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Devastated - Hospital Acquired MRSA????!!!!
- Thread starter Gammaw
- Start date
This unfortunately happens more often than one would think, I've been told by my doctor that 1 in 4 people walking around at the mall has some form of MRSA. A hospital is the most unsafe-safe place you could be in treating your cystic fibrosis, as parallax as that sounds. The fact that hundreds of people are walking around either a) sick b) dealing with other sick people or c) a combination does nothing but spread things easier, especially when you're immune system is already at a lower level function than normal. May I ask if the patient had been on precautions (isolation, etc) or was he free roam in the hospital? I first grew MRSA when I was about 11? and before that I had free roam of the hospital as any other seemingly healthy patient would. What you don't realize is that even though sterility is used throughout the hospital, germs still pass from the nurses leaving one room, to the door handles to someone not properly washing their hands, unfortunately acquiring infections is what cf'ers do well. In closing I'd like to say yes, precautions are hard at first and even now 9 years later they drag some stays but stay positive do fun things in your room and remember that that isolation could be the safest place for your little one to gain health once again.
Thanks for responding hannahj. This is a difficult issue most people don't want to discuss. The pulmonologiy dept said 40% of CFers have MRSA. Really? WHY? That 25% in the mall probably has it on their skin which is usuallywhere it resides. But they're not colonized or symptomatic I don't think. My CFer has always been in isolation when in the hospital. Always. Seems like someone messed up. I spend so much effort protecting him from germs at school, home, the mall, the grocery store, relatives ..... and they give it to him at the hospital. Have you been symptomatic? Has it impaired your pulmonary function?
That does seem like it could have been a small mess up on some part. A thing I have always questioned is while I'm on isolation the doctors/nurses/etc must wear gowns/gloves/mask while in my room, and they must put it all on before stepping in to protect me, HOWEVER they do take it all off and throw it away in my room and then wash their hands. So I know it's little chance but that 1-2 minutes without it on could spread it as well. And I've known nurses to just pop into my room to restart my iv pump/something small and quick of that nature without wearing the gown so I just can't say exactly. I was symptomatic, however my diagnosis came when I switched hospitals, the hospital before didn't have any precautions it wasn't techincally a specialty clinic so only 2-3 cf patients went at a time we had free roam, no restrictions etc etc. I think I may have contracted it much earlier but they had never tested/treated me for it. SO when I switched hospitals I was shocked, at each of the hospitals i've been to (3) in my life, you have to have 3 consequtive negative MRSA tests to be taken off precautions and I have never had that be it I was in the hospital every 3-5 months or at my appointments I was still positive. As for my pulmonary function I will say yes it's taken a decline but I don't know if it's necessarily just because of the MRSA. I've been culturing it for around 9 years along with psuedo or pneumonia those always grow in my cultures. I'd say when I first was diagnosed my pfts were at around 70% and now my baseline is around 60% on my fev1. But I can also say there was a few years around 13-16 that I didn't do treatments or take meds almost ever, I've been very fortunate to keep my numbers so high considering.
I think generally CFers are put in "contact isolation" so unless they touch the patient or things the patient touches, they don't need gown and gloves. So just taking off the gown and standing there is generally considered ok? So if someone comes in even to hand you something, they can do that - like the lunch tray. They can't touch anything though. I'm not positive, but it's something like that. Maybe someone else can chime in and explain. I've personally always wondered about the floor . . . . those shoes everyone is wearing have traveled in some pretty dirty places. Why don't they cover their shoes? And what if you are running around in your hospital socks, or have a little one who decides to plop on the floor. . . . .
I understand that MRSA accelerates lung function decline as a general rule. So it worries me but I'm glad to hear you've been doing well despite your lapses in adherence! I don't know how you get to a negative MRSA. I wish I did! God Bless and I hope you continue to do well. . . .
I understand that MRSA accelerates lung function decline as a general rule. So it worries me but I'm glad to hear you've been doing well despite your lapses in adherence! I don't know how you get to a negative MRSA. I wish I did! God Bless and I hope you continue to do well. . . .