I had a staph infection recently for the second time in my life. The last time I had one was in 2004. I remember the year because I had tickets for the Super bowl. It was the New England Patriots vs. the Panthers and I had to miss the game because of my staph infection. These types of infections are serious. They eat away your flesh and are often resistant to antibiotics. The first time I had a staph infection the doctor didn’t test it to determine the infection strain until my 6th or 7th visit for medical care to the mound. The doctor then referred me to an infectious disease specialist. It took months to heal. It took many rounds of numerous antibiotics. Most didn’t work. It’s because the strain was resistant to most antibiotics.
This second staph infection happened a few weeks ago. It started from a cut on my right pointer finger’s knuckle. It was either a papercut or small sliver that started it all. It wouldn’t close properly because it was on the knuckle. Around day 6 of having this cut I woke up and realized it was infected. How can you get staph? Lots of way…fecal matter, boogers, etc (most of which I am cleaning off my kids all day, every day). I went to the doctor and he recognized it was a staph infection with an abscess in the center. It was small, but it was serious. He gave me two antibiotic shots, a topical antibiotic and an aggressive antibiotic pill. He told me sternly to come back if it was not healing within 24 hours. I woke the following morning and it was much worse. I went back to the doctor and he had to open and clean the wound thoroughly. They took me into a private surgical room. Staph is serious and they want to contain it, even when it is only a dime size wound. His words to me were “well, we don’t want to lose a finger, so we are going to treat this aggressively.” He then gave me another two shots and then three antibiotics. After a week the wound was finally closed. It has now been a few weeks and it looks like a burn on my finger, as all the skin came off the dime size wound area and my body had to regenerate new skin. It is exhausting on the body fighting staph and creating new skin. I slept a lot when it was initially healing. I don’t like to be down and helpless, but that’s what I felt like for about a week. I am thanking God this wound didn’t take months to heal. I credit the doctor for taking such aggressive action. Praise God for healing it so quickly! I am thankful for all 10 of my fingers and I would like to keep all of them.
After my first staph infection I decided I would avoid taking antibiotics unless it was the only option. I don’t take them for colds or the flu. I allow illnesses to run their course. The last time I had antibiotics was during Thanksgiving when I had fluid in my lungs (pneumonia) and double sinus infections at the same time. I was having difficulty breathing and the doctor said if I wasn’t better within a day I was looking at hospitalization, so I took the antibiotics. My husband sometimes thinks I am needlessly suffering. He has asked me “why won’t you take antibiotics if they can make you better?”. He now understands, after watching me suffer so much with this tiny wound. Tiny doesn’t matter when it is staph. It hits you hard. Then taking so many antibiotics makes your body screwed up. I have been taking probiotics, but it still isn’t enough to balance things out.
I will keep my kids off antibiotics when I can. Because someday they may be fighting an infection that could be on a hand or foot and they could risk losing an appendage. I want the antibiotics to work for them in those situation. If the cold or flu isn’t going to kill them, it is better to let it run its course. Also, most of those illnesses are viral, so the antibiotics are a waste. Don’t waste antibiotic usage, because you want them to work when it matters most.
If you have ever had staph infection a great soap to keep in your home for regular hand washing is Hibiclens. It is used in most hospitals and clinics by medical professionals. It is not cheap soap, but it works great. It is recommended for use by medical professionals who are around staph and other infectious diseases. Here is a link to this product on Amazon, great reviews to read on it too: http://amzn.to/29yKPKv
Save the antibiotic usage for times when you really need it. Your future self will thank you.