December 16, 2025 #2
We’re home! We finally walked through the door after 5:30 and will be SO happy for uninterrupted sleep in our own beds.
Tate was sent home on continuous IV vancomycin. We don’t have the bacteria type yet, but this seems to be doing the job. Infectious disease told me today that with the information they do have, they believe this is a translocated infection from her mouth. This happens to those of us with a healthy immune system too….bacteria can enter our blood stream from brushing your teeth or maybe a canker sore. But our bodies can fight it off. Tate is too immunocompromised and can’t always do that.
The antibiotics come in these “grenades” that connect to her central line. They’re pressurized and slowly infuse a constant antibiotic. She wears the grenade in a little fanny pack and it goes everywhere with her. Every 24 hours, Tate gets a new one. This isn’t frequently sent home with patients. We’re so grateful it’s an option for us.
We are going to enjoy tomorrow and I’m sure Tate will sleep all day. She hasn’t been sleeping well at the hospital due to pain and just hospital life and is exhausted. Thursday we’re back at the hospital for appointments and a pain pump refill.
Thank you for all the prayers and encouragement. Hospital stays provide healing, but they also tear off all our bandaids reminding us of all the life altering challenges Tate deals with daily-so much we’ve just accepted as our normal. The reality of chronic, life threatening medical is somewhere in between. Not the dire picture hospital life forces you to face each day and also not the padded “ignorance is bliss” daily world you create to survive home life. But somewhere in the middle.