Noelle possibly has MRSA

Noelle had an unscheduled visit to the pediatrician yesterday afternoon. She's got a nasty infection in her arm. Doc thinks it could be MRSA. He had some tests run and we'll know in a few days.

Here's how it all played out. Noelle tends to be dramatic about her owies. She thinks wearing band aids is fun and loves the attention. Earlier this week she had a spot on her arm that looked like a pimple or bug bite. She wanted a band aid. I cleaned it up and applied the bandage to keep her from picking at it. Unfortunately I forgot to check on her owie for a couple days. After several cries of "Ouch!" yesterday when I was applying lotion or washing her up after meals, I thought, maybe my drama queen is serious.

I decided to take a peek under the band aid and what I saw made me gasp. The innocent little bump had turned into a swollen, fiery red and pussy mess. I felt SO bad about missing a true owie and gave her lots of sympathy and cuddles. Time to call the pediatrician.

Her doctor was a sensitive and fun young man who Noelle seemed to really like - except when he squeezed the dickens out of her arm to get a "sample" for lab tests. Oh, did she cry! Doc wants to encourage the wound to drain, so we are to soak it twice a day and cover. She's also on antibiotics for 10 days. Ick, ick, ick and oww, oww, oww. Poor kiddo!

Hopefully it's nothing other than your run-of-the-mill bug-bite-gone-bad. But if it is MRSA, that would be more concerning. MSRA is a drug resistant super bug (a type of staph infection) and can lead to other complications. We don't expect this, but want to keep a close eye out. Please pray that she will heal quickly.

(Okay-- Eric, Mono. Noelle, MSRA. Me? Hopefully no other "M" diseases, illnesses, infections or conditions are in my future. Yikes! But I think I'm gonna remove Noelle's letter M magnet from our fridge, just in case. ;-) )