Brody Has Been Feeling Very Good Despite C. Diff. Infection

As Bill indicated in a previous post,  Brody has been dealing with a C.  Diff. (clostridium difficile)   infection.   This type of bacterial infection of the gastrointestinal tract is more likely to occur and can be very dangerous in patients that have had lots of previous antibiotics exposure and/or compromised immune system function.   Brody has definitely been exposed to many antibiotics recently and his immune system is weaker than most due to the chemo he must take.   Without the competition from healthy gut flora (beneficial/healthy bacteria that line the gastrointestinal tract) that have been killed off by multiple antibiotics,   the c.  diff.  bacteria can easily overgrow and cause significant harm to the gastrointestinal tract.   The bacteria releases a toxin that breaks down the cells of the gastrointestinal tract and can cause severe diarrhea and vomiting.   Brody has been taking an antibiotic called Flagyl (metronidazole)  every 6 hours since he was diagnosed with a c.  diff.  infection.   Overall,  fortunately the diarrhea has not been too bad so far and vomiting has not been a problem.   However,  each bowel movement had been fairly scary since each involves pain and some blood in his stools.   Today,  though I did not observe any obvious blood in his stools.   Hopefully this means he is about to kick this c. diff.  infection.   I have heard and seen a few horror stories associated with c. diff.  which of course means I've been a little more worried than usual this week.   Obviously I try not to let my worries of what could happen keep us from enjoying each day though.    If Brody feels fine (and he has,  really) then we just try to live or lives,  have fun and not let our worries intefere with it all.   Life,  unfortunately,  is just to short to dwell on things you cannot control.   Sometimes you just have to tell yourself everything is going to be just fine and commit yourself to believing that and then somehow it just seems to be just fine.   The power of the mind and concentrating on the positives can be amazing.