Saturday, December 8, 2007

Oh no, the dreaded MRSA!!!

Yes, you read correctly MRSA. Like many newborns Reid's tear duct gets stopped up every once in awhile. Tear Duct? What does that have to with MRSA? When Reid's duct backs up it creates gunk that forms around his eye and the nurses just use a wet cloth and clean it off. Well a couple nights ago someone took a sample of the gunk and sent it to the lab. MRSA grew on the sample that was taken and Reid was sent to quarantine so no other babies would be infected. Please know that Reid is doing great! He has not shown any symptoms of being sick. More lab work is being done to determine if the sample that was originally taken was just a contaminant or if Reid really does have or carries the infection.

What is MRSA? The way I understand it is MRSA is a mutant strain of the staph infection that has been around for a long time but was only found in hospitals until a couple of years ago. It is a staph infection that has become immune to normal antibiotics and now it has made it's way into the general population. Many people may carry the infection but because normal people have a healthy immune system they may never get sick. The people that have a depleted immune system like elderly people, people with AIDS, cancer and of course preemies are at the highest risk.

The only problems this has caused so far is that it restricts us even more when it comes to how we interact with Reid. Everybody that goes to see Reid has to wear a gown and gloves, including the nurses and doctors. He cannot be touched because we have to keep all the other children in the NICU safe. Carrie and I understand the rules and are more than happy to obey but it does stink that we can't really touch or love on our son right now.

Good news is that Louisa is doing really good. She continues to amaze us with her moxie and mighty might attitude. Like Carrie mentioned a few days ago, nobody has told 'Doodle' that she is little. Today she weighed 3 lbs. 7.7 oz. and continues to drink 60 - 65 cc of milk at every feeding.

So please continue to pray for our children that they will continue to progress and that the MRSA test will come back as just a contaminant. If not, then pray the antibiotics that will be given to Reid take care of the infection and that he and his sister will be home soon. Also please pray for God's mercy with Brian and strength and understanding for his family. Brian's condition has continued to get worse and it is heart breaking to see such a small little boy suffer so much. Also praise God that many prayers were answered for Matthew's miracle, another little boy thats lung condition unexpectedly cleared up. This was a condition that was expected would take surgery to correct.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support...

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