This is another story of an MRSA battle sent in by a reader. She acquired MRSA from laparoscopic surgery, which infected her bloodstream. She is lucky and is recovering. Here is her story:
On Oct 13th of 2004 I went home after having a minor surgery (Laparoscopy). At home during the evening I had tremendous first, nausea, disorientated, tremendous stomach cramps, I could not sleep. I could not stand the pain and was rushed back to hospital….I now became anxious, hyperventilating…I was admitted to the emergency room, where I fainted. I was admitted back to the maternity ward here I spent 3 days, which I do not have any memory of. According to medical records I was feverish, complained of shoulder pain, could not breath, very fast pulse rate, on oxygen, desaturating, blood pressure unstable and low.
I was seen by a heart and lung specialist who sent me to the ICU. On 16 Oct 2004 I had a laparotomy of 2 1/2 hours long. I was fully ventilated, on morphine, dormicun and several life supporting machines. I had about 5 draining bags out of my abdomen, nasogastric tube. By now I was diagnosed with SEPTICEMIA…
Several blood gases was done and sent away, blood was drawn, X-rays taken, received physiotherapy. During 18,19 and 20 Oct 2004 my condition became worse, I was very ill, and unstable. On 21/10 I was taken off the ventilator as it seemed my condition was getting better. But it did not and I had to be ventilated again. My pulse rate was at 150-170 beats per minute, my blood sugar peaking up to 12, very low bloodpressure, My condition critical and unstable again. I was very weak, irritated, sweaty, temperature 38.8, hyperventilating, breathing against the ventilator, very restless. I had ARDS. I received 4 units of blood. On 29 Oct my condition was questioned and unsure of and my condition remained critical.
I was constantly sedated, kept on morphine and dormicun and a lot of other medication. Fluids was draining out of my body, dark green fluids, or brownish fluids I I was told that I was very sick, when I started to wake up around 8 Nov 2004. I was still fully ventilated, could not walk. During this time I became better and was weaned of the machines and medication. I had to get my mind right in order to walk again, it was very difficult but I just had to do it, as it felt that I would never get out of the hospital…on 28 Nov I had an abscess drained on 29 Nov I was release from hospital…During Dec 2004 I became very ill I had severe shoulder pain, very weak, just lying could not sleep or eat or do anything, I found it very difficult to breath, I went for X-rays, nothing came up…I was put under the care of another doctor in another town. It was discovered that I had an abscess under my lungs and the puss leaked into my lung. I was put in a clinic and had several doctors over me. I went through post traumatic stress disorder, I was very very depressed, I was separated from my home and husband, It felt that my soul has left my body…I had panic attacks, you name it and I had it…I had another operation in Jan 2005, in March, abscesses drained drainage bags.In May I had an hernia operation and in ICU again for a few days. In June and July I had abscesses drained again. In total I was off sick a year and from work. During this time blood was continuously drawn and sent to the laboratory for culturing. I was on a lot of medication, at one stage I had some sort of bug inside me and had to use medication of 1000mg per tablet twice a day. I had complete nervous breakdowns each time I had to go for surgery. I did not feel anything anymore. It felt that I was an angel and died….as I also had a near death experience that I can remember up until today…
I recovered but it was difficult for me to walk I got tired quickly and in pain alot, my lungs did not fully healed, I am on chronic bloodpressure medication, my medical aid was exhausted and it strained me financially.. in November 2005 my husband decided to leave me also. Coping with this, financially not surviving, not beginning to deal with the trauma I went through, all was to much for me, but I could not give up though I wanted to lots of time…friends disappeared maybe they did not know how to deal with me or that they might get “infected” to be near me. Recently I was diagnosed with arthritis also. As I have done my homework and research done on septicemia as I was eager to learn and know more and more, I am convinced that I have an infectious arthritis. I was a very healthy person before I had septicemia, now I must take special care of myself seeing that I have a “mesh” inside me and struggling with the feeling of my right leg. My lungs is not 100 % my heart is a bit enlarged. My body is immune to pain medication as I am now on schedule 5 pain medication for my arthritis..My whole body from shoulders, back, knees, legs, feet and toes, hands and fingers and wrists are infected.
