Marshall Jones’ MRSA Story

Marshall played golf a couple of days ago, with his brother and father–and I swear it did him more good than any other course of treatment he has had so far! He actually made it 18 holes, which he, nor I, thought he would be able to do.

I can’t decide what to do about going to Tennessee to see Dad. Marshall wants to come too, but I don’t think he would be very comfortable up there at all. In fact, I am pretty sure he would be miserable, which, in turn, will stress me out terribly, and I will be highly stressed anyway. And then there are the kids to figure out. Sighhhh. What to do?

Now my father has had a stroke. What next?

Kathy called in hysterics a few days ago, but things have settled out now, and dad is doing ok. Meaning he is alive, and going to stay that way for awhile. He has pretty bad damage to his right side, and his speech is just about non existant. I am going to fly up there for the weekend ASAP.

Marshall is doing well, he is being nice and strong for me, when I feel like I am losing all of the “cool” I have had for the last 6 months.

The first part of February has been a blur. My surgery went well, the recovery went well, it was a relatively painless process. And I am left much more aware of my mortality than before. I guess I am no longer 18 and immortal. Oh well.

Marshall is doing well, it probably did him good to be the caretaker again for the first time in awhile. He says I am a much worse patient than he is, I am sure that he is right. He is getting outside more, we have taken a few walks through the pasture lately, and he is not getting short of breath or faint anymore. I am so glad the Minocycline seems to be working without giving him any horrid side effects.

Dr. Daftarian started him on Lexapro, as he did not think that the Zoloft was doing much for him. She said it would also stimulate his appetite. Good! He still weighs about 204, and is just frail looking–every pair of pants he owns will fall to his ankles if not cinched tight with a belt. She also started him on Allegra, thinking that his headaches might be allergy related. I hope that works for him! This is getting to be my Allegra time of the year as well.

My precious hubby sent me flowers for Valentine’s day. He is the dearest man ever.

The MRI went great, he was happy as a clam under sedation. The results came back, and were good. Lots of scar tissue, but no apparent abcesses. Antibiotics are doing the trick!

Marshall came with me to see Dr. Rude today. He was very nice, and we both liked him very much. He told us that hopefully it won’t be a big deal, and it will leave me with a nice scar down my nose, but one that should be all but invisible after a little time. I will have the surgery January 31st.

I don’t care what it looks like, just get it off!

He also told me that statistically, at my age (36), having a basal cell cancer, that I am very likely to have another one within 5 years. He said to not ever see the light of day without SPF 35 sunscreen on my face again. He recommended Shiseido, I need to go find it.

Marshall was worn out after that appointment, might be the stress factor. He is having a follow up MRI this week as well as all of the other goings on. He has managed to talk the powers that be into sedating him for it. It is amazing, but one of the few things he remembers about his whole hospital stay is the horror of the MRI. He also has a real mental block about it, so sedation will be good. Let’s hope the results are good!

Well, Marshall took his first big adventure into the office today. I went with him, and he just wanted to see what was going on in there since he has been gone. While we were sitting in his office, and he was going through some mail and things, my phone rings. It is Dr. Daftarian. She said, “Well, you were right, it is cancer.” Oh boy. I hate it when I am right.

Thankfully, it is basal cell carcinoma. I have an appointment with Dr. Rude, a plastic surgeon, in the morning to plan the next move. We left the office with me a wreck this time.

All of a sudden, Marshalls heart rate has just dropped right down to a normal level. It has been ranging from 71-88 for about the last 5 days, and he is feeling pretty good. Maybe it is the Zoloft relaxing him? Whatever it is, it is working, and he is seeming more normal than he has in a long time. He is warming back up to the animals! Yay! I would hate for him to have lost his love for animals through all of this, although it is minor.

Marshall’s appointment went well. Dr. Daftarian wants him to go see a pain specialist, as she is now worried about his becoming addicted to pain meds. She started him on Zoloft, she says that along with the antidepressant effect, it can have some pain relieving effects as well. We will see. We hate going to new doctors, we wish she would just totally take care of us! She also prescribed Clonadine for when his heart rate jumps up.

At the end of his appointment, I told her to look at my nose. She looked at it and told me to wait a couple of weeks and see what it does. I told her (almost bursting into tears!) that I have already waited a week and a half, it has grown from a pinpoint to the size of a pencil eraser (but flat), and that either she will cut it off, or I will, and will bring it back to her in a baggie. I have plenty of scalpels down in the barn to take care of it with. So she did. LOL Even if it is nothing (I know it is something…it is growing too fast) I feel better to have it off of my face.

For the most part, Marshall has been feeling good all week. Nothing too significant to report.

He is having more pain in the evenings than during the days, and is still taking those dang sleeping pills. I hate that. I don’t know when I became so opposed to pills of all sorts, but I did somewhere along the line. I guess I have had one too many friends addicted to pills, it has made me ridiculously paranoid about all of them.

His sugar has still been high as a kite (200-260) all week, but have been giving insulin regularly. I guess the Zyvox sugar thing might just be related to all antibiotics, or he just is plain ol Type I diabetic.

I have spotted something bizarre on my nose-it is flesh colored, but appears to be getting larger by the day-I am going to see if Dr. D. will cut it off and send it in at Marshalls appointment next week.

The last couple of days have been ok–his nausea has been better, and he seems less lightheaded to me (although he insists he still is). His sugar has been high as a kite for the last couple of days though, and his temperature is just a few points above his normal, but still well within ok range.

His back has been hurting more–he still has the lumps in his lower lumbar area, I hope this is scar tissue now, and not abcesses still.

He is still not having the urge to have a BM, and is taking Dr. Daftarian’s laxative as prescribed. His dad is still pushing the Milk of Magnesia. Maybe we will have to give it a try. Marshall isn’t too uncomfortable though.

Dr. Lemos took Marshall off of the Bactrim and Rifampin, and put him on Dynocin (Minocycline) for 6 months. SIX MONTHS. Thank God it is not expensive. I made the grave mistake of mail ordering Marshall’s entire 3 month prescription of Bactrim and Rifampin, I won’t do that this time. Pray that he reacts better to this drug. After all of this, I wonder what is going to happen if he gets an infection that needs antibiotics. Will he be breeding the resistant superbug of all time? Let’s not think about that just yet…….