Well, we are now 3.5 weeks down the road from where we were when I posted the original question. I have to say a special thank you to paindoc for the info he posted here. Without it, I'm not sure that my client's discitis and osteomyelitis would have been discovered in a timely manner.
As the question indicates, he was screened for discitis about 3 weeks after his surgery with blood work and a bone scan. Both were unremarkable. Negative on the bone scan. Some levels were elevated on the labs, but not anything that got his doctors too excited. Also, many of the elevated values are commonly elevated after surgery.
Fast forward another 3 weeks and the client has seen a couple of doctors who reviewed the negative screening process and recommended waiting and conservative therapy since he was so recently operated. (Good advice!) However, the patients condition continued to deteriorate. He was comfortable while lying down, but getting up and about often brought the most serious pain and muscle spasms. He was unable to do anything and feared not even being able to get to a doctor. I was able to facilitate a prescription for lab work and the patient arranged for a home health care provider to come to him to draw blood. Results the next day indicated that the levels that had been slightly elevated weeks before had gone in the wrong direction. A private ambulance ride took him to the hospital. He was admitted and an MRI confirmed discitis and osteomyelitis. Thankfully, it's caught early enough to give high confidence of successful treatment that is MUCH less invasive than what may have been required if it was caught later.
I'll post more as I learn it...
Mark
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