Wheeler has been struck down by the dreaded pseudomonas bacteria in his bladder. Its a particularly nasty bug that it exceptionally hard to kill, in fact, most of the time it can only be (marginally) controlled, not actually eradicated. So yesterday, we went in to the urologist dreading it because we knew that the only treatment was with antibiotics given by IV, which meant a stay in the hospital for a few days or a PICC line and home treatment. Problem is, we don't have home health care benefits so it would have meant a hospital stay, which is reallllllllly a pain for oh so many reasons. Not least of its an excellent place to get sicker, not better, particularly when dealing with a UTI in a spinal cord injured person.
However, it turns out that the doc recommended gentamyacin, which can be given by IV or by IM injection, a huge dose given every day for 7 days. So, he got an injection there in the office and we were supposed to come back every day to have another injection every day. The weekend was a problem though, since they are closed, so I asked if I could do it. Sure! Then I realized, well, if I'm gonna do it over the weekend, I might as well do it all and save us the 2 hours a day it would take minimum to get there and back ... and the $60 COPAY for a specialist visit every day. Gulp. More on that in a minuute. So, the girl (I'm a pig, I know, I know, but she was a girl) showed me how to do it, the doc gave us the prescription, called our pharmacist who ordered the meds in so they would be here today. They loaded us up with syringes and needles, and I got the meds today.
I stared down the bottle, the needle, the syringe and went for it. Swabbed top of the vial with alcohol, pushed 2 ml of air into container, just as the pharmacist told me to do to avoid a vacuum when sucking the drug out. Drew up the 2 mL of drug. Failed. I only got about 1.25 mL. And given it vitally impt to get all of this medicine down the muscle hatch, I was a bit distressed. Luckily, I had them write him for an extra day's worth of drug for just this reason, so I got another needle and tried again. Success this time. Swabbed his leg with alcohol, jabbed him, Then I went for the second dose (third vial) because he has to take 4 ml (80 mg of gent) and failed again, same thing, could only pull up about 1.25 mL even though I did it the same way. Hmmm. Not wanting to waste another vial, I gave him the 1.25 mL injection, then put a new needle on the syringe, alcohol swabbed the top off again, then plunged it in and pulled up the remaining gent. Jabbed him again (the one small advantage is that he doesn't feel any of this thank god .... then again, not being able to feel, this whole paralysis thing, is how he got the UTI to start with... hmmm, I guess its a draw). As I'm jabbing him he says "You're not pushing air in there are you?!". So now with visions of air emboli hurtling through his body and choking off his brain in less than 30 seconds, I push the remaining gent in and wait for him to die. Thankfully, he didn't die (yet).
I had no idea it was so intimidating to give an injection. Only 6 more days of this, by which time I'll be an expert. Wheeler said that I've watched enough Intervention on A & E that I oughta know how to do this by now. True that. If heroin addicts can do it, so can I. I bet they worry less though.
And if anyone wants an injection, let me know. Just bring your own drug of choice, the gent is ours.
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