MRSA = Marty’s Really Sick Abcess

I haven’t been around much, I know, but I had to put something up about this. Yep, I’m now one of the privileged folks who has enjoyed the wonders of MRSA, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, thanks to a spider bite about a week ago.

Trust me – don’t read the rest of this if you are squeamish

At first, no big deal – a little itchy and a slight bit of soreness, but nothing major. Then after a couple of days, it became a small pimple … and then a large pimple. On Saturday, I was getting really concerned because it was starting to look really ugly, really sore and had a large ring of erythema around it. On Sunday, the scab was about the diameter of a pencil eraser and the ring about twice the diameter of a quarter – I said something to Shari who started to call me a whiner until she saw it. Then it became, “Hmm, maybe you want to draw a ring around that, and if the redness spreads, we’ll get you to the doctor tomorrow.” On Monday, the blister popped and things seemed to be getting better – less pain, less redness: I had thought that neosporin, hydrogen peroxide and bandages had done the trick.

Nope. On Xmas, it was really bad. My entire leg from the knee down was hurting, and the rash had spread a bit more. I tried more medicine and hoped that it would do the trick, but it didn’t. Yesterday, it was gross (it ‘exploded’ in the morning – no nice way to put it) and extremely painful – even the slightest brush against it was agony, and that I knew that I had to get to the doctor. I walked in, told them what was up and pulled up my jeans to show him the bite … and you know it’s not a good thing when a doctor’s eyes light up in little orbs of glee when he sees something like this – but my doctor’s did just that. So, he started taking cultures and playing with it. And then he made the diagnosis, “Yep, that looks like MRSA to me.”

He assured me that it isn’t the American Ebola that the media makes it out to be, which I already knew. Heck, there have been resistant strains of things around for years – that’s why you sometimes have to go to the doctor twice to get a strep throat or infection treated – but it was still nice to know that I wasn’t going to have to wear a biohazard suit around. myMRSA (SFW) In fact, MRSA is actually becoming more common and isn’t particularly alarming. The stuff you have to worry about is VISA or what I’ve heard called MMRSA (Multiple-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Those are the nasty ones…

As for me, it’s not assured yet – I’ll have to wait for the blood tests to come back before I’ll know for sure. In the meantime, I get to enjoy the agony of hot compresses and draining this new little friend on my leg. Hopefully the Doxycycline that I’m one will start kicking this little buggers ass so that I can avoid the pain and grossness of this. After two doses, though, it’s still really sickening. Don’t say I didn’t warn you (the pictures is fairly blurry from the iPhone, but still gross).

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8 Responses to “MRSA = Marty’s Really Sick Abcess

  • Oh man, Marty, that sucks. I’m really sorry to hear about your leg. Hope you get to be feeling better soon.

  • i’ll admit it, i didn’t read it or look at the pic…

    feel better, but don’t tell me about it 😉

  • OK I DID LOOK!!! CHRIST!!!!

    it looks like a cigar burn, are you sure you aren’t a mobsters mouthy wife?

  • I wish it were that simple. That’s about the right size though. Trust me, I’d rather not have it to show.

  • Get well soon!

  • Thanks, Roger – it is getting better; still ugly, but better.

  • Man, you are having all kinds of medical drama these days. I hope this heals quickly!

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