If there is anything else you would like to know about please feel free to ask. I know that septicemia is life threatening. I read it I experienced it, I know what it does. You do not survive it. I was lucky. And I don’t know my purpose yet, but I am here to tell my story to others or to give them hope or to tell them NEVER GIVE UP…
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27 responses so far ↓
Sharon // May 22, 2007 at 12:30 pm
I had surgery in March and was healing nicely but for one site that still cause me pain and discomfort. I went back to the doctor and he did a scan to be sure everything was okay. Not long after that I started to have a drainage from what had been a healed site. That site grew and I was having more drainage, yellowish with some blood.
I ended up in the emergency room on Mother’s Day and treated and they did biopsy on the drainage. It was after I had gone back to the doctor that I found out I had MRSA in the site.
I was lucky I didn’t have a fever but I was tired and I remain tired. I have trouble sleeping at night and that is ongoing. I was told to keep the site open and to remove any scabs. I am do for more surgery soon and needless to say I am worried.
Armanda // Sep 20, 2007 at 5:32 am
Hi,
My name is Armanda, and I to have been very ill. I moved out here to michigan from california to get married to my fianc`e of 12 years, we have a son togather, and I have a daughter from my first marriage.
I’m 37, my daughter is 17, and my son is 11. my son, and I have been here now for 5 years, and my daughter is away to college.
Before we arrived here I had found out that I had Lupus, and right after the first winter here , and spring started comming around I started feeling really weird, light-headed, and I started having increased pain, swelling all over my body. Well I did’nt really know what was goin’ on.
I ended up in the E.R that night, and they ran some tests, and found out I needed my gallbladder removed; well they removed it and sent me home one-day after, and I kept telling the doctor that I was’nt feeling right.
Well when I got home I was running a fever of course my fiancee was nowhere to be found, so my son called a neighbor of ours to come over, she took us to the ER, by then I had a fever of 105.4f, they had to drain the sites I had the laporoscopy through, and that was the begining of my son, and my frightful journey, my fiance, and my sons father left me because he said’He could not be with someone sick like me anymore” two months later he got married. o well life must always go on..
Now after that I went on to have 5 more mrsa infections in one-and a half years, and now as I type this to all who reads this I feel as I have another one located on my back right above my tailbone, thats the surgery I had last year in Feb 2006 they took out a tumor the size of a med-orange, and now there is a reddish-brown blood, with white and yellow, so Im going to the hospital, I had had 15 major surgeries in my life, and I know God has a plan for me, and the woman, and men that might come across reading this, the hardest part for me is I have no family here at all and the people who said they would help you don’t help, because like the other writter wrote”People, and friends just seem to disapper”
Well I hope what I wrote can somehow help you or encourage you in some way.
Please stay strong, and keep the faith.
-Armanda.
bonnie // Oct 28, 2007 at 6:44 am
im sorry to hear you 3 ladies terriable tragedies .thank god you are all doing better.im going to pray for you all i hope they find a way to wipe this desease off the face of the earth. god bless you all
MRSA // Jan 22, 2008 at 11:28 am
MRSA could be helped by surgery, this is something I did not know.
paul // Jan 23, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I am ashamed to be a man after reading these stories.
karen // Feb 10, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I had a lump removed from my side on Jan 3, 2008. I had just returned to work when I came down with a fever at work and my incision site started to swell and tremendous pain. I though maybe I was doing too much at work. The next day I went to see the surgery and he said there was fluid under the skin and he gave me an antibiotic. The next day I worked the fluid “gushed” out of my incision (thick yellow drainage). I was diagnosed with MRSA. Where I got it is anyone’s guess (the operating room?). Did someone not wash their hands or was equipment infected? I may never know but now my husband packs my incision everyday and the pain is horrible. There is no telling when it will heal.
