12.13.2012

The "gift" of good gut flora


Introductory Comment: May be TMI (Too Much Information). I blog this for several reasons:
  • For my own personal log of my struggle with C-Diff (which frankly has been a trial)
  • For anyone else who has suffered with C-Diff and may stumble upon my blog and find this helpful. (For all Cold Fusion Guy posts on C-Diff click here)
  • For any friends or family members who may be interested.
Well I did it .. I had the Fecal Flora Transplantation today at Methodist Hospital. My experience with Fecal bacteriotherapy is in this blog post. Wiki has a good article on Gut flora.
  • The Doctor: David Stoplman
  • The Donor: My son, Roger. Thank you son!
  • The Process
    • Donor qualification
      • The donor had to sign various paperwork
      • The donor provided a stool sample (last Saturday) that was tested for 7 different conditions: C-Diff, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV, and other pathogens
      • This testing is not covered by insurance and my out of pocket will be $ 250
    • Prep for recipient (me)
      • Consultation with the Dr (last Thursday) and paperwork
      • Free from C-Diff (test confirmed) (see an earlier post)
      • Off drugs (I took my last Vanco Tuesday and my last aspirin on Monday (I take a baby aspirin three times a week)
      • The less than fun colon cleanse : 8 8 oz glasses last night; 7 today (I threw out the last 2-3 oz ... I couldn't take it any more. During this time I camped out by the bathroom. Kathee moved my recliner to right outside the bathroom door. Last night I camped out from 6 pm until 9:30. This morning from 7:00 am until 11 am. This stuff really works! During my "camp out" I read the Scriptures, prayed, and ran to and fro from the bathroom
    • The transplant:
      • The donor provided fresh stool to the hospital this morning. It had to be there by 10:00 a.m. and had to be fresh this am.
      • Methodist's lab processed and filtered it. The outcome was a liter of brownish / yellow fluid.
      • I arrived this afternoon and had the basic Colonoscopy. This is my third time. I had a Sigmoidoscopy when I was 50. I had a Colonoscopy at 60. And now I am 63. At my 2nd exam one polyp that was removed and tested. This time all clear - no polyps. The colon is healthy with no permanent damages from the C-Diff infection
      • The inner aspect of the Colonoscopy was a complete exam of the colon. I watched on TV. The outer (pull-out) sprayed the fecal transplant material throughout my colon.
      • Takes all of 15 minutes.! (Simple) ... followed by
      • 45 minutes in the recovery room.
I am the 9th person in the Park Nicollet system to have the procedure. Nine is my lucky number! 2012 is almost over .... 2013 will be a year of health!
An interesting thing about the scheduling of the procedure:
  • I've reached the $ 5,000 out of pocket deductible for my insurance this year.
  • They wanted this to be scheduled in January .. would have cost me several thousand dollars.
  • I said I really really needed it to be done this month.
  • The suggested December 26th. (Wouldn't Christmas have been terrible (prep work)
  • But they moved things around and got me in today!
I hadn't eaten in 2 days. Yesterday was apple juice and water up to to the beginning of the prep at 6:00 p.m. Today likewise no food. Kathee made a nice dinner at my request of sloppy joes! Um good!

5 comments:

  1. 12/16 (Sunday night): I've been off drugs since Tuesday morning = 5 ½ days. No return of diarrhea. Return to normal! I have the gut flora of a 30 year old!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Received the official report today ... colon normal! All biopsies normal. Praising the Lord for health!

    Another gut flora article: Gut Bacteria Linked to Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome Identified

    ReplyDelete
  3. 12/19: Off drugs for 8 ½ days. Still good!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Friday night 12/21/12: Off drugs for 10 ½ days. All good. I introduced cheese into my diet tonight (I've been on a no-milk / cheese / yogurt diet). Tomorrow to try a glass of milk with breakfast (I've been drinking soy milk)

    More on the costs: The costs associated with the donor are not covered. We were told that it would be $ 250. This is not a big deal in light of being healed (Praise the Lord!) but my son received 2 bills totaling $ 440. That was unexpected (and unwanted because of the extra outlays associated with Christmas). But I paid all!

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1/7/13: All the bills in for the 12/13/12 procedure. Glad I had this done in 2012 as I had reached the max out of pocket (except for $ 6)

    * Hospital = $ 2,087.60. My cost = $ 0
    * Dr Stoplman = $ 708.00. My cost = $ 0
    * Lab = $ 191.00. My cost = $ 5.51

    Total = $ 2,986.60

    ReplyDelete

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