into a stolen VW bus and made tracks to my right hip.
One war at a time... One war at a time.
So the hope now is that my liver enzymes and muscles will tolerate the antibiotic for about 5 more weeks, followed by signs of victory, like a low white count, and normal ESRs and CRPs, no fevers, and all that stuff.
Then it's on to the hip!
did i make the right decision, to remove the shoulder? tell me i made the right decision... but i ain't removin' no damn hips...
an intra-operative deep tissue culture sample finally grew something!
As was often opined, the bastard culprit turned out to be an ordinary ugly old bug that we all have on our skin. Propionibacterium acnes, however, just adores creating little thriving bio-communities on orthopedic hardware.
It's a bear to get rid of (as the last three years have surely shown) and I am down, essentially, to one antibiotic.
Somehow, though, just having a name and imagining an ugly little butt-smushed smarmy face to it makes the battle seem more... winnable.
There's some suspicion (mostly mine) that the ugly little butt-smushed smarmy faced bastardized community piled into a stolen VW bus and made tracks to my right hip.
One war at a time... One war at a time.
So the hope now is that my liver enzymes and muscles will tolerate the antibiotic for about 5 more weeks, followed by signs of victory, like a low white count, and normal ESRs and CRPs, no fevers, and all that stuff.
Then it's on to the hip!
did i make the right decision, to remove the shoulder? tell me i made the right decision... but i ain't removin' no damn hips...
Well I was going to look for a real photo, but found this instead and couldn't resist. Is this a butt-smushed enough face for you?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.staticmiss.com/imgs/normal/2008/09/19/peluche_del_acne_propionibacterium_acnes.jpg
Congratulations on the discovery of your little *friends*.
TAM
TAM, you'll excuse me, as i am typing while dancing with carnies-in-rehab (a very funky line dance), shouting with joy, and spinning angels on the tips of my disintegrating nails, as SCOTUS just did the right thing...
ReplyDeletebut... i did want to offer up a photo of the seamier, steamier side of Propionibacterium acnes, the perverted fiend:
http://www.alice-dsl.net/holgerbrueggemann/prop/start.htm
[photo unsuitanble for kiddies]
Take care,
Prof
Hmm very interesting reading, thank you. But no kiddy-scaring photo? Did I forget to click something?
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your dance with the carnies :)
TAM