Sure enough, there was no improvement. Monday morning, Dr. Cruse took one glimpse at the boil, and told me to bring Ava upstairs to see the Surgeon. Within thirty minutes, we saw Dr. Perez, who would have performed surgery that day, had Ava not eaten Breakfast. The nurse came in, and scheduled an emergency surgery for early the next day. I cried. We were told to prepare to spend one or two nights at the hospital. I cried some more.
My Mom and Dad took Logan for the night, and I packed our bags. (Chad was in Texas.) That night was hard, knowing that Ava would be in surgery just hours later.
I tried my hardest to sleep, but 5:00 AM came around fast. Ava's surgery was scheduled for 7. My Mom met me at the hospital once Ava was in the back. Around 7:45 AM, Dr. Perez came out to talk to me. He explained that the boil was removed, but the wound would have to be packed with gauze daily (so it healed from the inside out and didn't fill back up with pus). He also told us that she was doing so well, that she could go home after recovery!
(After surgery.).
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A home health nurse came to help me pack Ava's wound, since it took two people - one to pack and clean it, and another to hold her down. (I am sure we packed at least two feet of gauze into the incision on the second day.)
Two days later, a nurse from Dr. Perez's office called to tell me that this indeed was a Staph Infection, and Ava tested positive for MRSA.
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(The 'yellow' is gauze sticking out of the incision.
I think this is 4 days post-operation.)
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MRSA. When they mentioned it, I had no clue what it was. I don't even know if I had ever heard of it. I went online (big mistake?) and read everything I could on the diagnosis. Again, I cried. The next day, when the nurse at Dr. Perez's office called to check on Ava. I told her that it looked like Ava was developing another boil. I was told to bring her into the office immediately, as this is very contagious and can easily spread. We went to the office, and Dr. Perez told me that Ava was just having some bruising due to the surgery, and there were no new boils developing. I mentioned that I read up on MRSA, and that it was 'scary'. Dr. Perez's first comment was, "Yes, it is scary because she can die from it." We left the office, and I cried some more. Then I called Chad and asked him to come home.
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I later found out that although this is a life-long condition, (once you have MRSA, you are always a carrier for MRSA) it isn't always life threatening. (It is life threatening if the condition goes untreated and gets into your bloodstream, or if you are in poor health prior to catching an infection.) Of course Ava will have lots of precautions to take throughout her life, such as informing doctors, schools, and gyms that she is an MRSA carrier, but it's nothing that will hold her back. Yes, if she gets a cut, scrape or bite, I'll have to treat it with extra caution, but it's basically no more than having to put her antibiotic cream on the wound and cover it with a bandage. If she develops another boil, we take her to the doctor for treatment, and isolate her from other children until the boil has completely gone away.
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