Trouble in Exit Site City

I wanted to write this post last night after I got home from work to update everyone on the rest of our trip and the happenings since last week, but during pajama/get-ready-for-bed time, things took a turn. It seems like right around 8 PM is when things always go awry if they're going to go awry.

Last Friday when I changed Stephen's PD cath dressing, we noticed that it was looking a little red. His exit site is always beautiful, so it was unusual to see it a little "angry." I called his nephrologist, and they prescribed a topical antibiotic just in case the exit site was starting to brew something. I started that Friday night and by Saturday, it was starting to look less red. And then Sunday and Monday it looked about the same.

But last night when I changed it after work, it was really ugly! There was a big nasty scab and the skin was super dooper red, so I paged the on-call doctor to find out what to do. In case anyone is reading that has a child on peritoneal dialysis or is just interested in what these things look like, here's a picture. I always take a picture of this stuff in case the doctor wants to see. Sometimes technology really works to our advantage!

Sorry if this grosses anyone out!!

In any case, the doctor had us come in first thing this morning so they could look at it and take a few cultures. Sure enough, Stephen has what is called a tunnel infection. It started out probably as just some germs on his skin, but it's worked it's way into his exit site. And the worst part was, it was clearly very painful to him to have the nurse clean it today :(

They've started him on three different oral antibiotics until we know more about what's growing in his catheter tunnel. Best case scenario is we kill off the bugs within the next couple of days. Worst case; they have to pull his catheter. But we're not even going to think about worst case! So now let's all do a "kill the catheter bugs" dance or prayer!!!