Do you have, or do you know anyone who has MRSA?

If so, were you or the person you know able to knock it out?

She had to be on Central Line on vancomycin for a couple of weeks.

Does that mean IV? And, is she ok now? Thanks...

Best wishes to your mom...

But it doesn't go into your hand or wrist or someplace like that...

It goes into a BIG vein in your neck, usually...

The carotid or one of those up there...

These have a huge blood volume, and are very efficient at getting the drugs into the body and immediately available.

:hi:

Do you have to remain in the hospital for that, or can you be at home once the IV is established? :hi:

Sometimes the patient is competent to do it him or herself...

And sometimes a nurse is required to do it...

More and more things are being done in the home...

And it's not just for controlling the costs!

Sometimes it's done just because there are fewer germs at home...

:hi:

leading epidemiologists. The disease is not as scary as people believe. It's resistent to some drugs, but there are others.

is usually treatable. I'm more concerned with some other issues I have that may complicate treatment.

It took fifteen days in the hospital, and another six weeks of
antibiotics at home.

I'm sure glad that is over for you. Did it start as a skin infection and spread to your lungs?

The doctors spoke of it being more common in the community,
not just in hospitals.

I had two nasty abscesses lanced last week. Doctor said it "looked like MRSA". They cultured them and put me on Bactrim. I'm still on the Bactrim, and they are returning with a vengeance. I'm not real happy about this, and while this kind of stuff normally does not bother me, I'm scared now.

I wish you similar success.

:hug:

It is worrying when nothing touches this. I'm sure I picked this up in the hospital somewhere along the line. I'm not certain yet it is MRSA, but whatever it is, it is a bear.

Thanks for your input Ptah. :hug:

Community acquired MRSA is treatable and usually self limiting. We have not had a patient require hospital admission or more care than we provide in our family practice setting.

On the other side is hospital acquired MRSA which is much more serious, if for no other reason than it has the opportunity to get in weirder places in people who are not in the best of conditions.

as a diabetic, the infections make my blood sugar spiral out of control. Then, the cycle begins.... the poor blood sugar then worsens the infection.

After a month of daily intravenous drip she was able to beat it.

It was actually her second bout with it. She had a botched rotator repair that got infected. Thought it was cleared up but it came back ~9 months later.

Hope you are OK. If not, I vill withhold der Hasselhoff.

Seriously. Doesn't sound fun. Keep us/someone posted, OK?

:hug:

but it has worsened within the past few months, and has grown to an intolerable situation.

I get the abscesses, then they reabsorb and go away for a few days, and then come back.

So last week, I was in so much pain, I said fuck it, I'm going to get them lanced.

I could not get in to see my regular Nurse Practitioner, so I went to a walk in. While i was checking in, the woman says "Oh...you will see Dr. X today...and he will love you". I asked why, and she said..."He loves abscesses, he thinks they are interesting". :rofl: So he pokes at them and says "I'm fairly certain you have MRSA, but we will culture them to make sure".

So he sends in these two young female students to do it...and the reason I mention that they were females is that the things were in an embarrassing area...and the embarrassment added to my displeasure. They did a nice job, but I'll tell ya....I have a very high pain tolerance, but those Goddamn novocaine injections just about made me spit my teeth out.

So I'm still waiting for the results...

Thanks darkstar for the well wishes...and I will keep you posted. I try not to complain too much, but to be completely honest, I'm scared shitless. :hug:

The family was told he probably caught it while in ICU. I guess others had gotten it there, too. He was transferred to a larger hospital, where he was for 2 weeks. Then to a nursing home for more recuperation.

I sure hope I can do it from home. :hi:

I spoke to another parishioner who's a nurse. She told me people are exposed all the time, usually with no effect at all. She said it's not a huge deal for people who are otherwise healthy.

So, I hope it's not a big deal for you, Philboy! :hi:

....he has a tracheostomy tube that he needs to breath, so with an open access like that it's more likely and also less of an issue. In fact when it first showed up they didn't even give antibiotics. It wasn't until he developed another, separate infection that they did.

and I hope his infection is gone.

who have had MRSA (because of where I work). The good news is that most of them have recovered. That is not to say that they weren't very ill. Most had to have IV antibiotics.

:hi: