Super-bug

I've had a run of bad luck lately. Two Saturdays ago, I was rummaging around in my sewing box, and I was stuck by a safety pin. No big deal, right? Well, a week and a half later, I've been through 4 antibiotics and a minor surgical procedure. After the initial incident, my thumb kept swelling and swelling and became unbearably painful by last Thursday. Two antibiotics had no effect, so I went to Corinth to see one of my mom's doctors. He prescribed antibiotic #3, but overnight the pain became so bad, I wanted to cut my own finger open to relieve the pressure. I went back to the doctor the next day, and he sent me to an a surgeon, who did in fact cut it open. Gross, I know. By the next morning, I was feeling so much better. I thought the worst was over. So, I go back for a follow-up appointment on Monday. They had sent samples from my thumb to a lab to be cultured, and it comes back as MRSA. Methicillin-resistant staph. The super-bug. It's a very serious form of staph that is resistant to most antibiotics. The doctor handed me a prescription for the only drug known to still work, and said, "I hope you have great prescription drug coverage." Why? Because this medicine costs $100/pill. Yep, I have $1200 worth of pills sitting on my counter (14 pills).

We have no idea where I could have gotten this. It's rampant in hospitals, so maybe when I had Seth? Who knows. But, this is certainly not as bad as it could have been. I had already started to run a fever when the doctor did the surgery, so within another 24 hours, this would have been in my bloodstream and I would have been hospitalized. So, thank the Lord for that! I just have to be soooo careful around the kids. This could be fatal for a baby, so I have to keep it covered with bandages at all times. That makes taking care of little ones challenging.

The antibiotic I'm on now is super strong, and I've had to discontinue nursing Seth. The drug is so new, they can't be sure it wouldn't hurt him. And, believe it or not, this has been a blessing. Seth has been a fussy baby since he got here. I mentioned I had tried to eliminate things from my diet, but nothing seemed to help. Now, on the formula, he's the most content baby ever! David fed him at 9:30 last night (which was a wonderful change for me) and he didn't wake up again until 4:30 this morning! So, now I've got to decide if I want to try resuming nursing once I'm off this antibiotic or stick with the formula. I feel so guilty since I nursed Adeline for 10 months, but I honestly think he's doing better like this.

So, pray that this antibiotic will work. I'm not sure what happens next if it doesn't. But, God has a reason for everything, and maybe this happened to help me find a way to get more rest and take better care of myself. You mommies out there know how you tend to come last when it comes to everyone else's needs!

Here are a couple of new pictures. I've mentioned before that Adeline loves her animals (we've been in Corinth since last Thursday and she was missing them so bad!) Last week I found her sticking them in the vent. She does such curious little things. Children are a joy : )