Sunday, August 29, 2010

take time to stop and smell the flowers







well, i almost made it a full week of work but on friday i noticed another red place on my skin with fever in it.  i called the dr. and she said to come right in so she could check it out.  so i had to get a sub for the last half of friday afternoon.  turns out i have a 3rd spot of mrsa infection stemming from my bellybutton which was one of the surgical sites from my laproscopy in july.  now i'm on two antibiotics, but it is already responding to what she prescribed so i feel good about that.  she said it is really good that i have noticed both of these places immediately, which allows her to treat them with antibiotics before they spread any deeper into my skin/tissue.  i soaked in a bleach bath yesterday...i smell really clean today!

molly's spot of infection is healing nicely.  all of her "packing" came out on saturday so now i'm just cleaning it and keeping it covered with bandaids or "nanaids" as she calls them.  every time i see a sore, red spot, blister, or whatever i cover it immediately with antibiotic oinment and a bandaid to try to prevent further infection.  She's currently sporting 4 'nanaids'. 

we've had a fun weekend.  the weather is finally cooling off a bit and we've been able to get outside and play.  saturday morning we were outside for about 3 hours while i worked in the yard a bit and molly played.  it was so fun!  i'm looking forward to more weekend like this in the fall! 

we are planning a fun trip this weekend to the first UT homegame of the season with all of the Maze clan...3 kids ages 4 and under in the midst of 107,000 crazy football fans!  Sound fun to you??  I'll have lots to post I'm sure!!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

on the mend

After an eventful week I think both Molly and I are on the mend.  Molly's original spot where the infection was is healing.  I am still removing some of the packing each day which helps to promote drainage.  My places of infection are also healing and drying up. 

Mrsa is a strange and complicated staph bacteria/infection.  I have thoroughly cleaned the house, changed our linens each day, washed our towels after every use, and anything else I could think of to promote killing this super bug.  My pediatrician actually recommended bathing in a Clorox bath a couple times a week to further kill any bacteria on our skin.  This seemed strange to me, but I guess it's no different than swimming in a pool of chlorine water.  She suggested adding 1-2 cups of bleach to a tub of water, but when I bathed Molly in that I think it was too strong so next week I may try 1/2 cup of bleach.  I'm also going to do this until we are fully recovered.  If you do this you have to make sure kids don't drink the water, get it in their eyes, and don't wash their hair in it.  basically I let Molly soak in it for 5-10 minutes, drain the water and refill it with plain water and wash her body/hair. 

I'm so thankful neither of us got mrsa inside of our surgery wounds in July.  Both of us just had skin infections which is treatable.  When it gets inside your body/organs/tissues is when it can be really dangerous.  The main thing to do in order to prevent MRSA is wash your hands all the time.  mrsa lives on your skin, under your nails, and in your nose just "waiting" for a place to invade. 


On another note, I've enjoyed every minute I've had this week with Molly.  Since it was a "surprise" week off, knowing everyone else was in school it made it extra fun!  (after she was out of the hospital that is).  I just love being with her every minute.  She is growing right before my eyes and I wish I could spend every day with her.  I am so thankful for my job and career as a teacher that allows me to be with her more than other careers would allow. 

Ok, now I'm off to prepare for the week ahead...my second try at the first week of school!

fun time with cousins

Saturday night mom was babysitting madison and eddie for ambre's birthday and molly and i went over to visit with them for a while.  molly loves being with them, she plays well with eddie most of the time and she loves watching and mimicking everything madison does!

they love bugles!
eddie and molly really played well together with this little ball contraption...
to go along with eddie's fascination with guitars his grandpa bought him a guitar study book with about 500 pages in it!  it's about as heavy as he is, but he carries it around everywhere!

look who loves reading

molly loves books.  she sat in her chair for about 15 minutes and "read" while I was doing laundry.   she is really fascinated with any kind of book.  we read every night together before bedtime of course.  her favorite books right now are the llama, llama series.  she loves it when llama llama gets in trouble...should i be worried??

