Blood Work Results

After a horrible reaction to the super strong doses of antibiotics, Bryan and I decided to take Courtney off of them and call the doctor Monday. She was so sick. We just couldn't fathom giving her more when all of the blood work had been done and she may not even need the antibiotics. The infectious disease doctor is only in the office on Tuesdays, the rest of the time she works out of a hospital. Anyways, I called Monday and she happened to have a cancellation for today. Relief!

The blood work was in and things look good. Her immune system is good and intact. Her titers, however, showed lower than she would like. She said that they weren't "stellar". Basically, her body has a difficult time making antibodies to fight off some strains of the strep bacteria. So, the Pneumovax that she just had last week and the new Prevnar 13 she will need to take in a few weeks will help build those numbers. She will re-check her blood levels one month after she has the Prevnar vaccination. The culture of the drainage this time came out to be viral, not an infection. (This means we do not have to continue the two antibiotics that caused her to be so sick! Yahoo!) She feels that the drainage is part of Courtney's vicious cycle. Her eustachian tube doesn't function correctly which is why she has tubes so her ear will drain. In a non-implanted person this would not be an issue. Since there is a foreign object in her ear any drainage poses a threat. The hope is as she continues to grow her eustachian tube will develop and work correctly and will "grow out" of ear infections.

Of course, Courtney had drainage today and since she has had so many infections she is putting her in a prophylaxis for 6 months. In the meantime if we have any questions or continue to have ear infections to go back and see her. She is great!! I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can boost her immune system and that in 6 months we can stop all medications and be healthy!!! All her allergy testing came back negative except for cats!! Yep, she is allergic to cats! Thank goodness we don't have any pets, unless you count a fish!?