I like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent parent that knows what to do in most situations, but I had something occur today that I have had no experience with and I know that I wouldn't have reacted the way I did without some pushing from the school Nurse.
Holly scraped her knee on the driveway on Saturday afternoon while riding her scooter. Tony and I didn't think twice about it. We brought her in the house, cleaned it out good with Hydrogen Peroxide and put some Neosporin and a band aid on it. I gave her a bath last night and I noticed a tiny bit of redness around the scrape, but nothing to get excited about. Well the school Nurse called today because Holly came in and complained that her leg was really hurting. The Nurse took off the band aid (which I did not change this morning since I just cleaned it thoroughly last night) and discovered a pretty nasty sight.
The scrape was oozing puss and the redness had spread to a 5cm diameter around the scrape. She strongly urged me to take her to the ER and have a Doctor look at it. I really didn't think after talking to her that the ER was necessary for a simple scrape, so I called her Pediatrician and talked to him. I described what the school Nurse had told me and he said that it was my call. So just to be safe, because the school Nurse was quite adamant about me taking her to the ER, I picked her up from school and took her to St. Luke's South.
Boy am I glad I did! After a long 2 hour wait, the Doctor finally came over and looked at her knee. And let me just say that I felt absolutely ridiculous taking my daughter to the ER for a scraped knee. He swabbed some of the puss that was oozing out and they cultured it. Come to find out, she has Methicillin - Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)or more commonly known as a Staph Infection under the skin. The ER Doctor said we were lucky to bring her in when we did because of the location of the scrape (on her knee). When an infection like this occurs near a major bone joint it will cause serious long lasting injuries and could have hospitalized her for several days.
This infection popped up in less than 12 hours, so please, please, please watch your kids scrapes closely and change the dressing several times per day. This could have turned out much worse than it did, but thanks to the persistence of the school Nurse we caught it in time. She is now on a high dose of antibiotic for the next 7 days and has to go to her Pediatrician on Wednesday for a follow-up visit.
Monday, May 11, 2009
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5 comments:
OMG. I love your school nurse. that is amazing- and aren't you glad she was so persistent? wow. I am impressed and hope that holly's knee gets better fast. Thanks for the warning and sharing. never would have thought of that.
I hope she's ok - most kids I know that have had it get over it quickly. Who would think just from a scraped knee?
Wow! That's crazy! Oprah just had this on her show. I guess MRSA is a flesh eating bacteria and can lead to amputation and even death. You should get on her website and take a look. Glad you took her and that she will be ok.
All I can say is wow! Thanks for posting this Becky. Scott just had a thing on his knee a couple of weeks ago from softball that got really infected and oozed and stuff, and I wanted him to go to the doctor and he wouldn't. It took 2 weeks and a lot of cleaning and antibiotic ointment for it to heal.
Oh My! I'm so glad Holly is ok! Thanks for sharing - I would have reacted just like you did.
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