My husband has been in the hospital for 9 days. He came home yesterday. He had high output from his ostomy. He has a jpouch and is waiting to get reconnected in a few weeks. They were able to lessen the output with a combo of immodium, tincture of opium and lomotil. Prior to this hospital stay, he had been taking flagyl and cipro to battle an infection caused by the tear in his small intestine.

He started having mucous coming out of his jpouch (no blood, just clear or creamy colored) starting a few days ago, and his GI in the hospital tested it. He called today and said he had a trace amount of CDiff in the mucous and told him to take Flagyl for 2 weeks and eat yogurt. They also tested his ostomy output and found no CDiff there.

I am really worried about this because its just yet another thing going on with him. Should I be??

Did he have a c diff infection prior to his colectomy?
If not, it has possibly been there all along, but no one caught it, or tested for it.
Also, cipro can 'promote' c diff so if he is still on that, I would ask your DR about continuing. If he isn't taking it now, and was prior to the hospital visit, like you say, it could have facilitated this infection.
I wouldn't worry too much. Even if the flagyl doesn't clear it up, there is always vancomycin. I would be encouraged that there is no c diff from the ostomy output, after all it is rare to have c diff in the sm. intestine.
Also, mucous draining from the new pouch is normal (and good). Just c diff+ mucous isn't.

Thanks for your reply Shelby. I don't think he had CDiff prior to his colectomy, although he was at such a crappy hospital and with bad drs at that time, that who knows!

His new (good) dr. said there was a "trace" amount and neither he nor my husband seem too worried about it. Just me the extreme worrier!!

His GI is going to tell the infectious disease dr. that had worked on his first infection about it just so they are on the same page.

He is no longer on the cipro. Now just the flagyl and yogurt.

I feel like this will delay the take-down, but I dont know. He has an appt. tuesday with both the GI and the surgeon, so he will find out more then.

In the meantime, he feels great, but his wife is falling apart!

I consulted with an infectious disease doctor prior to my colectomy and naturally he seemed to be better at handling the c. diff situation than my GI or surgeon. He was more knowledgeable and really explained my situation in a way that I could understand. He also gave me data and statistics. In fact, I only saw him twice, once in the hospital when I had c diff (because he was on call) and then once in his office. He was a pleasure to deal with.
So, it's a good idea that everyone is 'on the same page'. Even if it does delay his next surgery, be glad they caught it now, rather than later. That is a good thing

It is important to know if the findings were just for C. difficile or the toxin. There are many strains of C. difficile that are not pathogenic. It is only the toxin producing strains that damage the bowel and cause inflammation. I am going to presume that the toxin was present and not just C. diff.

He should be tested again after the antibiotic course is run to make sure that the toxin is absent. But if he develops new symptoms again, testing should be repeated. False negatives are fairly common.

Jan

The dr. told him it was the inactive spore form - the dr. thinks he might have gotten it in the hospital.