Mrsa - Oroville,CA

Your mom is dying. Be with your mom.
If I had to make that kind of choice I wouldn't be able to keep my job. I work in an intensive care unit, and on any given day we have at least one patient with MRSA, often more than one. I come home to a husband and 3 yr old girl. I probably carry MRSA in my nostrils, having worked in health care for 10 years. Get an information sheet from the nursing home or doctor's office and share it with your son and DIL. You might need to wear a gown and gloves (not necessarily a mask) when you are near her and touching her, but other than that it shouldn't be a problem. Practice good hand hygiene and offer to change your clothes, shower with chlorhexidine, and put bactroban in your nostrils before visiting, if your son and DIL are still nervous. Be with your mom. So sorry you are facing this difficult time.

My husband is a natural carrier of mrsa. He was tested after he got mrsa after a bug bite. Nothing we can do about it! He just doesn't take care of the boo-boos with our kids (1 and 5).
If it makes you feel better, wear gloves. But remember- It's not the bubonic plague or leprosy. Please get them educated on the bacteria. It lives everywhere and on everything. You can't escape it. I contracted it from the hospital myself after giving birth to my 1 year old. If they are really this worried about mrsa, they should consider a home birth.
That's a pretty crappy ultimatum to give someone. Shame on them. And I am so sorry for you! Take care and be there for your mom.

I'm going to have to do as one person has suggested and go online to study more about mrsa, as I don't know much at all about it. However, I agree with those who've said you need to be with your Mom at this point. All things considered, she is not going to be with you a lot longer, but your children and grandchildren will. I would respectfully explain this to your son and DIL and ask them to understand that you love your children and your grandchildren very much, but under the circumstances, you need to make your mother a priority in your life at this particular time.

You need to go online and look up all the info about MRSA and see if what they are saying is rational or not. Then you need to make your choice and then present them your decision along with documentation of the facts. Do they know anything about MRSA? I don't know enough about it to give an opinion, but I have never heard of anyone "catching" MRSA from being in the same room with someone who has it.

My daughter had MRSA and the infectious disease Dr. that we had to see told me tha the pediatrician had been prescribing the WRONG antibiotic and that Keflex and Augmentin ARE NOT effective against MRSA. Is it possible that your mom is on the wrong meds? Is there another medical condition that is going to take her life? I think that you should be with your mother...if there is indeed nothing that you can do to save her, then her days are numbered, and while none of have a guarrantee hopefully your children and grandchildren will be around much longer. When we were battling the MRSA thing with my daughter, I washed everything in hot water and bleach, had the carpets steam cleaned, and washed my dog and daughter with Betadine! I was committed to irradicating it in our home environment. The infectious disease specialist told me that was all good except that instead of exposing my daughter to all of that iodine that I should use "Hibicleanse" as a shower gel any time that there was a scratch, bug bite etc on my daughter, and then once a week as a "maintenance" step. (she uses it to scrub up in before surgery). Maybe if you wear gloves and a mask, a gown or change clothes right away and shower with Hibicleanse (find it in pharmacy) everything will be ok with the rest of your family. Good Luck and God Bless you and your mom!

Updated

My daughter had MRSA and the infectious disease Dr. that we had to see told me tha the pediatrician had been prescribing the WRONG antibiotic and that Keflex and Augmentin ARE NOT effective against MRSA. Is it possible that your mom is on the wrong meds? Is there another medical condition that is going to take her life? I think that you should be with your mother...if there is indeed nothing that you can do to save her, then her days are numbered, and while none of have a guarrantee hopefully your children and grandchildren will be around much longer. When we were battling the MRSA thing with my daughter, I washed everything in hot water and bleach, had the carpets steam cleaned, and washed my dog and daughter with Betadine! I was committed to irradicating it in our home environment. The infectious disease specialist told me that was all good except that instead of exposing my daughter to all of that iodine that I should use "Hibicleanse" as a shower gel any time that there was a scratch, bug bite etc on my daughter, and then once a week as a "maintenance" step. (she uses it to scrub up in before surgery). Maybe if you wear gloves and a mask, a gown or change clothes right away and shower with Hibicleanse (find it in pharmacy) everything will be ok with the rest of your family. Good Luck and God Bless you and your mom!

