Husband has cancer. 1st surgery was Nov.3

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scamps67
scamps67 Member Posts: 20
edited November 2011 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Oh my. well my husband was diagnosed the middle of sept. He had a neck dissection and skin/vein graft from his wrist for his inside cheek and a graft from his leg to cover the arm. It all went very well, we spent 8 days in the hospital and then came home. We didnt make it to his first check up, he got an infection in his neck and swelled up like crazy and had a red rash all over his face. I took him to the ER and they admitted him again on Nov.20th, they washed it out and did a CT. He had 2 pockets of infection so they scheduled him for surgery. He also had a hematoma in his graft arm. On Tuesday he had his 2nd operation and they said they cleaned it out really good. He got out of the Hospital Weds. Well yesterday he started to do the "Marlon Brando" again so I called his DRs office this morning and they tell me the results for the cultures they took during the last surgery showed positive for MRSA and NOONE CALLED TO TELL US! AAARGH!! Good thing I called today and the DR on call checked! She changed his antibiotic to Bactrim for the MRSA and says if he is worse tomorrow to bring him back to the ER and they will admit him. Poor guy.
Will this new antibiotic help him or is it going to take him going back and getting IV meds to get him better ???

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  • RogerRN43
    RogerRN43 Member Posts: 185
    #2
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    MRSA
    Through my 20+ years as an RN, I have seen hundreds of cases of MRSA and none have been deadly. That should coincide with the scientific community that although a nuisance due to its antibiotic resistance, it rarely progresses to anything serious. Some healthy people can be carriers and often people who are immunocompromised and acquire it, will it grow enough to show a positive swab. It is often a hospital acquired infection and they usually isolate patients who have them. In theory, MRSA may mutate in the future to a very serious staph bug so that's why all isolation precautions are taken now.

    How to use Bactrim for MRSA:
    http://www.ehow.com/how_5610675_use-bactrim-mrsa.html
  • scamps67
    scamps67 Member Posts: 20
    #3
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    RogerRN43 said:

    MRSA
    Through my 20+ years as an RN, I have seen hundreds of cases of MRSA and none have been deadly. That should coincide with the scientific community that although a nuisance due to its antibiotic resistance, it rarely progresses to anything serious. Some healthy people can be carriers and often people who are immunocompromised and acquire it, will it grow enough to show a positive swab. It is often a hospital acquired infection and they usually isolate patients who have them. In theory, MRSA may mutate in the future to a very serious staph bug so that's why all isolation precautions are taken now.

    How to use Bactrim for MRSA:
    http://www.ehow.com/how_5610675_use-bactrim-mrsa.html

    :)
    Thank You. Its hard not to panic or expect the worst right now.
  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #4
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    The treatment for an abscess
    is drainage. Did he leave the hospital with a drain to continue to drain the abscess pocket, or did they approach the abscess from inside? As Roger said, MSRA isn't necessarily a big deal. The cultures grew staph, and the staph is methicillin resistant. OK, but in a late abscess like he has, there are always several different bacteria involved. The Bactrim is a great choice for MSRA, and covers many of the other bugs that cause infection in this area. If he has continued fever and swelling, they certainly will need to reevaluate tomorrow.

    Best
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #5
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    Hi scamps
    I think he will be ok but just keep checking him. I too am MRSA not sure where I got it but it sure gave me hell for quite a few years of my life with infections. Once they identify it they know what to do to treat it.

    PS: Welcome to the H&N site on CSN
    Hondo
  • jim and i
    jim and i Member Posts: 1,788 Member
    #6
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    Welcome to the group, but
    Welcome to the group, but sorry to hear all the problems.

    Praying the infection clears up fast and the rest of his treatment goes smoothly.

    Debbie

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