Things got much scarier soon after. I was told to please bring Kal-el in that same day because 9 out of 10 times when a parent sees what they think is a spider bite it ends up actually being a staph infection. Also the fact that Chris had a mysterious place on his leg really pointed at the highly contagious staph as opposed to spider bites. If you know me you know that I absolutely panicked after hearing that. Chris was off, thank God, so off we went to the doctor's office. I didn't know much about Staph other than you don't want it and some kinds (MRSA) have the potentiality to be really bad and in some cases deadly.
Once we got to the room we were told to take off Kal-el's shirt so they could have a look at his abscess. Keep in mind my child had just decided as of last week that he loves being clothed as opposed to being naked. Shirt removal posed a real problem for him. We were made aware of this by the absolute fit he threw. I'm pretty sure they could hear him all the way down at Spring Park screaming "MY SHIRT, PUT SHIRT ON NOW!!!" Nice. Thirty minutes, 3 nurses holding him down to take a culture and drain the abscess later we were headed home with some major antibiotics. It would take 3 days for the results to come back. We were told its almost always Staph and in many cases its MRSA. What?! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Thats the bad, horrible, awful stuff that I've read about that is so resistant to antibiotics. They said they would go ahead and treat it with the antibiotics that kill it instead of waiting on the confirmation. As you can imagine I was hitting the internet up pretty hot and heavy that evening and after my third or forth article on MRSA I was ready to be admitted to the psyic ward. I was beside myself with worry for BOTH my babies since its so contagious. I literally sprayed the entire house down the disinfectant and washed my hands so much in between touching each child that they were raw. I even bleached our colored clothes on accident trying to kill off every bacteria I could.The one positive note was that the doctor confirmed that Chris's bump looked nothing like staph. So least it wasn't spreading like wildfire at this very moment. Awful day.
The next day didn't show much improvement. Matter of fact if anything the beginning of it was a little worse. When I was feeding Logan I noticed what I thought was a bump in his ear. All hope of my boys not having the dreaded staph was officially gone. Chris was at work and my mom was out of town so Aunt Vicki and I headed back to Melvin's office this time with the little one in tow. Unfortunately we weren't able to see Dr. Melvin himself for either visit due to him being out of town. I don't have anything against nurse practitioners what so ever but I honestly prefer seeing a doctor afterall that's what my insurance pays for and this was a little more serious than an a simple ear infection. Luckily, we were able to see another doctor in the office. I learned a lot during this second visit that I wasn't made aware of during Kal-el's visit with the nurse practitioner. I was told that although Kal-el did most likely have MRSA staph (beacause nearly 100% of staph they see is resistant to antibiotics now due to over use of antibiotics) that the odds were overwhelming that he would never have it again in his life once the strong antibotics cleared it up. I was told I could be a little less meticulous in my insane disinfecting efforts because if in fact Super did have staph since he was on antibotics were already in his system fighting it and there was less of a chance of it spreading ...if it hadn't already. Sooo..on to sweet Logan. Now this is just embarrassing and if I could of slipped out the back door I probably would of. Not only was I so stressed that I forgot my son's first name was Christopher when they called us back (I just sat there like an idiot when they called his name) but the "bump" that was in Logan's ear disappeared.Thats right folks. I swear it was there. Not sure if my hypochondriac state made me hallucinate it...but it WAS there. Embarrassing as it was I was so relieved that it hadn't spread to my youngest. On our way to check out I glanced down at Logan's diagnoses for the day. I fully expected it to say "nutcase mother needs committed asap" however it read..Seborrheic dermatitis...wow I had just carried my child to the doctor for cradle cap. At least it wasn't just blank. Aunt Vicki and I had a good laugh about the entire visit. I was honestly glad we went though, mainly because I felt much more educated on MRSA staph after speaking with the doctor. It really put my mind at ease knowing that it wasn't rare or deadly, 60% of all people actually carry on their skin and IF it was MRSA its treatable and usually isolated. Life threating cases are mostly seen in the elderly, people who are hospitalized, and individuals with immuane system issues. Needless to say this really calmed my anxiety about our situation.
And the fun continued when Chris arrived home from his second trip to Memphis. His leg looked AWFUL. It was bigger for one, the skin looked very weak, and he had blisters all around it. I told him he really should get it looked at. He didn't want to bother at first but then I told him it resembled herpes and out the door he went lol. Dr. Hart was also out of town...what luck...so he drove over to med plus where it was confirmed that he has a very angry spider bite..most likely brown recluse. He's almost certain he was bitten at the hotel in Memphis while he slept. I cringe just typing that. We just have to keep an eye on it. He was given an antibiotic cream and told to watch for changes. Necrosis will NOT be pretty if it sets in.
After 3 looong days we hit a turning point and got some really awesome news. Dr. Melvin's office called to say that Kal-el did NOT have staph at all...not regular staph, not MRSA staph..NOTHING. I thought I heard it wrong because I'd been told over and over that it almost always is positive. I mean we were even on the antibiotics to treat it. I said "negative, really?!" I was assured of the negative results but told to go ahead and finish the meds since he'd already started them. I hate that part because if he ever does come in contact with this super bug I hope his system will respond if he ever has to have these specific antibiotics again. I am just so so thankful I don't have to worry about this anymore. Talk about answered prayers. We really beat the odds. Other than stress and worry the only thing that had any lasting negative effects was our poor laundry. Oh well its time to do some fall shopping anyway :)
Chris declined to let me post a picture of his leg ;)
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