I don't write here about MRSA victims' stories, for two reasons. First, there are excellent other sites on the net where MRSA communities have already formed, such as MRSA Resources and MRSA_Support; it seems disrespectful to the leaders of those very vibrant communities to try to duplicate their work.
And second and more selfishly, the roughly 50 victims who have spoken to me so far — with more to come — have done so on the understanding that their stories will appear first in my forthcoming book SUPERBUG. When the book is ready to go and its static site is built, I hope we'll have a page that features victims' stories and invites others to post theirs as well.
That being said, if you've come to this site because you have had MRSA, please get in touch! Post a comment: They are moderated, so I see them first and can take them out of the queue if you prefer to be private. Or email me: My email address is in the profile box on the right.
And with all that said, there is one additional victims' site that I want to recommend. Consumers Union (yes, the people who publish Consumer Reports magazine) has a campaign called Stop Hospital Infections that is pushing for legislation requiring mandatory reporting of all HAIs including MRSA. The site combines advocacy tools with heartbreaking accounts of lives changed; take a look.
3 comments:
Hi M: 3.10 my father went in for open heart surgery at one of the "top 100" hospitals in the US. 4.18 we airlifted him to Stanford since EMC in Ranch Mirage, CA couldn't i.d. or treat the infection. however, by the time we got him to Stanford, it was too late. 4.26 he passed away. Not from the surgery but from MRSA. Apparently he had had MRSA since the surgery. I thought I was informed before he went in. I thought he was in good care. He had supposedly the top end of health care in this county, yet this happened to him. I can only imagine what it must be like for those without the "best" care. I can't bring him back but from everything I've read in the last 2 weeks, something needs to be done. I'm glad you've written a book but 2009 seems a long way off with 20,000 deaths a year. If you have any interest in this sad story, let me know. Otherwise, keep up the work in getting this dire health concern recognize and addressed. Thank you.
I got MSRA after torn rotator cuff surgery on a Monday on my left shoulder. Doc ignored all my symptoms finally I went to hospital on that Sat. was admitted almost died spent 11 days in hosp. Came home for 3 days then back in for 8 days. Came home then nothing else for 2 months then huge bumps appear on my left shoulder went to the doctor who got me a different ortho doc 5 surgeries and 2 week long hospital stays, 2 pic lines, a very expensive antiobiotic twice, and vancomyicin twice the last time being for 8 months knock on wood it seems to have been cleared up for over 7 months. I do know I sleep more now than I ever have. Thanks Cheryl Turner ctnbtx@aol.com
My mother is currently in the hospital with MRSA blood infection. She had just been released after a 22 hospital stay when she had severe right shoulder pain and her port for her chemotherapy appeared infected. It took the hospital two days to identify the mrsa. Her right shoulder is two times bigger than it should be and her whole right arm is inflamed and swollen. They sampled the infection in her shoulder joint and it came back negative for mrsa. Now they think she may have a blood clot in her right arm from when they pulled her infected port. The port tested positive for mrsa. The hospital here is very non-chalant about the whole situation. I appears that this happens a lot and they said we should just gown and glove up when we visit her. I will not let my children visit her. They said that we shouldn't be worried. I am because when she was in the hospital prior to this she had a red inflammed rash on both legs that got larger as we watched it grow up to abdomen. They put her on prednizone, but it didn't work. They biopsied it, but nothing came back. I think this all started then. But the hospital said no. She has stage IV colon cancer and her liver is starting to fail. I am worried about all of the antibiotics they are putting into her to clear up the mrsa. I know that we will be very lucky if she gets out of the hospital alive.
Thanks for the vent.
Donna
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