I feel like pretty much every blog recently starts with an apology for a delay in posting. But, such is life when your life is busy like mine!
This time, my excuse for not writing sooner revolves around bleach, disinfectant, and laundry.
But let me back up a bit.
I took Abby to the GI on Friday, and she feels like it is C-Diff. Boo. She had Abby do blood work while we were there, and we should get all of the results for the tests they've run either Monday or Tuesday I'm hoping for Monday!
Since she did feel like it was C-Diff, our GI went ahead and put us on precautions. Basically, that means that Abby isn't going anywhere for a while, we wear gloves when changing her diaper, giving her a bath, etc., we are washing our hands with antibacterial soap and hot water very, very often (C-Diff is alcohol resistant, so hand sanitizer doesn't work), and we are cleaning everything with bleach. When I say everything, I mean everything. It is crazy the amount of cleaning we have done this weekend!! The bathrooms, the toys, the dollhouse with all of its pieces, the laundry baskets, Abby's beloved snowman, the sinks, the doorknobs, the light switches....we've gone through just about 2 spray bottles of a bleach/water solution with no end in sight. I think it's affected my sense of smell, because everything just smells like bleach to me!
We were also told to wash all of the clothes, bedding, linens, etc. in hot water with the original Lysol disinfectant and then dry them on the hottest setting to kill as many germs as possible. Nothing but bleach truly kills C-Diff, but I can't use bleach in my non-white laundry, so this was the next best thing. So far, we have folded 7 loads with 2 currently running and at least 5 more to go. Can we say holy electric bill?!
Just because we didn't have enough to deal with already, our dryer decided to quit on us. It is running, but the air is just slightly above arctic temperature. That doesn't dry clothes or kill germs too well. We thought that it may have just needed a break after working so hard this weekend, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Matt will be calling the repair man first thing, but meanwhile we have 2 loads of wet clothes. Thankfully, they have already been treated with the disinfectant, so it is safe to dry them at my parents' house. We just can't do anymore laundry until it is fixed. Those 5+ loads of laundry will just have to wait.
As far as Abby goes, she is acting perfectly fine. We haven't seen any blood since Friday night and she hasn't had any more abdominal pain. I hesitate to say it, but I am thinking maybe it was salmonella (the other possible cause) instead of C-Diff and it has worked its way out of her system. If that's the case, I will be thankful and our house will be cleaner than it ever has been. And we will stop using the disinfectant in our laundry because everything now smells like the hospital. Blech!
This too, shall pass. And I'm trying desperately to be thankful for all of this because it means that Abby is still here. And that always makes me smile!!
This time, my excuse for not writing sooner revolves around bleach, disinfectant, and laundry.
But let me back up a bit.
I took Abby to the GI on Friday, and she feels like it is C-Diff. Boo. She had Abby do blood work while we were there, and we should get all of the results for the tests they've run either Monday or Tuesday I'm hoping for Monday!
Since she did feel like it was C-Diff, our GI went ahead and put us on precautions. Basically, that means that Abby isn't going anywhere for a while, we wear gloves when changing her diaper, giving her a bath, etc., we are washing our hands with antibacterial soap and hot water very, very often (C-Diff is alcohol resistant, so hand sanitizer doesn't work), and we are cleaning everything with bleach. When I say everything, I mean everything. It is crazy the amount of cleaning we have done this weekend!! The bathrooms, the toys, the dollhouse with all of its pieces, the laundry baskets, Abby's beloved snowman, the sinks, the doorknobs, the light switches....we've gone through just about 2 spray bottles of a bleach/water solution with no end in sight. I think it's affected my sense of smell, because everything just smells like bleach to me!
We were also told to wash all of the clothes, bedding, linens, etc. in hot water with the original Lysol disinfectant and then dry them on the hottest setting to kill as many germs as possible. Nothing but bleach truly kills C-Diff, but I can't use bleach in my non-white laundry, so this was the next best thing. So far, we have folded 7 loads with 2 currently running and at least 5 more to go. Can we say holy electric bill?!
Just because we didn't have enough to deal with already, our dryer decided to quit on us. It is running, but the air is just slightly above arctic temperature. That doesn't dry clothes or kill germs too well. We thought that it may have just needed a break after working so hard this weekend, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Matt will be calling the repair man first thing, but meanwhile we have 2 loads of wet clothes. Thankfully, they have already been treated with the disinfectant, so it is safe to dry them at my parents' house. We just can't do anymore laundry until it is fixed. Those 5+ loads of laundry will just have to wait.
As far as Abby goes, she is acting perfectly fine. We haven't seen any blood since Friday night and she hasn't had any more abdominal pain. I hesitate to say it, but I am thinking maybe it was salmonella (the other possible cause) instead of C-Diff and it has worked its way out of her system. If that's the case, I will be thankful and our house will be cleaner than it ever has been. And we will stop using the disinfectant in our laundry because everything now smells like the hospital. Blech!
This too, shall pass. And I'm trying desperately to be thankful for all of this because it means that Abby is still here. And that always makes me smile!!
Comments
Thank-you for the update on Abby!! I truly appreciated it!! Keep us all posted on her blood work results!!
--Hugs--
--Raelyn