My experience with MRSA-Involving my children.

[stormy]

Early Spring of 2005 my three year old (now five) started breaking out in little bumps. When I took her to the doctor she was diagnose with chicken pox and I just left it at that. I had never heard of MRSA and thought Staph was only in the hospitals or nursing homes. The whole summer she fought with what we thought was a reaction from the chicken pox. After talking to my friend she suggest I try polysporin on them and they healed. The next Spring the same thing happen but this time it was more serious. She started running a high fever and was lethargic. I decided to take her to the dermatologist this time since it was on her skin. The doctor did a culture and prescribe bactrim and an ointment. The culture came back MRSA. My daughter did well on bactrim and the ointment. The next episode with MRSA was when I got bit by a spider. At least that is what we thought it was. I still wonder if it was a spider bite and not MRSA. It took me three months to get better after being put on bactrim and ointment. The same thing that my daughter was taking. I eventually got well but it took a long time.

Late Spring my oldest daughter fell and bump her knee. I thought it was just a bump and sent her to school. That afternoon her teacher notice how big and swollen it was and sent her to my aunt's classroom. My aunt quickly called me to come take her to the doctor and she was in the nurse's office. I drove 80 mph an hour from the school I was working at. When I got to the school her knee was terrible looking. I was scared to death. I called our pediatrician and couldn't get a hold of him. I went up to the outpatient clinic to our local hospital and they told me to go see the doctor next door. The office staff took one look at me and my daughter and the doctor saw her. He told me that he thought it was Staph and wanted to do a culture. He also lanced it and drain the boil on it. My daughter did great. I was the one that nurse thought was about to pass out. Something about seeing your child having to go through that and wishing it was you and not them. He put my oldest daughter on antibotics-bactrim and the ointment and gave her something for pain. It took it a while for the knee to heal but it did. She only has a small scar and her health back.

Fast forward to a week ago. My five year old came home from school with what appear to be a bug bite. I didn't pay much attention to it but I should had. We live in the South near the water and bug bites are common in these areas. Well Monday we headed toward the Gulf of Mexico. The girls were on Spring Break and I was planning to take them down there and have a great time. Thursday she woke up the the bite had turned into a red swollen boil. I knew what was happening. Friday the boil busted and around it she had small little bumps. Being the weekend it is impossible to get a doctor appt in this area. It is like they take off for the weekend. She seemed fine and we continue putting ointment on it. Sunday came and she had the bumps and boils all down her torso and arm. Monday morning my husband took her to the doctor. She has MRSA again and is on antibotics and munisporin...I think that is the name. He put her on bactrim and wants to see her in a week. If it gets worse he wants to see her immediately. Even if it is in the middle of the night. Talking about a dedicated doctor. Anyway she is doing better. The bactrim is upsetting her stomach but she is a trooper. I don't even have to remind her it is time to take her medicine. She knows and will go get the bottle for me and the dispencer to pour it for her.

I am a little worry about catching it myself. I have immune problems already with the crohn's disease and suspect that I might have it. I had a red swollen sore form on my stomach yesterday. I need to stay well so I can take care of my little girl.

My youngest daughter has never shown symptoms of MRSA or staph.

[wellsfamily]

hi there stormy and welcome.

the most common misdiagnosis of MRSA is a "spider bite" way too many of us are told thats we have and in turn we dont get better come to find out its been MRSA all along. thats what happened to my daughter.

this disease is highly contagious. my whole family is infected, i should know huh. lol. you have to take percautions in the home and out of the home. if you havent already please read household cleaning 101. thats been such a help to many. tips on how to keep the home sanitized and how to protect others. i always make my husband wear gloves when changing my bandages and the other way around when i have to change. eventhough we are all infected i dont want anyone else to get an outbreak just b/c i have one. this is something that does not go away. we are stuck with it for life. BUT the good news is it can be controled. you could even get it under control enough to never have another outbreak again. but you need the right docs and meds. first you need a doctor that will take this seriously as it should be. second an ID will be the one who gets this under control for you. they are key in all this. although your regular doc may be wonderful they just dont have the means to get this job done. ID docs do all the testing for what meds will or will not work for your strain of MRSA. we are all different. while some meds may work for one person it may not for another. while someone has an open active sore they most contagious. its important to realize that. always keep it covered. make sure hand washing and sanitizing are done at all times. well, thats even when not having an outbreak. this disease is all and it can even be spread from a shopping cart handle. so if we can get it that easy then so can someone else from us. household cleaning touches on all that.

one other thing that i think is VERY important especially with my family being infected. see, 2 of our kids NEVER showed any signs of having MRSA but we got them tested to be safe. well after their tests came back showinf positive that shot down any thought of you have to show signs or you dont have it right. WRONG. so i encourage you to have everyone in the home get a simple nose swab done to be on the safe side. see, socs wont tell you all this but these are the facts.

there is hope and this can be controlled. getting to an ID is so important. they are God sends with this.

hope this helped

God bless
michelle wells

[cstefan]

Hi and welcome,

Please read Michelle's housecleaning 101 sticky at top of page. Very good info there. I also agree with Michelle to get a infectious disease dr. Pediatric if possible but an ID dr. nonetheless. I do agree with you that watching you child go through this is terrible. We do worse than they do. But, I guess that is our job and we don't want to see them in pain or sick.
MRSA is a bugger. It likes to hibernate and then rear it ugly head at the most inconvient times. My daughter has been goin through this (like many here) for over 2 years. She has had a good 4 months though.
Always keep any outbreaks covered so to try and NOT spread the infection. Keep in mind MRSA and staph are everywhere. Stores, churches, buses, schools. Some people or more likely to get it. Some only have 1 outbreak and never see it again. Others get it over and over. But, with treatment and time, sometimes you can control it and when there is an outbreak try and make it less of an outbreak.
Good luck and please keep us posted.