Alyssa // Feb 19, 2008 at 5:10 pm
MRSA is a serious thing. I did not get mine from a hospital, so hearing that some of you may have gotten yours from it is a new thing for me. I got mine when I was four years old, and though I don’t remember most of it, my mother has told me about everything that happened. We still do not know how I got it, but we do know that it nearly killed me. I ended up having three surgeries on my ankle to get all of it out, because as it was MRSA, it was resistant to the medicine. They have newer antibiotics now that were not around when I obtained the infection, or surgery may not have been necessary. MRSA can be obtained anywhere, from anything. Washing your hands, or someone else washing theirs, may help but there is no surefire way to prevent getting it. Some people are more susceptible to it than others though, I personally believe that. I also believe that some people are carriers after having it, and maybe even before, and that it becomes known when there is an “outbreak”. I had it in 1994, but my dad had it just a few years ago, in the same place I had mine. Odd? I think so too. These are just my personal opinions though, you can never be sure when dealing with something like this.
On a lighter note, I am glad to hear that you who have shared your stories are still here to tell them, as am I. I hope you all heal nicely, and I wish you the best of luck in life.
Alyssa // Feb 19, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Oh, as a followup :
The surgery I had was called “Wound Debridement”
They basically (in layman’s terms) went in there and took all of the tissue infected with MRSA out of my ankle/foot, so I would heal faster. Sometimes this can be done without surgery, but because in my case there was absolutely no open wound (Not as the cause or from the MRSA itself — This is why we do not know how I got it) they had to surgically go in and do it that way. As a precaution they also allowed the wound to heal from the inside out, a painful but necessary process to ensure that if something (some other kind of bacteria) got into the wound, it would not be sealed from the top and allowed to fester inside of the healing tissues.
Just thought I would add that in there.
karen // Feb 19, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Follow-up - I am going tomorrow to have a re - culture of my wound and nose for MRSA. I am a nurse and the hospital won’t let me go back to work if I am still MRSA positive. The surgeon and the doctors I work with all say I could have been a carrier as all health care worker probably are from taking care of so many patients that have it. I don’t know why it chose to come out after my surgery, but it has been almost 2 months and my husband is still packing my incision (still very painful). Tomorrow I’ll know if the antibiotics have taken care of the MRSA.
karen // Feb 24, 2008 at 2:08 pm
my cultures are negative now. I can finally go back to work. Hope everyone else is doing fine. Thank you for all your emails.
paul // Feb 25, 2008 at 8:54 am
Congrats Karen!
karen // Feb 25, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Thank you Paul. I still have to pack my incision (it’s open only enough to get the q-tip in) but I am feeling alot better. Good luck to everyone. I will continue to read all the emails about MRSA. It is a horrible infection. All the emails I have received helped me get through it knowing I wasn’t the only one.
Paula // Mar 6, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Hi, I’m 31 and I had Laparoscoptic surgery to remove an ovarian cyst. 2 days later, I had tremendous pain on the opposite side of where the cyst was. I had a fever and the area was pink and hot. I went back to doctor and was given antibiotics. Next day, pus and blood ozzed out of my bellybutton. Returned to doc and she took a culture. Pain has decreased but not disappeared. 5 months earlier I got a hospital MRSA infection on my c-section cut. I’m worried that it’s MRSA again, but still don’t know results of culture. Does anyone think it’s possible for an abscess to remain festering in my abdominal area and spread to the rest of my body? What do you guys suggest I ask the doctor to do to make sure this thing heals and doesn’t spread? I’m scared because the day that the pain was worst and had high fever, I also got a fever blister on lip and some unexplainable painful cuts inside my nose. Can anyone help me?
