The Journey of Parenthood…

Face Gate Round 2 {aka MRSA}

Remember over the summer? When I ended up in the ER b/c my face was SO swollen and painful? Remember the MESS I went through with all of it? Well if you don’t…you can get a refresher here 🙂

Well. I assumed it was a one time thing. I mean it was RANDOM so typically when random things happen you don’t assume they will happen again. 

But this is me we’re talking about (and this is 2016 we’re also still talking about…anything was possible in 2016 when it came to random annoying negative junk).

So the same day we were told that Zach had spots on his brain I noticed a spot along my eyebrow line.

At the same area where I had a spot over the summer.

I assumed that this time it was an ingrown eyebrow hair. I googled it a bunch and it fit the description so I treated it with some good ‘ole Pinterest finds (mostly salt water) and it cleared up within a few days.

So then we got back from Disney on a Friday and that weekend we all had a tummy bug.

Then that Tuesday (Britt’s birthday) I had a super high fever and was in the bed all day.

By that Thursday I noticed a spot on my jaw line. Again in the same area as my face issues over the summer. 

Again I assumed it was an ingrown hair or something like a pimple. The next morning Zach had his spinal tap done and at the same time I felt like the spot on my face was feverish.

It was red and a bit swollen. I had a LOT going on during that time.

It was a cluster of a week for SURE and my face just put me OVER that edge of anxiety.

I met Casey and Carter at the YMCA for Friday Frolic and she surprised me with an ice coffee 🙂 

I left there and went to a drug store to ask a pharmacist what I should do to treat my face because I was getting nervous. They said I needed to get in to see a dr. Awesome. 

I went to a different walk-in clinic in town b/c I knew my normal one would be SWAMPED on a Friday and this one said they didn’t have a lot of people.

I got up there and the place was pretty awesome.

The guy that saw me said right away that it looked like staph infection in my face.

I pulled up my blog post regarding face gate over the summer (and he said “you blogged the sh*t out of that hahahahaha) and he said he couldn’t believe that NO ONE I saw even MENTIONED staph to me.

I agree b/c when it happened over the summer I thought maybe it was staph (a blogger I follow, Kelly, had staph a few years ago in her face and I thought it looked similar).

He gave me a shot and meds and told me to come back in the morning.

Which was pretty crappy timing because Zach and I were leaving in the morning for our romantic Christmas getaway (more on that in a future post b/c it’s crazy).

He said he didn’t want to cut into my face but he may have to depending on how things went through the night. 

You can tell it’s not nearly AS bad as the first time but it’s very similar!

I had to go up to the dr first thing that morning (Zach delivered all the kids to where they were staying and then we planned to leave as soon as I got back from dr).

I was optimistic b/c I felt like it looked WAY less swollen. Right?!?

When I got there the legit dr was there. I’m assuming he came in just for me b/c he wanted to check out my gross face issue 😉 

He looked at it and right away said he’d have to cut it and drain it and send it off to get tested. Fun.

Such a great look for a romantic getaway weekend right?!

The draining took down the swelling a LOT and it was less sensitive and painful. The spot wasn’t too noticeable either where he made the cut. 

I want to make sure to document the meds I took for anyone else who battles this same issue. They treated me over the summer with ALL kinds of stuff but this time I made sure to write it down.

When I went in on Friday Dec 9th I was given: Doxycycline, Sulfamethoxazole, and Prednisone. 

I did all of them and took a healthy dose of probiotics at the same time but still ended up with a REALLY bad yeast infection (I know, TMI, but it’s good to know for anyone who may have to take the meds) so I had to call into my OB and get hardcore meds to treat that as well (over the counter stuff didn’t even help a bit!). 

I didn’t find out the results until Dec 23rd. How much of a joke is that? It took them that long to get back the labs!

And it turns out I have MRSA in my FACE. Seriously. 

They said what I had over summer was def MRSA too (which makes me mega annoyed that a TON of drs saw me and never mentioned it).

And that it’s common for someone who has had it once to have it come back.

I’m not sure if it was stress induced since both times it’s come back (I’m assuming my eye brow was also a flare up) have been during a lot of stress.

I’m also not sure if the bad fever I had a couple days prior to my jawline outbreak was related? Maybe it caused it? Maybe it was from it? Who. Knows.

It’s frustrating b/c it’s one of those things that drs say there isn’t much they can do. It’s relatively new and it’s not common enough to have a go-to treatment.

This is why I’m SO thankful for social media. I put it up on my personal fb page and yall I had SO many people inbox message me and give me TONS of super helpful information.

After the holidays I went into my regular dr and talked with them and told them my diagnosis. I also talked with them about the future and how I want to do anything and everything possible to NOT let this happen again.

At the same time I also needed to make sure it was gone this time. It still had a spot left that was hard and made me nervous that it wasn’t fully treated.

They gave me another round of Clindamycin to hopefully clear it up (I had to take 2 pills three times a day…I made sure to take a probiotic with it and it helped!).

They also went ahead and gave me refills for it. So that way IF I have another break out I don’t have to go into the dr to get meds. 

The biggie though was Mupirocen ointment.

She told me to swab the inside of both nostrils with it (supposedly MRSA lives/festers in your nose) three times a day for a week and it should hopefully kill it.

A friend of mine said she keeps it on hand and swabs once a month just to help make sure. I plan to do the same.

AND the dr said to keep it on hand and if I ever feel a spot coming on to put the ointment directly on the spot and it can often clear it up before it gets bad.

I did the nose swab the whole 10 days of the prescription just to make sure it was good to go and I’ve used it on the spot some too.

I’ve been off the meds for a couple weeks now and the small hard spot is still there but I’m hoping it’ll go down with time (it took MONTHS for the spot on my eye brow to go down completely over the summer).

There is a small scar that looks like a scratch from where he drained it and that should fade over time.

With the advice others gave me and what luck I did have on the internet I bought some Dial soap. It’s an antibacterial soap that is supposed to be good to prevent MRSA.

I have kept it in the shower and just wash my face with it every time I shower to help prevent. I also am washing my makeup brushes once a week in rubbing alcohol and my tweezers as well. 

Another trick I’ve been doing is using Thieves EO and putting it directly onto the area at night. I did this for that whole 10 days too in hopes of helping clear it up. 

I have NO CLUE how I got this either. I mean I assumed the summer stuff was from that petting farm situation and either bug bite or animal poop. I don’t know if you can get MRSA from either of those? 

I’m going this Monday to an ENT dr to be seen about my ear. I’ve mentioned it on IG but I don’t think I have on the blog?

Zach’s medical stuff has def taken center stage for me and I kinda haven’t even been thinking about myself and my issues b/c they seem so minor haha

But I’ve had ear issues since July. It felt like I had fluid in them and then I started hearing a heartbeat sound.

I got treated multiple times by my dr and then by an ENT (who I saw twice and was a joke) and nothing helped.

I actually went to a chiropractor the same day I went to the walk-in about my face b/c I read sometimes that can help with ear issues too (she said it could be related to my jaw being misaligned from dental work I had done over the summer…which would make sense…I went three times and got adjusted and my ear is LESS severe than it was but def not fully better). 

When I went to the walk in about my face I asked about my ear as well and the dr at that walk-in is concerned that the MRSA affected my nerves in my ear. Cool.

When I went and saw my regular dr about the MRSA she checked my ear as well and said I have a ruptured ear drum. #mylife. 

So we will see what Monday brings about the ear and I will probably eventually do a post about that as well depending on the outcome. 

Have you ever dealt with MRSA? Any recommendations beside what I’m already doing?

Here’s some of my IG stories related to my face for your entertainment pleasure:

Emily Parker
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