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Bacterial meningitis. Fuck. This. Shit.

I've been caring for my brother who has a very rare strain of this for two weeks now giving him some of the strongest IV antibiotic injections known to man multiple times/day for the last 2 weeks. He was already on them for 3.5 weeks before while at the hospital and we still have 25 days or so left on this at home. This was supposedly hospital acquired after his 2nd brain surgery 5 weeks ago.

All he may be able to do in a single day is receive a sponge bath. Sitting on a stool for 10 minutes is just a day's worth of work that exhausts him. He can go out to a quick dinner some days, but that's all he can do besides go from bed to couch to toilet to bed. Showers are exhausting for him.

I've never dealt with anything like this, it's probably at least 2-3 more months of something similar of me taking care of him like this while working full time. There's a not insignificant chance he'll never recover from the meningitis and be like this the rest of his life.

The home health care nurse that I assumed would be doing all of the injections just comes 2-3 times/week to do blood work and replace the PICC line wrapping. I'm doing the injections and starting bathing him now that my parents are leaving on Wednesday...so enjoy the snapshot of my life for answering that two week old AskPhuks post
Bacterial meningitis. Fuck. This. Shit. I've been caring for my brother who has a very rare strain of this for two weeks now giving him some of the strongest IV antibiotic injections known to man multiple times/day for the last 2 weeks. He was already on them for 3.5 weeks before while at the hospital and we still have 25 days or so left on this at home. This was supposedly hospital acquired after his 2nd brain surgery 5 weeks ago. All he may be able to do in a single day is receive a sponge bath. Sitting on a stool for 10 minutes is just a day's worth of work that exhausts him. He can go out to a quick dinner some days, but that's all he can do besides go from bed to couch to toilet to bed. Showers are exhausting for him. I've never dealt with anything like this, it's probably at least 2-3 more months of something similar of me taking care of him like this while working full time. There's a not insignificant chance he'll never recover from the meningitis and be like this the rest of his life. The home health care nurse that I assumed would be doing all of the injections just comes 2-3 times/week to do blood work and replace the PICC line wrapping. I'm doing the injections and starting bathing him now that my parents are leaving on Wednesday...so enjoy the snapshot of my life for answering that two week old AskPhuks post

8 comments

[–] jobes [OP] 6 points (+6|-0)

Oh and my parents have spent 3 months in hotels here since November and my dad is fucking 74. They need time away from the stress.

My bro is not really getting better on a day to day basis. Just maybe talking more and forcing himself to do more things like watch a basketball game. That's a lot of work for him to sit on a couch to do. The hospital didn't order PT because he can walk, the OT showed up once with a ball for hand exercises. His doctor left the county to China for two months in vacation after operating in my brother 4 times in 3 months.

It's nerve destroying.
[–] jobes [OP] 4 points (+4|-0)

Also my brother has defense contractor level insurance. This is the result.
[–] [Deleted] 4 points (+4|-0)

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your brother... I have a younger brother and if anything ever happened to him I'd do the exact same thing for him... I hope he recovers fully and you can both make the best of it and become even closer over this... Did the hospital drop the ball? how come he became infected with such a horrible thing?
[–] InnocentBystander 2 points (+2|-0)

Did the hospital drop the ball?

I don't know anything about his case, but this type of thing is unfortunately a risk at all hospitals.
Even the best ones. It is a higher risk when the cleaning is neglected, but always a risk.

Contamination happens so easily in a building that has sick people in and out continuously. Most have no training or idea they are spreading germs and other contamination.
Also many of these things are around us all the time, but a healthy body can fight them off, and/or can not get inside the body. People undergoing surgery can become sick from things that wouldn't normally be an issue.

Sometimes they can do everything right, but lose anyway.
On a more positive note, they've gotten much better at treating it.

[–] smallpond 3 points (+3|-0)

Sorry to hear life's so hard for you and your family right now. I'm sure we all hope for his quick recovery.

[–] Mattvision 2 points (+2|-0)

That truly does sound like the worst thing.

I couldn't imagine what hell you and your brother are going through, and I hope he recovers quickly. You're a great brother for taking care of him.
[–] InnocentBystander 2 points (+2|-0)

That's horrible. You're brother is lucky to have you.
Something I wondered about when I spent time in the hospital was if it was harder on me, or my family.
Don't get me wrong, I have no doubt how horrible it must be for him, and I can't speak for him. But in my case I was able to accept what I was going through and come to terms with it, but my family was not.
Family doesn't have the option to just accept it, or to give up.

You're a good brother.
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