Welcome to the land of MRSA, again...

I haven't had the chance to post the pictures from James' birthday party because we have been in the land of the sick. Last week James started with a ear infection. He had a really restless night on Monday and you could just smell it on him (when you have been through as many ear infections as we have you begin to recognize the early symptoms and one of them is a funky smell- the staph smell as we call it). By Tuesday morning his ear was draining so we started the Ofloxacin drops as usual. By Tuesday night I was already considering taking him in for a culture but Wednesday morning it looked so much better so we thought well maybe the ofloxacin is working... Wednesday night told a different story- by then there was thick neon yellow pus draining from his left ear. So Thursday I took a culture and brought it to the lab on my way to work. Friday's preliminary result looked promising as there were few bacteria so we decided with our pediatrician to continue with the ofoxacin rather than putting him on oral antibiotics until the final result came in. Over the weekend the infection got no better but also got no worse. When my phone rang at 8:30 on the dot this morning and the caller id identified the pediatrician, I knew what he was going to tell me already. James' culture showed MRSA.

Xander was diagnosed with a MRSA ear infection back in the spring but I was hoping we could avoid it in James. To top it all off Xander started getting sick on Saturday evening with that same staph smell and his right ear began draining Sunday morning. We didn't get a culture on Xander's ear bit it also looks suspiciously like MRSA. They say you can't tell a difference by looking at a regular staph infection vs a MRSA infection but I swear they look different to me. Maybe it is becasue we had been using the Ofloxacin, which the MRSA is resistant to, that gives it a particular look and smell but that neon yellow pus is a tell.

James doesn't really seem to be bothered by the ear infection except for the goo draining from his ear. Actually he whacked his finger the other day when he was pounding some rocks together outside and I swear his finger bothers him more than his ear. Granted he did quite a number on his finger; I'm not sure his nail is going to stay attached but he doesn't seem too bothered by pain in his ear. Xander, however, is another story. The poor little guy is miserable. He had a temp this afternoon of 103.4, has goo draining from his ear, his nose is running like a faucet, he is flushed, he's sneezing and coughing all over the place, and he is achy all over. I've allowed him to watch way more television than I would care to admit today but he has moved from being a lump in the bed to a lump on the couch and back. He didn't even finish his yogurt!

So they were both started on antibiotics this morning, which have already caused some nasty side effects, but we are hoping that the Bactrim will work becasue if not we have to move onto some really heavy guns. The next drug in line is probably gentamicin, which can be ototoxic in young children and has to be given by injection or by IV so we'd like to avoid that if possible! We had good sucess with the Bactrim in the past for Xander so prayers for 2 healthy little boys by the end of the week.