MRSA

Ditto what SarahLee said... I am positive for MRSA as is almost every healthcare worker in the country. 

MRSA is an opportunistic little sucker that likes warm, moist places like wounds, sores, boils, etc.  Do what your doc says with the cream and after-care, and you will be fine... I would be more worried about the other nasty diseases you can get in the hospital, like c-diff, etc...

Audrey

well ****!!!! That totally sucks!!! glad it was caught and you are on the pre treatment, Having foot surgery on Thursday and I have my  testing Tuesday>>>> just asked hubby, he said yes they did swab me, no brain is a good thing sometime!!good luck LORA< !!!!!!

That stinks! Sorry you have something to worry about before surgery. Like the other posters have said, I would assume that most of us working in healthcare would test positive; many of my coworkers have and I see a lot of patients who are positive. Just expect to see everyone wearing lovely yellow protective gowns when working with you. Not sure if you are doing this outpatient or will be there overnight, but good news is you'll have a private room if you have to stay! =)

Wishing you a successful and uneventful surgery...with relief of your knee pain. 

It is a 3 or 4 day hospital stay.  Fortunately, the Joint Center at the hospital he already has all joint replacement patients in private rooms, partly so they sleep better and partly to decrease the chance of infection. They also require everyone from the lab techs to the chaplain to wash their hands when they enter the rooms and the food service people are only allowed to set the trays down and pick them up so they don't touch anything else.  It was weird... So it will be even weirder this time!

The nurse who called me and told me to expect the extra gowning, special sign on my door, etc. said that they would only do it until they got the results of a second swab on Wed morning (assuming that the second swab comes back negative, of course).

 

My husband's aunt had a double mastectomy and then breast reconstruction with implants.  She developed MRSA afterwards and eventually had to have the breast implants removed after fighting the MRSA for a few months. 

That being said, she was immuno-compromised because of the cancer treatment which I'm sure contributed to her inability to fight off the MRSA.  I'm sure you will be fine.  

You're in my thoughts Lora!!

Thanks, Sonja.  The little bit I read on the Internet said that it normally isn't a big deal for healthy people, so that makes me feel better.  God knows I take enough vitamins, LOL!

Hey Lora,

The hospital swabbed my nose for MRSA last week at my pre-op labs, EKG, etc. they did the same for my husband 2 years ago when he had neck surgery. But not 3 years ago when I had my hysterectomy.

Interesting thing is that about 5 years ago, my son fell and sliced his knee and we had to go to the hospital for stitches. 2 weeks later my son and my daughter both had MRSA breakouts, my son along one arm from elbow to wrist and my daughter on her booty. So weird. They had to take antibiotics and we had to glove up and evacuate the pockets each day and apply cream and wrap/bandaid all the spots. They could not go to school for 3 days. When we followed up with our PCP, she said that MRSA is everywhere - yuck!!!

SarahLee, thanks for the information.  I'm more anxious about infections now since my friend had the serious problems with her hip replacement and then my shoulder surgery was postponed because I had a skin reaction to the pre-op Sage cloths. Looks like I need to do some reading to get info and perspective. 

I had a swap pre-op and tested positive for staph i think not MRSA but idk. I had to pick up an antibiotic cream and insert some in my nostrils like 2x day for 5 days. I also had to do a full hibiclens scrub down.

MRSA, VRE, and CRE......3 little words NO ONE wants to hear in healthcare.

I work Cardiac/transplant ICU as a nurse and MRSA has become a new norm.

We swab every patient that gets admitted.

All patients get a scrub down with antibacterial soap.

All of our surgical patients get treated with Bacitracin in the nostrils for the duration of their stay.....why you ask ?

People pick their nose ! Noses get colonized with MRSA, they pick....and touch their wounds and ...TA DA we have a full blown mess on our hands !

By far, MRSA is the least worrisome of the above dreaded three.

Lora I so wish you well on your journey, You are going to do great and be back to your  heartless self in no time !!!! XOXO