More Thumb Drama... Boo!!

WARNING -This post is full of pretty boring, angst-inducing medical crap.

So this week has been pretty stressful. As I mentioned earlier, I was bit by a cat and got a nasty infection in my hand. Now it's been about six weeks and I've already taken three full courses of antibiotics (a different one each time). Still can't bend my thumb so on Tuesday I go to my GP Dr.F at Lakeside Family Physicians for the umpteenth time.

Dr.F is really young and I don't think he's firing on all cylinders. First Clue: He told me initially dogs' mouths are dirtier than cats' .. I've never heard this and it may or may not be true but it's pretty irrelevant since stats show you are 10x more likely to develop an infection from a cat bite than a dog bite. (Sad that I know this...)

Another Clue: The second antibiotic he prescribed was Doxycyline, which is a broad spectrum antibiotic not generally used for the treatment of the cat bites... not to mention the fact that I've taken Doxy several times before (which I told him) so it's unlikely to be very effective. My body probably says, "Oh, that again." Stupid, if you ask me. And as I expected, it didn't work.

Anywayyy... so I go to the doc Tuesday and he pretty much says everything is fine, despite the fact that I still can't bend my thumb much and it still hurts like a MOTHER when I bump it on anything. Later in the day I call and request they fax my records to an infection specialist who I'll be seeing from hereon. Lo and behold, Dr. F calls - presumably to cover his ass - and says, "On second thought, we better get an MRI since you're still having pain." Good idea.

So Wednesday I go get an MRI. Let me tell you, NOT. FUN. I've had these before but this was by far the worst, as I had to lay on my stomach for 90 minutes with my arm above my head. Oh, and about half way through they had to inject me with contrast... it only took three stabs for the nurse to find a vein. Fun stuff.

Wednesday afternoon I get a call from Dr.F and he sounds very concerned. He tells me my MRI doesn't look so good (he actually used the word "SCARY") - the infection is in my bone, joints and tendons. Figures. He refers me to a hand surgery specialist and tells me they will want to operate. WHAAATT???

Yesterday, I go see the surgeon. He is surprised at how good my thumb looks clinically, considering how bad my MRI looks. He schedules me for surgery that same day. He explains this is necessary because if the joint is infected, each day that goes by you are losing cartillage. Apparently, in this surgery they open up the thumb, irrigate the joints, try to get as much bacteria out as possible, and do a bone biopsy to culture the bacteria that is causing the problem. This allows them to determine which antibiotic will be most effective.

The surgeon also refers me to an infection specialist (the one I originally made an appointment with) to review my post surgery antibiotic treatment options. I meet the specialist just before I'm supposed to check in for surgery. I ask him if there is anything I haven't tried that might let me avoid surgery. He reviews my history and tells me I can try CIPRO. It has a "pretty good" chance of solving the problem. I obviously prefer this to surgery. He consults with the surgeon and we come up with a plan:

I am going to take CIPRO and Bactrum (two heavy-duty anitbiotics that can get into the joints and bones) for 7 days and reevaluate. If my thumb improves I will continue for the full course. If not, I have to go off of the antibiotics and let them get out of my system (this takes a few days) so the surgical biopsy culture can be accurate.

Long Story Short - My thumb has ~7 days to disinfect itself (please work, new antibiotics!) or its off to the operating table for me.