Hi! I'm Danelle, mom to Jimmy, 22 months. He has been battling
staph/MRSA since September. He's on his 5th dose of Cleocin as of
yesterday, and has an appointment with the MRSA clinic at the
Children's hospital April 19th. I'm so frustrated with this. The
last infection we did the nasal antibac swaps for the whole family
in the case one of us were carrying it. We thought we were in the
clear.

His first infection I didn't know what it was, it was on his bum,
and I thought it was just from his diaper rubbing. I slathered it
with neosporin, and it didn't get better. He developed several
large boils with red rings around them. When he started running a
fever (the day the red rings developed), I called his Dr for an
appointment, and I swear they thought he had diaper rash, and
claimed they didn't have an appt until Monday (it was a Friday).
The poor baby couldn't sit, he was in such pain. So I called my
daughter's Dr, and they squeezed him in. When the Dr saw him, he
immediately sent us to the children's hospital where the abcesses
had to be surgically drained. It's so scary to see your baby laying
there in a hospital bed with all those monitors!

The following infections I've been able to catch them earlier and
earlier and get him treated from the start. He has never had broken
skin where he gets the infections. His current Dr is very
knowledgeable about it, but I know there's more that can be done
than what we've been doing. ITA that some Dr's don't know diddly
about these things, and grossly underrate them. We saw one Dr
(third infection)that just said that they probably popped up when he
wasn't feeling well. WTHeck? I knew more about this than he did.

I'm just so frustrated! These infections are so painful for him--
even with the Cleocin. Luckily, Jimmy likes the taste of Cleocin
(for those of you who have smelled/tasted the suspension, it's
NASTY!) and takes it without argument, and no one else in the family
has contracted it. In December, however, my grandmother had open
heart surgery, and developed (what the Dr's claimed was) sepsis.
She passed away January 1st. Her death certificate stated that she
died of a staph infection. She was NEVER put on any antibiotics,
even though her symptoms clearly pointed to one--even I can see
that, and I don't have a medical degree! I know that MRSA is
rampant in hospitals, but I will always have the nagging guilt that
somehow I passed this on to her.

I'm so glad to have found a group where I can vent, and read that
we're not alone fighting this.

Danelle