My husband was in the hospital for a recurrent MRSA infection which caused a cyst in his armpit for a week over the holidays. He's doing much better, but he's still taking the oral antibiotic, Zyvox, which is one of the newest, strongest and most expensive ($75/pill, 2/day) antibiotics, after having been given several intravenous antibiotics, including Vancomycin, Unicyn and Daptomycin, in the hospital. Luckily, we had used up our deductible for the year some time ago and we have good insurance. Jim has been very tired, but otherwise much improved. I was also given Bactrim which I stopped taking yesterday.
Before Jim came home, I sanitized the house. I washed the bed sheets, pillow cases, and his undergarments using the sanitize cycle of our relatively new washer, Kenmore Elite HE5t Steam, and bleach. Our towels were red, so I bought new towels,
Nautica J Class, Deck White. My first priorities were white, so that they can be bleached, and having extra large bath sheets available in the set. They are very soft and absorbent. I managed to get bath sheets, bath towels and wash cloths from
Amazon.com, but they were out of hand towels. I tried to determine if they were in stock locally at Bed Bath and Beyond online, but I was disappointed when the chat representative couldn't tell me, so I ended up just going to the store myself while waiting for Jim to be released from the hospital. The staff at Chandler Regional Hospital is usually very professional and timely, but they messed up this time. It took 8 hours for Jim to be released because we were waiting for the case worker to take care of the home health care referral. I also sanitized my desk at work and laptops with hand sanitizer and alcohol swabs, just to be sure.
While I was taking Bactrim my sinuses were clearer than they have been in years. However, I was paranoid that we're breeding a superbug when I woke up coughing from a bit sinus drainage this morning, even after washing my CPAP mask and hose with
Hibiclens and other antibacterial soap. I used
NeilMed Sinus Rinse and felt much better. It works even better than a neti pot because it uses a standardized saline/sodium bicarbonate rinse with mild pressure to rinse mucus and bacteria out of the sinuses without stinging or burning. Also, I've had a bit of Rosacea pop up. When I am under extreme stress it tends to come out in my skin in weird ways. As a teenager, I got marks on my torso that looked like small ringworm spots, but weren't. Between the antibiotics and stress it's coming out on my face this time. Lotion helps with the itching and redness. Yesterday, I got a prescription cream from my family doctor that I haven't tried, yet. I have an appointment with a Dermatologist's office at the end of the month in case it doesn't get better. I really need to take my sabbatical and relax!
Jim took Eddie to the vet today for a regular check up and make sure that he didn't have MRSA. Eddie has arthritis and had an infection in this paw last year, but they said that he was fine and had no signs of an active MRSA infection. He also got his shots and came home with glucosamine chondroitin. We're trying the standardized vet prescription first. If he does well, then we'll switch to over the counter pills. The cats, Zeus, Vixen and Pumpkin are all doing very well. Pumpkin is showing some signs of having a touch of arthritis, too, but she's still quite spry at 15.
Sphere: Related Content
The last time we took Eddie in to the vet a couple of months ago they told us that he was about 20 pounds over weight. We followed their instructions and cut his daily food to the minimum recommended serving on the bag for his weight. We also give him carrot and "broccoli bone" snacks. He won't eat broccoli stalks unless I cut the skin off, then he loves them. Then, he'll carry them outside and eat them like a regular bone. This week when Jim took Eddie to the vet he was down 7 pounds. Fifteen more pounds to go, but it's a good start.
Posts
Stumble It!
