S
saucywench
I was going to let y'all know what (new stuff) has been going on with me, but never quite got around to it. But today I contacted a nurse in Employee Health I've known for years and years. She was in clinic at the time, so I told her that I would e-mail her. She asked me to explain everything, which I did, so I'm just going to paste my message to her here:
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#####, here's a timeline of my experience with MRSA:
A couple of weeks ago or so a flea crawled up my pant leg and bit my ankle, outside of my knee, and somehow managed its way up to my waistline for a last bite. All three bites seemed to be healing normally (btw, I am highly allergic to most bug bites).
I had a vacation to San Francisco scheduled for Oct. 30-Nov. 5.
On Friday, Oct. 26th, I wore jeans to work, which I normally don't do, but it was Friday. The waistband of the jeans was chafing the bite area. My discomfort grew as the day progressed.
At some point, either that night or the next day, I could feel by touch that the area had become inflamed, it was swollen and warm to the touch. I visited my mother that evening; she took a look at it and encouraged me to go to the ER, but I wasn't feeling that badly and decided to wait until Monday and forego the expense and time involved in an ER visit.
On Monday (29th) I had one of our female docs in our office (########, over at the VA) take a look at it. She said that it was likely staph, then told me that her husband had gotten MRSA a few months back, and that she had had to administer IV antibiotics to him at home. She said I should go to the ER immediately but I told her I would call the clinic and try to get seen there. So I called and they told me to come on over, that they would work me in. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait very long at all. I was placed in an examining room and was seen by Dr. Xxxxxxx primarily, along with Dr. Yyyyyyyyy. They said it was staph and took fluid for a culture. By this time the infected area had become considerably larger.
What followed was an extremely painful experience, more pain than I've felt in over 15 years [at which time one of my discs ruptured and bits stuck to my sciatic nerve]. Dr. Xxxxxxx injected the area with lidocaine (painful), made an incision (painful), squeezed the abscess to get some gunk out (painful), then inserted packing (painful). They wanted me to return the next morning. I told them of my vacation plans but that I would try to get my flight scheduled for a later time that day, so Dr. Xxxxxxx said he would come in a little early and we set an appointment for 8:00am the following morning. He prescribed Bactrim, which I filled, then I went home and contacted the airline. The best situation I could work out financially was to go ahead and try to make the original flight, so I contacted a doctor in SF and made an appt. for Tuesday afternoon, after my scheduled arrival.
During the night that Monday, however, my fever gradually increased. I took a late afternoon nap to recover from the trauma of the pain. When I awoke, my temperature was 100.8. I was up for a little bit before I returned to bed. When I awoke in the middle of the morning (around 3:00am), my temperature was 101.8. It was at this point that I realized I had to cancel my travel plans altogether, which I did later that day.
Although I was unable to meet the 8:00 appointment, I did go in a little later that morning. I can't remember now the entire sequence of events, but I was seen again by Dr. Yibirin that day. I was back again on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, I asked if the results of the culture were back yet and they said no. But then they left the room and when they returned, they said the results had just come back and that it was positive for MRSA. That's when they prepped the procedure room to open up the incision larger, get more gunk out, repack, and redress. This time (whatever day that was) I experienced little pain at all, as I normally have a high pain threshhold. I guess it was a combination of them using more lidocaine plus the abscess was not as tightly swollen as it was initially (even though it had spread by now farther to the right and across my spine to the other side. I do know that I had to see someone else on Friday, and that they replaced the packing again. I was uncomfortable with leaving it in for the entire weekend, but they said that if I developed fever or pain, to go to the ER.
During all of this time my sister had been coming over every morning and changing the dressing for me. But she had become paranoid that she had gotten it from me, so she didn't come by this past weekend. Well, by the time Sunday evening rolled around, I couldn't stand it any longer. My skin had broken out in a rash from the tape, and welts had formed, so I decided I would change the dressing myself. I got all of the supplies together, washed my hands and put on the gloves. I cleaned all of the area around the dressing first, then slowly removed the tape and dressing. When I got down to the main piece, the packing came out with the dressing. The wound was oozing, so I just sat here and kept dousing the gauze bandages with betadyne and swiping at the incision, throwing them into the wastebasket. Then I would swipe the area again. When I had squeezed out all that I could, I swabbed the entire area again, opened a self-adhesive bandage, placed an extra gauze pad in the middle, and applied it to the incision.
They had scheduled me to return again yesterday, so I did. Dr. Yyyyyyyyy removed the dressing and repacked it. I am due to go back one more time tomorrow morning to have this packing removed, as that was as far as we got with return visits. They had initially prescribed 10 days of Bactrim but extended that 4 more days. They also prescribed me some ointment for my nostrils and under my nails. I got those two scripts filled this morning.
I had asked at work if they could change my vacation time to sick time. I told them I would be back to work no earlier than Thursday. I have experienced no additional pain or fever since the first couple of days last week, although I had some lingering weakess and lethargy. I feel fine now except that I know I will probably still have some seeping of the wound, but I imagine that tomorrow they will just remove the packing and redress the wound. As I mentioned to you on the phone, I wanted to know what the UAMS guidelines are for employees who have contracted MRSA. I don't work directly with patient care, but the dialysis unit is right next door to my office. Also, I think I noted that I'm located in the VA although I am a UAMS employee. I will call them and see what their guidelines are, but ###### said that, generally, with employees who do work directly with patients, as long as the affected area is not on an open area of the body, such as the hand or forearm or whatever (mine is not), and the wound is not oozing (which the remaining infection I have would be covered by a bandage), that it would be OK to return to work. Or...should I just wait until I have taken all of the Bactrim, which would put me out until next Monday? I have plenty of sick time, so that is not an issue. Let me know what you think, thanks.
