MRSA question (If you have never heard of this, no need to open this thread.)

[BlondGirl]

My sister had a total knee replacement a couple of months ago. She got an infection and her surgical site has been oozing since then. Currently there is an opening where the pus is very much obviously of some depth.

My sister went and insisted on a culture of it and learned that it was MRSA. I was always to the understanding that this was cleared up by sending the patient home. She has been home for over 6 weeks now and her doc told her to come and be admitted to get Vancomycin (spelling?). When she arrived, she was turned away and told to go home.

Her doctor was nowhere to be found and no one was able to contact him.

To make matters more complicated, my sister lost her job and her insurance expires at the end of the month.

Please, of any of you have infection experience or advice concerning this, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

 

[fgarvb1]

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/ARESIST/mrsa.htm

 

[Desdemona]

MRSA

Well, Blondgirl, this is a tough situation. I can't give you any specifics but I can sort of simplify it a little.
#1. Once you are infected, you must be treated with antibiotics (usually 6 weeks of IV Vancomycin) to kill the active infection. It will not go away on its own.
#2. After the active infection is gone, the MRSA will remain in the body for life (it becomes a part of the body's normal flora.... this is referred to as colonization.) There will always be MRSA cells present in the body. These MRSA cells can cause new infections under certain circumstances.
#3. If your sister truly does have an open surgical wound that is draining pus, she needs to be treated and should go find a doctor while she still has insurance.
#4. Typically, MRSA is a hospital acquired infection. (Do whatever you wish with that tidbit.)

If you want more info or would like to discuss further, send me a PM. Des

 

[BlondGirl]

Thanks for the input.

My sister's job is (was) as a professional in a nursing home. The hospital staff did nothing to teach her how to care for her wound; she was originally under the belief that it should be left open to the air at all times.

This is very frusterating and I am having a difficult time with my anger concerning this.

As a health care professional myself, I have dealt with MRSA in hundreds of patients. But rarely were those walkie-talkie patients and never was it someone I dealt with outside the hospital setting.

 

[bluespoke]

That dastardly little bug.

I acquired MRSA in an operating theatre. Its a very nasty peice of work that only responds to the one antibiotic, mentioned before.

What many people don't know is that around 40% of the population carry this bug with them at any one time.

It is a long term thing. I was lucky, it didn't infect my wound but it was over a year before I was clear of it.

Although not a cure, tea tree oil can help. Soap, containing tea tree oil, is available and helps to keep the bugs at bay. Any other cuts or sore bits can always use some tea tree cream.

I suspect that the reason she was rurned away is that they may not have had facilities for barrier nursing. My hospital had MRSA patients isolated in single rooms to avoid passing on the infection (though the effficiency of that is open to question.

If you have treated patients with the bug before then you will know that what is required is cleanliness and lots of patience.

Good Luck

 

[missbehavin_badly]

MRSA= Methacylin Resistant Staphalococous Arureus (spelling)

In a nuts shell it is a Staph infection that is resistant to all penicylins(spelling again)

Staph infections are most usually found in a hospital setting. Although they are becoming more prevalant in nursing homes and rehab facilities. But mainly because hospitals are sending them to these facilities with the infection.

Vancomycin is usually the treatment of chose....there are others that will kill the active infection but would also do harm to the patient with the shear amount required to kill it. Vancomycin is a very expensive drug, and considered to be the strongest antibiotic on the market.

If you sister has MRSA she absolutely needs treatment!

She needs to try another doctor or hospital before her insurance expires.

 

[BlondGirl]

I just called my sister, and found out some more specifics.

She is 11 weeks post-op.
The infection is apparently not charted.
Her insurance is screwing her around. (A 10 dollar co-pay at one doctor and a 58$ co-pay at the specialist. Sounds suspicious to me....)

I am going to see what I can do to help with that. Probably not much, but there is a possibility.

I am so frusterated. She is 52 and has always worked shit job and lived paycheck to paycheck. Damn! And now she is beginning to pay for it in a most serious way.

 

[Desdemona]

Good luck to you and your sister. Can you guys get copies of her lab reports and any other documentation to show the insurance company?

 

[BlondGirl]

I did some research on here and found her ins company along with some docs in my area that take her ins. I will call on monday and try to get an appointment with her for sometime this week. (Luckily, she is on a PPO plan-whew!)

I will drive up there and get her one evening after work and then drive her home after work the day of her appmt.

I will also stay with her during the appointment. She literally has NO clue whatsoever about what is going on and does not understand what she is told. It is very frusterating when someone only seems to hear every 3rd or 4th statement. I will do my best though.

Damn. Seems my money simply flies away. I am already so damned deep in debt and it is things like this that suck my money away.

If I cash in some of my savings bonds to pay for someone else's health care costs, is that deductible in any way?

 

[missbehavin_badly]

I hope all goes well!

Your sister is lucky to have you

Its a shame that our health care system, has come down to a point that insurance companies, basically own doctors and hospitals. It makes for bad care for the patients.

 

[lilfrk]

BlondGirl...

When you get your sister to the new doctor please ask for cultures of her ALL her mucus membranes, her urine and her stool. It may not have colonized yet. If it hasn't colonized it may alter her course of action.

