My Double Lung Transplant

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Tetracycline Wars

I'm in battle with Tetracycline.

I'm on the front lines and still being blasted by these fuckers.

(sorry...was that a bit too harsh?)

I still have yet to strike a happy medium with this biohazard looking antibiotic. I've gotten myself into a schedule of taking it at 9am, 1pm, 5pm, 9pm.

Ok that was yesterday.

Today it was 10:12am, 1:41pm, most likely will be 5 or 6pm, and then 9-10pm.

It's hard to schedule eating around these little pills...since you have to take them either on an empty stomach, or an hour before you intend to eat, or 2-3 hours after eating. Suprisingly, my fear of starving to death over the next 14 days has dwindled and i've managed to consume more food than i usually do.

Today is Monday, which means that i also have to take my other 2 antibiotics - Septra and Zithromax. So that means i will be taking 8 pills of Tetracycline, one septra, 1 zithromax, and my singulaire pill. That's 11 pills and 2 very abused kidneys. I know this is nothing compared to the amount of pills i'll take post tx, but when it comes to antibiotics...it seems a bit excessive.

I started experiencing pains of pleurisy again. not horrendous but enough that it drove me to take a Motrin. I did wonder whether or not it was safe to do so - being that i'm loaded with corrosive chemical substance at the moment - but rationalized with myself that i was instructed to take Tylenol 2 when i have pleurisy and also accompany it with an antibiotic so...I guess it's not all bad?


Instead of following the instructions on the bottle by taking the Tetracycline with a full glass of water, i had it with half a glass of peach juice this morning, and half a can of coke at lunch. Since my head didn't blow off and my guts stayed in tact, i feel pretty assured that it's not 100% for-sure that this thing must be taken with water.

Tomorrow i'm off to TO again.

3 comments:

BreathinSteven said...

Hey You!!!

I think I agree on the biohazard thingy... I remember having tetracycline via IV in my way-pre-transplant days... It's BRIGHT yellow - which looks pretty awesome snaking down an IV line into an arm... A friend thought they were giving me my pee back.

That's what friends are for... You hang in there, buckaroo... I'm thinking about you...

Love,

Steve

It's Her said...

*light bulb moment* I've got good/bad news for you: The anti-rejection tablets work in the same way - 1 hour after or 2/3 before...which makes no sense! I was told to pick one or the other so I go 1 hour after.

Screw the no-eating rule, they're tablets. Hopefully you won't turn into a Nuclear Power Plant though now! :P

Marjolein said...

Haha
I never listen to the words 'take with water' either!
I only listen when it says thinks like 'not with milk'.
Otherwise I just do what I like!