If she has an active MRSA infection I believe she should be in isolation and people around her should have a gown and mask on. However, many patients from nursing homes have MRSA that lives within their bodies (ie. It is found when culturing nasal passages). My understanding is that this is not dangerous and no precautions need to be made other than the obvious like washing hands after changing the person or feeding them.
Your family should talk to their doctors. I believe they will feel much better after doing so. Avoid the Internet info unless you take it with a grain of salt.
So sorry about your mother. This must be so difficult for you on so many levels.

my mom had mrsa for 5 years. she was colonized not infected. the mrsa lived on her but she was not sick from it.. I assume I am colonized with mrsa also.. I am not sick.

Where is the mrsa??? an infected wound?? if the wound is covered with bandages that is pretty safe.. does she have a bladder infected with mrsa? avoid contact with the urine and that is pretty safe.

talk to the drs and also the infectin control people at the hospital or nursing home.. also hospice folks might be very knowledgeable about this..
practice good hygiene. wash hands.. and go visit your mom. we dont shun people that are sick.

The answer is dependent upon WHERE the MRSA infection is. Is it in her nose/nostrils? In a wound? In her blood/phlegm/urine/stool?

There are many precautions that can be taken... MRSA is on 95% of the population's skin and in their nose already, it's just not in the numbers in which it overcomes the normal flora bacteria on the skin and nose.

When you edit your question to answer my questions... I'll tell you more about what us Nurses do to ensure we aren't infected.

Talk to your doctors. Your doctor, your mom's doctor and you DIL should talk to her OB/GYN. I assume Hospice will be helping and they will be using proper precautions and will educate the family.
My granddaughter and I seem to pass MRSA back and forth a few times a years. We have the scars to prove it. My husband caught in once a few years ago, went septic, and he came very close to dying. I have multiple immune disorders and my husband is the healthiest person I know. Everybody handles it differently.
MRSA lives in nasal cavaties. I would avoid picking each others noses. (Major problem when my granddaughter was a toddler) Wash your hands properly with soap after any touching. Handle anything coming off your mom's wound(s) like a serious bad thing. Have a seperate garbage even. Thousands of health care workers deal with this infection every day and they are okay. You just need to be informed and act wisely. Try to get your son and DIL to act wisely, not just have a knee jerk reaction.
Choose your mom, if it comes to this.
Your grandchildren will be there after this ordeal ends.
The time you will share with your mom at this time is priceless. I have been there for my grandmother's last days at home and an uncle's. I wouldn't replace those precious last moments with my loved ones for anything.

It is my understanding that MRSA is contracted by CONTACT with the person or infected surfaces (bedding etc). You can see your mother if you use common sense safety precautions. Do not touch her unless you have latex or vinyl gloves on (like in a dr office). Be sure to remove them by the cuff, turning them inside out so as not to touch the surface that was exposed. Wash your hands well afterwards. Do not care for her directly(i.e. wound care, bedpans, incontinece diapers etc). I assume there is someone to care for her -a relative or maybe hospice? If you wish you can also wear a sugical mask just in case. If you really want to get into the precautions you can throw the clothes you visited in straight in the wash when you get home. Perhaps if you contact her dr and get any precautions to use straight from them, maybe your son would feel better about it. I see no reason your mother should not have the comfort of your words and your voice in her time of need. You should have the opportunity to say good bye for her sake and yours. Reverse the situation for your son. If he were dying and his children didn't visit him, how would he feel?

Hi there,

Gotta say, when I was preggers, I wasn't the most rational person. That being said, please have your son and DIL speak with medical professionals. I have a feeling they are reacting not responding.

