E. coli in my blood consistently

Hello @vlf I’m so sorry to read about all the misery your husband is going through with E Coli in his blood. With having MDS his immune system is compromised, so you’re right in that it sets him up for infections.

I’m not experienced with colostomies personally. But had a relative who underwent a colostomy procedure and was treated for E Coli because of an intra-abdominal leak. This was many years ago. From my understanding sepis is not uncommon after this type of surgery because of the potential for leaking bacteria into the body/blood stream.

I did a little quick research and found several articles but posted this one from the National Institute of Health, that discusses post operative sepis that might be helpful to bring some light to this situation. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8942007/

It feels rather dismissive to have the doctors state that it couldn’t be related to his procedure. It’s a shame when we have to push so hard to be our own advocates for healthcare for ourselves or loved ones. Have you considered having a 2nd opinion?

Oh my thank you so much I will definitely read this. Yes we have many many doctors treat him for this and everyone is doing the exact same test over and over again and obtaining the same results. He is at a huge well known cancer hospital in Houston and they continue to perform these fancy test same test yet again. They said today they don’t know and maybe the next time he comes in with it they will identify the cause. So very frustrating. Thank you for your feedback.

@vlf
My infant son got E. coli in his blood from fecal matter getting in his urethra, bladder, ureters then kidneys and then jumped to his bloodstream. This happened when he was in daycare and his diaper wasn’t changed in a timely manner. He had to be hospitalized and given IV antibiotics. This scarred his kidneys but luckily, he was able to heal and hasn’t had additional problems. I was told he could have died if he wasn’t treated promptly. He was only 5 months old.

Has your husband had ultrasounds and/or MRI/CT scans of his abdomen/pelvis to see if there is some injury or leakage from his surgical procedures?

Does his bloodwork show anything else being off/abnormal? Is there a possibility that when changing the colostomy bag that fecal matter gets into the urethra, bladder, ureters, kidneys and then bloodstream to cause the E. coli infection?

When I had Septic Shock, the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me because I didn't have "textbook" symptoms. They informed my family that I wasn't going to pull through. The infection was from cellulitis and strep bacteria which naturally occurs on the skin made its way into my bloodstream and attacked my prosthetic knee. Finally, they had an Infectious Disease Specialist check me out. He figured it out and saved my life. I have had sepsis infections 3 more time since then and I am on a lifetime antibiotic. I also have been found to have E. coli in my blood and urine.

Oh my goodness. Do you continuously have sepsis? My husband is on daily antibiotics and he continues to have EColi in his blood and the doctors can say where it is coming from. He has lymphedema in his leg from his cancer treatments and one of the times he has ecoli it was from cellulitis in his leg which then had ecoli in his blood which then turned sepsis. I hope your treatment works for you and you don’t become sepsis again
Thank you for providing this information.