halfwhiteboy

(Continued from Part 2 ) In August 2007 I had undergone an ERCP ( endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography ) to remove the stones that were constricting the normal flow of my bile. The doctor opted for sphincterotomy to facilitate removal of the stones. And as luck--or lack thereof--would have it, I suffered from ascending cholangitis  shortly after being discharged. It's a complication suffered by a small percentage of patients who had such a procedure. So I was back to hospital confinement. Antibiotic treatment Since there were no more obstructions in my CBD, what was left to do was just treat the infection with antibiotics. I think they gave me Unasyn (ampicillin/sulbactam) then. Administered in drip form, this is a much faster way of releasing the medicine into the bloodstream. It also does not strain the liver because unlike tablets or capsules, the liver no longer needs to break the antibiotics down into usable components for the body. After all, my liver had jus...

(Continued from Part 1 ) The culprit for my vomiting, abdominal and back pains has been identified: I had stones in my common bile duct (CBD). These stones constrict the normal flow of bile from the gallbladder to the duodenum, resulting in dilation of the bile ducts and inflammation of the liver. Jaundice is also often observed in patients. Because of the dilation, this obstruction also puts pressure on adjacent internal organs, hence, the sharp pain and vomiting. If left unattended, this could cause infection and can even be life-threatening. This presence of stones in the CBD is known as choledocholithiasis . While stones that end up in the CBD are often gallstones, mine was not the case as my gallbladder was clear, meaning, the stones weren't formed there. What x-ray and ultrasound imagery found, however, was that I also had multiple stones all throughout the intrahepatic ducts of my liver. This other condition is known as hepatolithiasis . An x-ray shot of an ERCP pr...

Another hospital confinement had just been averted, thank God. Had it not, I would have been holed up in Makati Med for at least a week--again (although it's been a year since my last). Blood cultures don't show growth until the third day. While it's often enough time to determine if the bacterial strain is gram-positive or gram-negative, it takes a full five to seven days before the particular type of bacteria can be identified. Because certain bacteria are resistant to certain antibiotics, only then can the doctors be sure if the antibiotics they're giving me will really work against those pesky microorganisms. Do the math; that's approximately how long I need to be confined at the minimum. Had I not avoided confinement, I would have been tethered to a pole once again. And no, there's no wireless tethering available. Saturday towards noon I started having chills. It was an all-too-familiar scenario for us, one that we definitely do not welcome at all....