Infectious Disease Doctor

It's taken me a while to get on here and give this update, but here it goes.

The main result from today is he left Brittney on the same meds she's been taking - Rifampin & Doxycylcine - but he upped the dosage & extended the length of time she is on it. He also told her no more cosmetic jewelry earrings - only posts/studs & they must be sterling silver or gold. She has to soak them in alcohol every night & then coat them w/the antibiotic cream before replacing in her hear. She stays w/the antibiotic cream application of 3x per day in her ears. Showers only & must use Dials soap.

So the good news is that it is a "nuisance" infection. Yes, it's still MRSA & dangerous, but it's NOT in her lungs, bloodstream or gut. We have to continue to aggressively treat it, but it IS treatable right now & not deadly. Bad news is since it is in the outer "tissue" of her ear, there is limited bloodflow in that area of her body. Breakdown - take longer to heal. ARGH! (Think nuisance. Think nuisance.)

Other good news is he gave her a clean pass for school and back to normal cheerleading activities. As you can imagine w/MRSA (dangerous, highly contagious staph infection) - there is a bit of pariah status that goes with it. However, the ID doc said that since she is being aggressively treated, SHE is not the danger. It's everyone else who can be dangerous to her. She is a MRSA carrier - will always be. Likely what happened, according to the doc, is someone else at school who is having an outbreak gave it to HER! You can imagine what a load that took off of her mentally! It's hard enough being a 16 year old these days. Add in having a contagious "disease", watch out!!

So - we are back to playing the waiting game. She'll be on the meds for another 14 days. Let's start counting...

Infectious Disease Doctor

http://jayefamily.blogspot.com/2008/12/infectious-disease-doctor.html