Oh, Please, Not Again!

MRSA has reared its ugly head again in our house!! MRSA is a staph infection that is amune to antibiotics. Before you start saying that we are totally unclean, think of what a doctor told us...even if you burned down your house and all your belongings, you would still have staph somewhere on your body! The MRSA strain is most staph is these days.  Part of the reason we have MRSA today is the over use of antibiotics. Staph has always been around, it's just that now, the over use of antibiotics have made strep something tough to get rid of because of staph's amunity to the antibotics used today.

My husband has been getting it every two months since he cut his arm open with a chain saw last September. He is suppose to be using a special soap every time he showers but I found out while we were on vacation that he was not using his soap every shower! Only about twice a week!

So when we came back from vacation, he got another MRSA spot! This one was in the beauty spot--right on his BUTT!! He couldn't hardly sit down! I told him it served him right for not doing what the doctor said! (Just like a MAN!!) He went to the doctor and got his round of antibiotics. His spot is draining and is looking good, now!

The other day I had noticed a small pimple on Hamp's leg when I was changing him. He had some fire ant bites from an ant hill he got next to at a neighbors house so Hubby and I assumed that the spot was just a fire ant bite.

**For those of you who don't have fire ants, they are insect's revenge on humans! Once you step on their hill or just get near it, you can be covered in tiny bites before you can say Adam Ant! The next morning, you will have a puss pocket (pimple) where the ant bit you.**

Well I drained it one night and the next morning it was back! It also had a fever in it and it really hurt him when you touched it. I knew then that it was MRSA!

I quickly called the doctor and got in that day. I knew what she was going to have to do--stick the sore to get a puss sample. So while I, Knox, and the nurse held down Hamp, Dr. Stroud stuck and mashed out enough puss for a sample. I hate doing this, but some things just have to be done! I know from having MRSA myself just how painful it is and it makes me cry for him but I know that it's for his own health that we do this!

The doctor put Hamp on a general antibiotic that would cover MRSA and any other infection that the sore might be. She didn't want to wait on the sample to come back before starting the antibiotics.

Well the big story now has been getting the meds in Hamp. We barely got two doses in him the first day. While Hubby and I were trying to get the meds in him the first night, we realized that the antibiotics smelled. When I smelled, I mean smelled--like Mr. Poopie smell! It was awful!

The next morning I went to the Pharmacy and talked to the Pharmacist and asked if we could add a flavor to make the medicine taste and smell better. He said we could but with this antibiotic the flavoring only made it smell and taste worse. So we came up with putting the medicine in his juice and giving it to him. Now we're having no problems with Hamp taking his meds!

Poor guy is still hurting but the spot is getting better. He is also running on and off a low grade fever (99). We've been giving him Motrin and Tylenol for the fever and pain. Hopefully we caught it early enough that we won't have to lance the MRSA. I don't even want to think about that one!!

But please remember that we are not dirty and are not contagious! We just have a little evil friend that likes to hang out in our body systems! Sometimes I feel like people think we are leopards.  I wish we could totally get rid of this thing! But others that have fought the MRSA battle say it will be over a year or more before we can say good-bye to our evil little friend--MRSA!!