As we've said before, Charlotte's stay in the NICU has certainly been a crash course in neonataology. Unfortunately today we got educated again.
The baby in the unit next to us has a been battling numerous complications, one of which is a particularly nasty staph infection. All the babies in our pod were swabbed and Charlotte was the only one to come back positive.
MRSA (methylene resistant staph aureus) is what we're dealing with and it will make life in the NICU complicated for the remainder of the stay. They key item in the name is "resistant". MRSA is commonly referred to as a "super-bug" as it has adapted as it has been treated over the years and is now multi-drug resistant.
Since Charlotte is doing relatively well at the moment Dr. Wu is holding off on treatment. MRSA is a common staph, with upwards of 30% of the general population carrying it. The treatment at this point (vancomycin) might do more harm than good. Hopefully tomorrow we can get more specific with Dr. Wu for what this means long term.
But Charlotte is now in contact isolation for the rest of her time here. That means gowns and gloves and extra washing. We can still hold her but its a little different while wearing gloves.
All her tangible vital statistics remain unchanged so we remain hopeful as well.
January
10 years ago
3 comments on "September 25, 2009"
Just wanted to let you know that our thoughts and prayers are invariable.
Sorry to hear this news. The roller coaster of the NICU...we're thinking about you guys, especially little Charlotte.
Pat, Katie, and Charlotte...
Our thoughts and prayers go out to you. I am sure the extra gowns look good on Pat, just as long as he has some underclothing on :). We are thinking of you.
Paul, Kelly and the pups (woof)
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