Paula // Mar 10, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Yes, it is MRSA again!! After taking the wrong antibiotic for 9 days the doc is now treating me w/ vancocin! Frustrating
Carol // Jul 31, 2008 at 6:10 pm
My name is Carol….I had a cyst removed from my right wrist on May 16 2008 as well as dorsal release on my right thumb. The surgery went fine and I was in very little pain for the first week or so after the surgery. Almost 2 weeks post-op, the area constantly had a burning/stinging sensation. I knew something wasn’t right. I was wrapped in a manner we could not look at the surgery site. At my 2 week follow-up with my surgeon, I told him how bad I was hurting and how I’ve never had an incision “look like this one.” It was very inflammed and raised. He more/less dismissed me. (Told me “you were cut on”.) At my 6 week follow-up (still hurting badly) he decided he didn’t like the way the incision sight looked. I told him I have right many scars and none of my scars look like this one, especially 2 months out from surgery. He told me to use some hydrocortosone cream. That was on a Thursday. By Monday AM, the area was twice as inflammed, the area around the incision area was red with whelps and had fluid filled blisters hanging off of the whelps. My husband immediately took me to the ER. I was diagnosed with MRSA. (a culture was taken from the blister.) I was placed on an antibiotic and told to follow-up with my surgeon in a few days. When I returned to my surgeon, he was shocked. I reminded him “I knew something wasn’t right!” In addition to the antibiotic the ER placed me on, he put me on another high powered antibiotic which was horrible. Nausea, stomach cramps, headaches, etc….Also, placed me on a topical antibiotic for the surgery site. I am now on my “3rd” round of antibiotics and the area is “slowly” healing. This has been a total nightmare. There is no doubt in my mind this come from a surgical tool that was not sterilized properly. I will forever have a fear of hospitals/surgery from now on. It is a real shame we do not have any recourse in this matter. So…today I get hit with a co-pay bill for my ER visit that “they caused.” Not to mention the money we have spent on medications. I wish you all the best.
cHERYL // Aug 18, 2008 at 8:07 pm
HI, I WAS JUST READING SOME OF YOUR STORIES AND THEY RING HOME WITH ME AND MY HUSBAND. MY HUSBAND HAS HAD 8 CYSTS OR ABSESSES. THEY HAD TO DO SURGERY ON A FEW OF HIS AND I HAD TO PACK THEM FOR HIM. HE IS A DIABETIC AND THEY SAID THAT HE MAY GET IT EASIER SINCE HE HAS DIABETES. I HAVE HAD 2 ABSESSES AND HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH MRSA ALSO. I AM ON SPECIAL MEDICINE AND HAVE TO BE RECULTURED IN 2 WEEKS.
Joseph // Oct 18, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Hi,
I wanted to share a long story about MRSA but will try to give the short version. My daughter (12 years old) was infected with the MRSA bug and soon after her sister (6 years old) now had it. The 6 year old was able to beat it with Antibiotics but the 12 year old has been on antibiotics more than 3 times for three seprate outbreaks. The 6 year old I believe beat for two main reasons. First, we caught it early on because we were looking for it. Second, she has a stronger imune system. About 8 months later after the 12 year old caught MRSA for the third time, it was now on her mom’s leg. We took the same precautions as allways so we can’t explain how her mom got it but it was the worst out of all of them. She was given Antobiotics which seemed to work and clear up the infection on her leg. About three weeks later the mom cut her thumb ever so little. It was so small that se was not even aware it was there. A few days later her thumb started to swell and looked like a blood blister. She started to feel plenty of pain in her whole hand and most of her arm. They cut open her thumb to look for any objects like a splinter or glass and found nothing. She was sent home and given Sulfamethoxazole to take. Her thumb was covered with bandage a may hShe ended up going back to the hosipital for an emergancy sergery on her thumb. She was sent home with a different antibiotic that seems to be working.
THIS IS MY QUESTION TO ANYONE:
7 days later she was in an accident and crushed both feet. After the MRI and several test they told her that Sergury is needed at least on one foot. We told them about the MRSA and that she has not finished to Medication. They did show some concern but as of today they are schedule to do the sergery. After she has the sergery se will have no visibility because she will be in a cast. We are looking to hear from others that who have had MRSA and then shortly after needed sergury for a reason UNREALTED like the crushed foot. We are trying to find out throught other people who may be able to share their story either good or bad. Please remember that the sergery has to be NOT related to the MRSA infection.
