3 Days in Hospital

[Cathy1]

Hi! I just spent three days in the hospital. My lymphedema arm was hot and had a big rash. When I got a 101 fever I went to the hospital. They said I had cellulitis but didn't know how I got it. I had no breaks in the skin or bites. I did a lot preparing for Thanksgiving- moving furniture, lifting, etc. I guess I was doing so well with no problems with my arm, I took advantage. I know you're not supposed to lift more than a gallon? of milk? Anyway, today I got results from the dermatoligist that I saw a few weeks ago for some red rashes- one under my good arm, one under my remaining breast and one on my C-section scar.Today they called me and said my test was positive for staph infection. Here's my question. Could the staph infection from the other side of my body have caused the infection in my arm too? The rashes are so hard to get rid of. Does anyone else have stubborn rashes, or any ideas on how I can prevent this from happening again? Thanks and God Bless You All! Cathy

[Sandy H]

Staph is nasty to treat and have it stay away. My husband got staph when he was in Viet Nam 30 years ago and it never bothered him once he recovered from his wounds until two years ago and now he keeps having abcesses in his leg that he wounded. They told him its in his system and will never go away. When he sees anything red, has a rash, on his leg he is to see his doctor ASAP all he has to do is make a phone call and he will be seen that day. He has had two abcesses, and cellulitis twice. The first abcess took him 6 weeks to heal and the second took 3 months! This first time we were not told what to expect but the second time around we heard it all. I don't want to scare you but probably the only thing you can do is when you see something that doesn't seem right call your doctor or go to the ER ASAP. You may never have it again and you may. Wishing you the best with this. hugs, Sandy

[Kimberly Lewis]

I was curious about cellulitis and I have not heard of it and when reading about what causes it I got a little concerned. A lowered immune system is listed as one of the possible causes. I experienced an unexplained staph infection in my port. My Onc wonders if they will discover that Herceptin is causing weakened immune systems in us and thereby opening the door to all kinds of infections. Just something I have been thinking about. So sorry you had this experience and hope that you don't go through this again!

[Lani]

Many of my comments below hold for infections other than Staph as well:

one reason can be an infection in the bone, which is probably the case in Sandy H's husband who had the shrapnel injury. Injured bone, especially bony shards which have splintered and lost their blood supply, can be environments where bacteria sit dormant for years and relatively unaffected by antibiotics (because the antibiotics can't get at them as they require the blood supply as a transport to the locations where they must do their work)

They can come back suddenly even 40 years later.


Another area which can harbor infections which spread to other locations later is the valves of the heart, especially if they are abnormal in some way (eg mitral valve prolapse patients need propylactic antibiotics before dental work to prevent bacteria from seeding and colonizing on the valves, only to spread with the blood pumped out of the heart at some later time)

Other areas that can host dormant bacteria which come to awaken and spread later include areas near infected implants, hip replacements, metal plates and screws used to fix fractures, plastic surgery implants for cosmetic purposes, etc.

In addition, although not Staph, recurrent infections can happen in those with poor dental hygiene.

In addition, it is possible that people get recurrent infections because they keep utilizing/ encountering infected areas--there have been lots of stories recently of terrible Staph infections from gym equipment disabling young athletes...hot tubs are notorious areas where people are exposed to large numbers of bacteria (of many sorts)

Hospitals and infusion areas(since people often go there who have been in hospital or who may be found at their visit to require hospitalization because of an infection or other complication) can be colonized with staph which can be quite resistant to antibiotics, known as MRSA.



Herceptin has been described I believe to lower one's blood counts IN CONJUNCTION WITH chemo (whether this is slightly additive or synergistic is unknown in any one individual), but in none of the studies was this felt to be particularly clinically important.

Before jumping to that conclusion, I would make a list of all your risk factors
-including teething babies who attend childcare who bite/nibble your fingers, gym attendance, hottub use, dental implants, orthopedic implants, old open injury infecting bone, etc. A visit with an infectious disease specialist

[Lani]

could bring up many possibilities I have not raised and would be able to specify which of these sites might be more likely to be contaminated with Staph vs other bacteria. If they are able to culture a "pimple" they might even be able to do better detective work. Sometimes they use nose cultures to track carriers (sometimes asymptomatic) of infection as well, I believe.

Hope some of this helped!

[Cathy1]

Thanks Sandy, Kimberly and Lani,

My arm is all cleared up and so are my other three rashes! I don't know if it was the Leviquin antibiotic or the steroid cream he put me on.I have three more days on the antibiotic.It was definately the antibiotic for my arm because I didn't put the cream on there. Thanks so much for mentioning all the different things that could be causes of the stubborn rashes.I will be watching out for those causes.God Bless You All, Cathy

[Sandy H]

My husband was told his staph was skin at the time of his abcess. I believe he has both skin and bone. His arthopedic sugeron told him skin is the better one to treat however, I don't think 3 months of healing is great but I have seen those in oncology getting treated with IV antibiotic every day 365 days a year! Now, that would be tough to live with. Either way we don't wait around when something doesn't seem right we head to express care. hugs, Sandy

[Sandy H]

That is wonderful news Cathy, now enjoy the Holiday season. hugs, Sandy

[cathy34]

It must be our name! I too have had cellulitus attacks ... 2 so far. They are HORRIBLE. About a year ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible pain in my right arm.. It felt like I was hit with a baseball bat. I was admitted in the hosp for 2 day and they gave me vancomyacin (sp?).
I was sent home with clyndamyacin. My onc. told me that if I feel any pain in my right arm that I might only suspect it be celulittus to start taking my clyndamyacin right away. This will help stop any suspected arm infection. I don;t go anywhere without my med..."just in case".
Glad you're better because that's a pretty intense pain.