My son got it at age 2 presumably from daycare. He's still alive and thriving at age 5. Point being, that DIL and grandchildren can get it from anywhere.

But, if I was in your place, I would choose to spend the time with my Mom, in her twilight years. b/c children don't really remember until later. And I would bet that they'll be coming to you to ask for free childcare sooner than later.

Sorry, a bit on the cynical side today. Bottom line, I'm sure it will work out and that they'll come around within 6 months.

Best regards.

Ok, this is hard. Everyone gets very afraid when we hear MRSA, but honestly you can be with your Mom and your other family members safely if you follow some pretty simple safety precautions. Wash your hands. WELL. Make sure that you change your clothes after seeing Mom. Please remind your DIL that she will actually run her own risks of aquiring MRSA when she goes into labor and goes to the hospital. (I am assuming that is where she plans to deliver?) Most people are colonized with MRSA anyway, and it lives in the sinus cavity and nose. The part that makes it get bad is how much of it do you have (concentration) and are you having a surgery or open wound that could get infected?
My husband had back surgery many years ago, and ended up with MRSA in his surgical site, and blood. By the time he was transferred to a hospital that could deal with his infection correctly, we didn't think he was going to make it. He was put in quarenteen, and had several surgeries to clean the site and ended up leaving the wound open to be debreeded 3 times a day. (barbaric torture, but the only way to actually get it all out) During this whole time, I was with him, even prior to moving hospitals and the quarenteen. I had already been so exposed by taking care of him and his wound. I stayed with him for the 3 weeks in the hospital, and he came home with a picc line and vancomyocin to be given through his iv 3 times a day. (by me) The only reason the hospital allowed him home and not to rehab was because I worked from home, as a HOME DAYCARE provider. I informed all of my parents of the situation (which all knew anyway since I had taken time off) and gave them the choice to bring me their kids or not. The state health department as well as the hospital both wrote a letter about the situation for my daycare parents to read, with info on how it could be transmitted and safety precautions to take. ALL of my kids came back, right away. He was home for 18 months recovering, 12 of those months on strong antibiotics, and is fine today. Fast forward to a few years ago. I had multiple strokes due to a damaged corotid artery. The neurologist wanted to do surgery to repair the artery, until he heard about our MRSA experience. We decided to wait it out and use blood thinners, etc. My artery is mostly healed, (without surgery), and I am ok. Then a year and a half ago I found out (during one of my routine tests for my artery) that I had problems with my thyroid. Several biopsies later, well it had to go. No option. I went to the hospital a couple days early and they treated me for the MRSA colonization in my nose and sinuses, and I had my surgery. I was given a large dose of vanco during surgery, (directly into the surgical site), but I healed just fine without any infection. I guess the point is........ I do understand the fear, however, it is possible to be around it and not "catch" it. I am fine, my 2 daughters who were young at the time are fine, and all of my daycare kids are fine. No problems. I was a freak about the cleaning, but I am OCD, and have always been that way. Good luck. I say go see your Mom!!

i think you need to be with your mom. however, i don't think your dil is overreacting. mrsa can be VERY dangerous, even to a normal, healthy person. a pregnant woman is immuno-compromised just by virtue of being pregnant, and thus that much more at risk if they were to contract mrsa. i speak from personal experience, i had mrsE(not a typo), which is the methicillin resistant form of staph epi, during my first prengancy. i got it in a picc line that was placed after i lost 25+ lbs from severe morning sickness/migraine induced vomiting. i spent many days in ICU, my husband was told to plan my funeral, the critical care physician had very little hope that my body could combat the infection when the baby was already taking most of my nutrition. it was a VERY dire situation, the drugs that had to be used were risky for my son, and i can assure you that i would NEVER knowingly expose a pregnant woman to a methicillin resistant strain of staph. i know that's probably not what you wanted to hear, but if your mom has an active mrsa infection, it's just not worth the risk of exposing your unborn grandchild and the mother of your grandchildren to it - be with your mother for now and i am SO sorry for the loss you are soon to endure.