tauran // Dec 8, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Joesph I have the same question I am schedule for surgery to have my gall bladder removed and I had MRSA in october I am almost scared to have it done because of that can anywho help
Cheryl // Dec 8, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Hello, I just wanted to give you all something positive to think about. My husband had MRSA for atleast a year or more. He kept getting more and more infections in his body and he had to have surgery to have them removed because the infection was so deep in his body. I had to change and clean it out and redress it everyday. They had to show me how to do this and everything had to be sterile. Well finally after many surgeries and infections we went to an infectious disease Dr. i also ended up with it. The Dr. did some cultures on us. He called and put my husband and i on an oral antibiotic and one for your nose. It only took me the first round of meds and iwas retested and found i had it no longer. My husband needed a second round and then he was found to be free of it also. The Dr. also had us use a special soap everyday to help keep germs and infections from our skin while we were taking the meds. It actually helped and my husband has been infection free for about a year. The name of the soap is Hibiclens. you can find it in your local drug store. just ask them they will know what you are wanting. good luck to all and God bless. hope this was some help to someone.
tauran // Dec 9, 2008 at 1:49 pm
thank you so much..god bless you too
mrsa infection // Mar 8, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Vancocin is the best drug to treat MRSA? My daugther may need some antiobiotics and I want to educate myself before visiting my doctor this week
paul // Mar 12, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Vancomycin is about the strongest one. I have had 3 outbreaks and never taken it. Usually they give me the bactrim (or sulphermetoxilate or something like that).
sara feb.2008 // Mar 26, 2009 at 6:19 pm
I HAD A CANCER TUMOR REMOVED (KIDNEY)LAPOSCOPILY. WEEK LATER I HAD SHOULDER PAIN,JUST THINKING I SLEPT WRONG.ASKED MY DR.IF I COULD FLY TO CA TO MY GRANDSON BEFORE I RETURN TO WORK HE SAID OK.I WAS THERE ONE DAY CAME DOWN WITH A FEVER AND MY SHOULDER AND NECK FELT BAD.THOUGHT I HAD THE FLU.WENT TO MISSION HOSP,AND PROGRESSED TO DECLINE.THEY TESTED ME FOR MENINGITS,IT WAS NOT.I BECAME WEEKER AND MY NECK STARTED TO SWELL.THEY TOOK ME TO SURGERY AND SAW I HAD AN ABCESS WRAPPED AROUND C-3&C-4.THEN I HAD TO HAVE ANOTHER SURGERY TO TAKE OUT C-3 AND PARTS OF C-4 AND REPLACE IT WITH A BRIDGE AND 4 SCREWS.IT LEFT ME ON A VENT FOR 9 DAY’S AND A QUADROPILIGIC.I HAVE LOST MY JOB IN A RECOVERY ROOM.I’M ONLY 54 AND HAVE 2 GRANDSONS.I NEED SOMEONE TO PLEASE HELP ME GET COMPINSATED.THERE WAS SOMETHING DIRTY THAT WENT INTO MY BLOODSTREAM.
PLEASE CALL OR E-MAIL ME
mooseheadl@hotmail.com
sara LI NY
Christine // Apr 27, 2009 at 9:21 am
Cheryl, thanks for the name of the soap your infection disease doc recommends. I’m very concerned about spreading MRSA to family members. I have an abcess right in the middle of my chest wall. ER docs opened and packed but the pain and redness has moved to my lymph nodes in my arm pit and neck. I just feel sick all over, I don’t think that is a good thing. Following up today with internal med doc. But i am definitely gonna get the soap you recommended. Thanks again.
Miriam // May 3, 2009 at 5:46 pm
How long does it take for cultures to grow to identify MRSA? What about sensitivities?
Heather Schoen // Jun 30, 2009 at 10:49 am
I have been diagnosed with MRSA. I also had a culture that came out negative. But now I have it again. Anywya I am going for bariatric surgery and am most concerned abot the MRSA complications, does anone know anything about this?
sara mccloskey // Jun 30, 2009 at 11:36 am
I NEED A LAWYER PLEASE
GLEN COVE NY
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