bursitis and staph infection

[Tiggeroo]

anybody have any thoughts or experience. DH went for a walk Sunday morning and came home saying knee was bothering him. It looked a little swollen and red so he iced it. No cuts or injury of any sort. Iced it and it seemed better. By that evening worst so we went to the er. He was in quite a bit of pain. They drew some blood and said it was bursitis.Gave him an anti biotic and sent him home.
He took meds felt ok and went to work next day. During day began to feel sick. Finally drove himself to the hospital, complaining of chest pain, passing out and knee hurting quite a bit. It was very red and swollen. Sat in er for hours then they take fluid from it and get a culture. Again they say bursitis. He has been in the hospital ever since geting iv drip of antibiotics and seeing a very slow improvement. Today an infectious disease specialist comes in and says the culture tested for staph. resistant to anti-biotics.
Is it possible that he picked this staph infection up at the hospital. It was unsanitary in several ways. How long might this take to get better? He is still running a low grade fever. The first night ortho. talked about surgery and said if it was needed it would have to be right away. Then no talk of it, but now they occasionally still mention it. Thanks guys if you know anything about this problem.

 

[tar heel]

Staph infections are often picked up in hospitals.

 

[mickeyboat]

Praying for you and your DH. My FIL got a staph infection several years ago while at a hospital being treated for pancreatitis.

Denae

 

[ducklite]

I suffer from periodic boughts of bursitis. I don't envy him, it's a very painful disease.

I've never heard of a staph infection being caused by bursitis, although I'm certainly not an expert by any means. I agree, my bet is the staph was picked up in the hospital.

I would be very hesitant about having surgery at this point, especially at a hospital you seem rather uncomfortable with. I'd suggest seeking out a good orthopedist for a second opinion. Bursitis can be quite controlled with appropriate pharmacology. It doesn't sound like they have really explored many of the options they might have. (Anti-inflammatories, steroids, etc.)

Anne

 

[Tiggeroo]

They say it's infectious bursitis which requires antibiotics. The surgery is needed if the infection goes into the joint to flush out the bacteria. They also mentioned the posibility of having to remove the bursal pad due to the infection. He has been in severe pain and on very strong antibiotics. He is being seen by out family's orthopedist who I have good faith in. That's the only reason he's still there. But when the ID person said it was a staph infection I felt it's now out of the realm of our orthopedist as he's primarily a sports medicine guy.
The cleanliness thing, every time I go into his room there is a container of urine sitting there for hours. We ask somebody to remove it and they don't. He has to ask several times to have his sheets changed, and they need it. The plastic needle tips are always dropped onto his bed and left there. And if you ask about this he's told they are very busy and understaffed.
With the staph infection he had flu like symptoms and even chest pain. He told him about these things when he checked in and they never even did anything about them.

 

[Tiggeroo]

dh says that this morning they made some sort of change to his antibiotics. At first he thought they took him off them. Instead of being in a small vial thing that drips in, they are now in a bigger bag.

 

[IloveDMB]

It sounds like your husband has MRSA-methicillin resistant staph aureus. This is one of the biggest nosocomial infections around. Depending on the time frame, he probably caught it in the hospital.

They are probably treating the staph infection with vancomycin instead of methicillin or oxacyllin, which is their first choice of antibiotic. The MRSA should clear up in a few days.

If it is MRSA he should be on some sort of isolation precautions, I hope.

 

[luvwinnie]

May I ask which hosp(I see you are at the Jersey SHore)? I believe there is good one in Red Bank...I had surgery there. Are you near Red Bank at all?

 

[Tiggeroo]

Nope too far south for redbank. He's in Shore Memorial. If I didn't see an improvement today, now that he's stable I would take him to philly. But they're putting in a tube so he can do in office iv therapy and it sounds like they're prepping him to go home. Yes it's MRSA and they only just put him on the vancomycin this morning. I can't figure why it took so long to make the switch. He is obviously feeling much better. He is not in isolation and they never told me to take any precautions. But today they said they had to make sure he wasn't shedding the virus before he could go home.

 

[lsyorke]

Just from my experience the timeline from symptoms to positive culture looks like it wasn't hospital acquired.(symptoms started at home) MRSA is all over!! You are exposed more at the mall!!

It took so long to make the switch because Vancomycin is a VERY strong antibiotic that you don't want to give unless you have a confirmed culture. Contact precautions are in order(gloves,hand washing etc..) He will probably be on Vanco at home for 3-4 weeks.

 

[floridafam]

60 minutes did a special on MRSA a few months ago.

If you are concerned about the infection prevention procedures at the hospital, then I would go elsewhere for surgery.

I'm also surprised he is not isolated.

 

[floridafam]

Also, I hope he is feeling better soon.

 

[Tiggeroo]

he's feeling much better. Plus he gets morphine every 3 hrs and percocet every 6. I'm the one that needs happy piills I think.

 

[gometros]

Originally posted by lsyorke
It took so long to make the switch because Vancomycin is a VERY strong antibiotic that you don't want to give unless you have a confirmed culture. Contact precautions are in order(gloves,hand washing etc..) He will probably be on Vanco at home for 3-4 weeks.

This is true. Vancomycin is usually the last resort antibiotic administred if all other treatments have not helped. The problem latel is that there are strains of staphylococcal aureus that are becoming resistent to vancomycin.

 

[Tiggeroo]

The problem latel is that there are strains of staphylococcal aureus that are becoming resistent to vancomycin.

I know. This had me worried. He is definitely responding, somewhat to the previous antibiotic and now more to the vancomycin. But he is still running a lowgrade fever and there is still redness. Apparently he will be doing home iv therapy 3x a day for at least 2weeks. And then oral for quite some time.Thank God for my good health insurance. He said the greatest relief came with the celebrex. When this starts to wear off he feels worst.

 

[ducklite]

Celebrex does wonders for Bursitis!

Glad to hear it's helping him and they're getting this thing under control!

Anne

 

[Tiggeroo]

Thanks guys. You are all great. It's been a stressful week. I'm exhausted but can't sleep. First thing in the morning I go up to the hospital, head home do some kid things, go back up in the afternoon, then again in the evening. Then I can't sleep so i'm watching tv all night or dising.
And the celebrex is great. The new antibiotic seems to be doing alot too. Finally the fever is dropping and dh is walking around a bit. He's sitting up eating and getting antsy to get out. These are good signs because before I thought he didn't care if he was in the hospital.