Cindy
----------------------------------------------------------
#####, here's a timeline of my experience with MRSA:
A couple of weeks ago or so a flea crawled up my pant leg and bit my ankle, outside of my knee, and somehow managed its way up to my waistline for a last bite. All three bites seemed to be healing normally (btw, I am highly allergic to most bug bites).
I had a vacation to San Francisco scheduled for Oct. 30-Nov. 5.
On Friday, Oct. 26th, I wore jeans to work, which I normally don't do, but it was Friday. The waistband of the jeans was chafing the bite area. My discomfort grew as the day progressed.
At some point, either that night or the next day, I could feel by touch that the area had become inflamed, it was swollen and warm to the touch. I visited my mother that evening; she took a look at it and encouraged me to go to the ER, but I wasn't feeling that badly and decided to wait until Monday and forego the expense and time involved in an ER visit.
On Monday (29th) I had one of our female docs in our office (########, over at the VA) take a look at it. She said that it was likely staph, then told me that her husband had gotten MRSA a few months back, and that she had had to administer IV antibiotics to him at home. She said I should go to the ER immediately but I told her I would call the clinic and try to get seen there. So I called and they told me to come on over, that they would work me in. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait very long at all. I was placed in an examining room and was seen by Dr. Xxxxxxx primarily, along with Dr. Yyyyyyyyy. They said it was staph and took fluid for a culture. By this time the infected area had become considerably larger.
What followed was an extremely painful experience, more pain than I've felt in over 15 years [at which time one of my discs ruptured and bits stuck to my sciatic nerve]. Dr. Xxxxxxx injected the area with lidocaine (painful), made an incision (painful), squeezed the abscess to get some gunk out (painful), then inserted packing (painful). They wanted me to return the next morning. I told them of my vacation plans but that I would try to get my flight scheduled for a later time that day, so Dr. Xxxxxxx said he would come in a little early and we set an appointment for 8:00am the following morning. He prescribed Bactrim, which I filled, then I went home and contacted the airline. The best situation I could work out financially was to go ahead and try to make the original flight, so I contacted a doctor in SF and made an appt. for Tuesday afternoon, after my scheduled arrival.
During the night that Monday, however, my fever gradually increased. I took a late afternoon nap to recover from the trauma of the pain. When I awoke, my temperature was 100.8. I was up for a little bit before I returned to bed. When I awoke in the middle of the morning (around 3:00am), my temperature was 101.8. It was at this point that I realized I had to cancel my travel plans altogether, which I did later that day.
Although I was unable to meet the 8:00 appointment, I did go in a little later that morning. I can't remember now the entire sequence of events, but I was seen again by Dr. Yibirin that day. I was back again on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, I asked if the results of the culture were back yet and they said no. But then they left the room and when they returned, they said the results had just come back and that it was positive for MRSA. That's when they prepped the procedure room to open up the incision larger, get more gunk out, repack, and redress. This time (whatever day that was) I experienced little pain at all, as I normally have a high pain threshhold. I guess it was a combination of them using more lidocaine plus the abscess was not as tightly swollen as it was initially (even though it had spread by now farther to the right and across my spine to the other side. I do know that I had to see someone else on Friday, and that they replaced the packing again. I was uncomfortable with leaving it in for the entire weekend, but they said that if I developed fever or pain, to go to the ER.
During all of this time my sister had been coming over every morning and changing the dressing for me. But she had become paranoid that she had gotten it from me, so she didn't come by this past weekend. Well, by the time Sunday evening rolled around, I couldn't stand it any longer. My skin had broken out in a rash from the tape, and welts had formed, so I decided I would change the dressing myself. I got all of the supplies together, washed my hands and put on the gloves. I cleaned all of the area around the dressing first, then slowly removed the tape and dressing. When I got down to the main piece, the packing came out with the dressing. The wound was oozing, so I just sat here and kept dousing the gauze bandages with betadyne and swiping at the incision, throwing them into the wastebasket. Then I would swipe the area again. When I had squeezed out all that I could, I swabbed the entire area again, opened a self-adhesive bandage, placed an extra gauze pad in the middle, and applied it to the incision.
They had scheduled me to return again yesterday, so I did. Dr. Yyyyyyyyy removed the dressing and repacked it. I am due to go back one more time tomorrow morning to have this packing removed, as that was as far as we got with return visits. They had initially prescribed 10 days of Bactrim but extended that 4 more days. They also prescribed me some ointment for my nostrils and under my nails. I got those two scripts filled this morning.
I had asked at work if they could change my vacation time to sick time. I told them I would be back to work no earlier than Thursday. I have experienced no additional pain or fever since the first couple of days last week, although I had some lingering weakess and lethargy. I feel fine now except that I know I will probably still have some seeping of the wound, but I imagine that tomorrow they will just remove the packing and redress the wound. As I mentioned to you on the phone, I wanted to know what the UAMS guidelines are for employees who have contracted MRSA. I don't work directly with patient care, but the dialysis unit is right next door to my office. Also, I think I noted that I'm located in the VA although I am a UAMS employee. I will call them and see what their guidelines are, but ###### said that, generally, with employees who do work directly with patients, as long as the affected area is not on an open area of the body, such as the hand or forearm or whatever (mine is not), and the wound is not oozing (which the remaining infection I have would be covered by a bandage), that it would be OK to return to work. Or...should I just wait until I have taken all of the Bactrim, which would put me out until next Monday? I have plenty of sick time, so that is not an issue. Let me know what you think, thanks.
Cindy
