MRSA-oh I am freaking out

[PSU44]

Just diagnosed with MRSA this past Wednesday..I had cervical spinal surgery on June 9th and 3-4 weeks later a section of the incision was red and inflammed. I had my follow up appt with the Neurosurgeon and he prescribed keflex..It wasn't getting better so I went to my PCP who drained and cultured the incision..He also put on a povodine/iodine and sugar paste on the wound to start the wound healing..I was still on Keflex so he didn't want to start another antibiotic quite yet..Two days later the culture came back positive for MRSA..I feel like a leper and so dirty...Because of my healing I can't clean like I would like...My husband did wipe down all the knobs counters bathrooms...I am on SMX-TMP (Bactrim) 2 pills 2x day.Right now my incision looks good which I guess is a good sign..I'm scared of infecting my family, I;m scared that it will get into my bloodstream/bone and my spinal hardware...I haven't slept much in the past couple of days, depression is getting worse, and I just don't think I can deal with the fact that this can reappear at any time...Sorry for ranting...I am just plagued (not a good choice of words:) with obsessing about this...Appreciate any advice support, especially if this now can spread to my bloodstream..thanks Amy

[mickinuk]

Amy we carry around two to five pounds of bacteria in and on our bodies (yes really!), mostly in the intestines. Most of it does us no harm, some is positively good for us and keeps us alive, some is always bad and some is only really bad when it turns up in the wrong place at the wrong time. The last one is MRSA. Staphyloccocus lives on our skin, up our noses and in our throats and only bothers us now and then when our immune resistence is low. Then it is treated with antibiotics, normally methicillin. Unfortunately some strains of staphyloccocus have developed some resistence to methicillin and give us problems, particularly with old or very ill people and when it is allowed past the outer skin through a wound and particularly a deep surgical incision.
It is passed from person to person, usually directly because it can only survive on a hard surface for two hours max. So it is contact, not poor cleaning that really spreads MRSA. It is quite common for people to give themselves the infection when MRSA on the skin gets into a wound or a doctor strokes his necktie and then leans over a patient and the tie makes contact with the wound ( I think that is what happened to me). All the precautions in the operating theatre count for nothing if they are not observed afterwards while the wound is healing.
Anyway most of us make a full recovery from MRSA.
I would recommend taking probiotics to replace the "good" bacteria that might be lost after you have finished your blockbuster course of antibiotics. Yes you will be a carrier, but so are 50% of the population. The only difference is that you know you are and can take precautions such as handwashing when required.

Good luck!

Mick