Peritonitis

[Lisa, MA]

I need some personal nursing input. I hope thats ok here.

My hubby has non-alcohol related cirrhosis. Actually he is on treatment right now for HCV. (Peg and Riba combo)

2 weeks ago, he was tapped for ascites. They drained 3 liters. But about 4 days after the proceedure, I noticed he started getting foggy headed. It has progressed now to all out disorientation, fever (102-103.4!), body pain, headache and now he is developing these very small pea sized fleshy bumps in his leg. They are extremely painful to the touch.

I called his doc and am taking him in today. But do any of you have experience with this type of scenerio? I'm thinking he has peritonitis.

Oh...his weekly blood workup (was done last on friday) showed his blood counts are all low(nothing new)...but what concerns me is that it was tagged as "shift to the left". Isn't that a red flag for a bacterial infection? I'm kinda curious why the doctor didn't make a big deal about it.

Thanks for any input you have.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

It certainly sounds like he is very sick. Glad he is seeing the doctor today.

We don't provide medical advice though so we can't say what we have and haven't seen.

Please take care.