Take her to an infection control specialist and call the CDC they can help. I have a couple of friends that got MRSA from recent surgeries. One after a total hysterectomy and the other from sinus surgery. It has been very discourageing for everyone involved.

If your sister stays with you...please be very very careful if you have children. It is very communicable. The key is of course Wash your hands, Wash you hands, Wash your hands. Your sister too for that matter, especially her. I'm sure you realize the wash your hands thing...but it never hurts to say it again.

Be prepared for a few things. More surgeries and hospital stays and/or your sister coming home with a pic line to have IV antibotics given at home. A lot of hospitals like to send MRSA patients home because it gets rid of their infection control issue. Taking care of a MRSA patient is a huge pain in the ass to them and they will avoid it if they can.

Good Luck...If you need any more info ask. I'll talk to my infection control nurse at work for you. I wish you and your sister the best. ~Ally

 

[BlondGirl]

Thank you so much for your input.

Where would I find an infection control specialist outside the hospital system? (She told me she has already seen an infection control specialist.)

Her insurance ends Feb 1st. At that point, she is on her own as far as I am concerned. I can deal with co-pays to a certain extent, but that is coming out of my rent and am having a test tonight already as well as seeing my own specialist on tuesday.

As far as handwashing goes, she is one of these people who is stupid enough to believe that handwashing is overrated and mostly a waste of time. She is typically not welcome in our home because of this issue and I generally don't visit hers (and take soap when I go). It is a big phobia of mine.

I do have a youngster, but he DOES have handwashing down to an art and will follow my instructions concerning contact with her.

Of course, I am still wondering if she has MRSA at all. From the story she has given us, she is not being treated as though she has it. My old hospital used to treat it VERY aggressively.

She did complain that the "CNA's" that removed her stitiches (I was guessing it was medical students--I can't imagine any CNA having that duty in a hospital system.) did not wear gloves and she is convinced that this is the source of all her problems.

She told me yesterday afternoon that she has no pain at the site and has no symptoms of infection and has not felt the least bit unhealthy through all of this. I find that odd.

Thanks for bothering with my ranting here. The stress is killing me.

 

[lilfrk]

Good Lord! Your stress is going to kill me also. I honestly feel for you BlondGirl. What a mess.

How can your sister be a professional in a Nursing Home and be this ignorant? Sorry if that was harsh I didn't mean for it to be. I'm just wondering how a person works in a health care profession and is so nonchalant about things of this nature. No hand washing???

You can find an infection control specialist in most bigger hospitals. They are MDs that are trained in these sort of problem infections. All hospitals have an infection control nurse at least. I'm not sure how to find one outside of the hosptial setting. I'd personally check with the local or state CDC.

As for your youngster...Don't let her near him. I'd hate for him to pick up this nasty bug. And it is just that...A nasty damn bug.

I can't tell you how scary a thought this is to me. I deal with this every single day at my work. We are all so very careful not to bring it home to our families. We also treat it aggressively. But sometimes it is just untreatable and we just take the neccesary precautions so that it doesn't spread to other staff and residents.

Something in her story just doesn't jive with me. But then again if her infection is passed the acute stage she may very well feel just fine.

Rant all you like BG. Be it here in this thread, a PM, where ever. I can't fix it for you but I can listen and get you info.

Good luck with your tests and your trip to the specialist. I'll be thinking of you. ~Ally

 

[BlondGirl]

I am about to tackle the day. There was no co-pay for my test last night so I am very relieved at that. I came home for a few minutes before heading to work. I am sooooooo tired. But, I slept the same as I do in my own bed except that they requested that I sleep on my back as much as possible.

As far as my sister being a health care professional and not being so concerned about handwashing, yes, it is a source of embarassment to me. If I could hammer the importance of that into her head with an acutal hammer, I would. I fully believe that most of her health problems (Which seem to be infections of some sort) stem from this. I am not the cleanest person by any means, but with something so damned simple and easy to do....

I really don't know what my odds are of finding a specialist on infection control in the short amount of time left with her ins. We will see. I am still going with the idea that she can't be truly infected with MRSA and not have been given SOME instructions on dealing with it.

And I appreciate your input more than I can even begin to tell you. Thank you again.

Off to work to torture more patients. Muah ha ha ha ha ha......

 

[bluespoke]

Wow, you are going through the mill.

When I had MRSA I had no symptoms whatsoever and was not feeling ill because of it. It is a strange beast.

I wish I had retained a story I read in a nursing publication. There was a study done in a hospital about the instance of MRSA. An infection control team shadowed nurses and found that when hand washing was done when it should, the instance of MRSA infections reduced dramatically. The message was very clearly wash your hands, touch a patient wash your hands again all throgh the day.

I hope you get to sort things out soon.

 

[Guest]

Hey BG, your sister should contact the hospital that she was a patient at and start by writing down all conversations, phone calls and keep all data associated with the surgery. Contact legal aid right now to get her rights clarified. Post op wound infections are a legit insurance covered complication. If you could help her out at all try extending her insurance with Cobra payments if only for a month or so. It could save her thousands and she is entitled by federal law. She should be seen immediately to make sure she does not get osteo from the mrsa. That is a MAJOR complication of joint replacement. Good luck to you and her. Let us know what happens.

Gingersnap

I am signing in while away from home so come across unregistered (GASP)