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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Taken Antibiotics For Gall Bladder Inflammation. Have C Diff Infection. History Of Heart Surgery

My 95 y.o. Grandmother is in the hospital stemming from a gall bladder attack. She was told that she had inflammation in the gall bladder and was put on high dose of antibiotics through IV. They said they were not going to do anything about the gall stones but just treat the infection and send her home if all goes well. Now after 3 days of antibiotics they are saying she has C Diff. Why wouldn't they do something to treat the gall stones instead of giving her massive amounts of antibiotics which most likely caused the C Diff. ? As for her history she had open heart surgery at 83 which consisted of a triple bypass and a valve replacement (pig valve). She had a rotator cuff replacement two yrs ago as well and had to intubate (sp?) during surgery. They said they "lost her" twice during that procedure. This is the reason they gave for not doing gall bladder surgery. They said that shockwave therapy is "not very effective" so they are not going to do that either. Any thoughts on all of this?
Mon, 5 Aug 2013
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Pathologist and Microbiologist 's  Response
Hello and welcome to HCM,

The gall bladder inflammation ( acute cholecystitis) is precipitated by the gall stones.
The acute cholecystitis is managed by iv fluids and antibiotics.
Surgery is done at an interval when the inflammation has cleared away.
gall stones may be complicated by infection.
The biliary tract (gall bladder, bile ducts, common bile ducts) is free from any kind of infection.
Infection enters the biliary tract from gastrointestinal tract or formation of abnormal communication between gall bladder and intestine (fistula).
Since, your grandmother is suffering from Clostridium difficale infection, it is important to control the infection before perform any surgical procedure.
After controlling infection, surgery will be performed after checking the fitness for the surgery.

Thanks and take care
Dr Shailja P Wahal
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Taken Antibiotics For Gall Bladder Inflammation. Have C Diff Infection. History Of Heart Surgery

Hello and welcome to HCM, The gall bladder inflammation ( acute cholecystitis) is precipitated by the gall stones. The acute cholecystitis is managed by iv fluids and antibiotics. Surgery is done at an interval when the inflammation has cleared away. gall stones may be complicated by infection. The biliary tract (gall bladder, bile ducts, common bile ducts) is free from any kind of infection. Infection enters the biliary tract from gastrointestinal tract or formation of abnormal communication between gall bladder and intestine (fistula). Since, your grandmother is suffering from Clostridium difficale infection, it is important to control the infection before perform any surgical procedure. After controlling infection, surgery will be performed after checking the fitness for the surgery. Thanks and take care Dr Shailja P Wahal