My brush with MRSA

I thought it was about time I shared my experiences of dealing with the so called 'deadly MRSA bug' so here goes..

When I was told I had MRSA, I had already had an infection in the wound on my neck from the 1st surgery to fit my Spinal Cord Stimulator. That led to 8wks on a drip of antibiotics but when that didn't work, they removed the stimulator. They kept me in hospital for another 2 months whilst my neck healed then decided to put the scs back in again. It was at this point that I contracted MRSA. It didn't really feel too bad to me except my side swelled up like a football because the battery pack was completely covered by the bug. It all happened very quickly because I was in theatre within 3 hrs of being diagnosed, this was important because it had already eaten into the surrounding of my spinal cord which has left my right leg a lot weaker than my left. If it had took much longer, I would have been paralysed. After the op, I was in my own room for a further 11 months with no exercise, the MRSA also damaged my pituitary gland so I can no longer produce human growth hormones or testosterone. This also effects your weight so combined with the lack of exercise, I've gained over 70 lbs in weight which I hate nearly as much as the pain.
I still think that MRSA is worse for your family than yourself cos I didn't really know what was going on until I was back in intensive care after the operation with the hardest part over.

over the yrs my wife Kirsty has had to revive me after I bit thru my tongue following a seizure & she has had to call the paramedics no less than 6 times. She deserves a medal.

14 years ago today

I've just realised that it's 14yrs ago today that I broke my arm playing football for oxten athletic in the Wirral Sunday league. I slipped over as somebody was about to kick the ball and they made contact with my wrist instead. Why do I remember this incident so vividly you may ask. I remember it cos when I went to the hospital and found out that it was indeed broken, it was put in a plaster cast that was too tight and despite me telling the doctors that it was very painful over the next 4 weeks, when they removed the cast they were surprised to see that it had swelled inwards & destroyed the nerves in my wrist and left me with a condition called CRPS & the rest is history as they say. (CRPS otherwise known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome is a complicated brain condition which google & you tube explain much better than I do).

My day to day life now consists of my wife Kirsty going to work at 7.30am and taking the 3 boys with her and dropping them off at daycare & a school friends. My carer comes in at 9.30am to help me out of bed, showered and dressed & makes my breakfast then back to bed. My lunch is sandwiches that either Kirsty has left for me or the carer has made then I am on my own until, Ewan 11, makes his own way home from school at 4pm. A couple of days a week the twins, Rowan & Finley 3 arrive home from nursery at 1pm and spend the afternoon with Paulette our lovely child minder who brings me a constant supply of tea and sympathy but I would seriously give my right arm (excuse the pun) to be able to make a cuppa for myself.

So that's my life at the moment and I haven't even began to tell you about the 'stroke like symptoms' I have been left with as a rare side effect of the CRPS. Maybe that's another story for another time.