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

sick day #1

our favorite way to start the day is on the couch watching baby einstein.

our newest sign of independence is her ability to open and shut the refrigerator.  she loves milk and keeps her sippy cup on the top shelf.
I thought she deserved a new toy to play with this week after all of her trauma!  I have a stash of things in my closet from yard sales or clearance items that i want to save for times such as these so out came the Farm...
she really loves it b/c all of the doors and things make animal noises!  So cute!







She has had a good day and seems to feel good.  Her boo boo is still very tender and sore, but looks much better!!

our attemp to go to the state fair...

I was really looking forward to taking Molly to the best fair in Tennessee last weekend to show her all the animals and I admit, to eat the fair food!  On Sunday night she had a late nap and needed to get outside so we loaded up and headed to The Wilson County Fair.  It has been so hot around here, but I thought we would get there in the early evening when things had cooled to a cool 92*.

On our way it started to rain and we saw the most beautiful rainbow
As we got closer and closer it started to downpour!!!
The traffic was horrible. 

After 2 hours stuck in the car we never got out:(  The rain was set in for good so we went home.

She would have loved it...maybe next year!!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

we got mrsa...again

it's been a difficult 48 hours!!  remember in june i had to visit the er for a severe finger infection and it turned out to be MRSA?  Well, now Molly has it:(  Last Thursday we went to the ER for an infection that appeared to be a boil.  Over the weekend it got better and then much worse.  On Monday (yes, the first day of school!) she woke up with a 102* fever and felt really bad.  I felt like the worst mother in the world for taking her to daycare (my mom), but I felt like I just had to get through the first day of school.  When I went to pick her up after school the boil/infection had started to drain and it was really bad.  Lots and lots of goop came out of my poor girl, but I knew it still needed to be seen because there were hard areas all around the original spot.  We went to the ER and after waiting for 2 hours we finally got seen.  They had determined from Thursday's culture that she did have MRSA and was obviously not responding to the oral antibiotics.  They had to sedate her briefly in the ER in order to open it, drain it more fully, and then pack it.  Then, they started giving her antibiotics through an IV so she would have the best chance at killing the virus.  We were admitted for the night and part of today before we were sent home. 

My poor girl is such a trooper!  She has been through so much, but honestly this whole ordeal has been much more painful than her hand/foot surgery.  We were up most of the night and so she came home and literally passed out in her bed...so happy to be home!! 

While we learned more and more about MRSA I told the doctors that I had already been diagnosed in June.  Who knows where I got it, if I gave it to her, if she gave it back to me?????  But regardless, I came home and made a quick appointment to go to my doctor that performed my laproscopy surgery in July.  One of the incisions has not healed properly and has been infected.  While I was in the hospital with Molly I started thinking, I bet this is MRSA.  Well, they cultured it and definitely think it is.  So I am also now on a very strong antibiotic to try and knock mine out as well.

Additionally they gave me strict orders in how to come home and clean/disinfect everything from countertops/toys/sheets/pillows/towels/etc.  So that is my mission while we are home this week.  Should be fun!  Because Molly's wound is an open/draining wound she cannot go to daycare until at least Monday.  That gives us 3 days at home to try and heal.  I really hope she heals quickly and never has something like this again.  Although I realize how blessed we both are that we caught each of our infections early and before they set into deep tissue and/or organs.  I simply cannot imagine what families go through who have children with chronic illness. 

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers for Ms. Molly.  She's so strong, all of the nurses and doctors loved her!
how to kill a few hours in the er....start with the phone
and then bubbles
meltdowns are inevitable...and i'm not even counting mine! ha!
kissing her boo boo, the iv is under that covering
 poor thing...
trying to distract with the doll
 loving the baby...even under sedation!

our welcome sign!
this morning...ready to go!
still a few meltdowns...it was a hard day!
my view for the last 24 hours!
just to prove i was there!  in case she ever wondered???
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