oh the excitement

Tuesday. 2:00pm. I'm at the home of a client and her small child (21 months). I'm sitting on the couch, and the kid is in front of me, leaning against my knees, and coloring on all of my papers and files. Cute. I ask mom if kid has any medical conditions. Mom says "She's got MRSA." I lean back and think "great. just great." So then mom proceeds to tell me all about the kids "boil" on her back that is draining. Gross. I'm becoming more and more concerned as the kid continues to lean against me and draw all over my stuff. So I end the conversation, grab my crayon-ed stuff, and get the heck out of their house. I then call back to the office and ask if I need to go to the doctor. We decide that I should go and find out what precautionary measures I need to take. Doc says "wash your hands" and that if I develop a rash, blisters, or fever in the next week or so to come back.

Today. 9:00am. I'm absent-mindedly scratching my right hand near the thumb. "Boy that really itches" I think to myself. Then I look down and realize I have developed a patchy, red, bumpy, itchy spot on my hand. It's the size of a quarter. Oh shit I have MRSA. I decide to wait to see what happens to it. Meanwhile, it itches like crazy and I'm trying not to scratch. I go to the bathroom and strip to make sure I have no other rashy parts. Phew - nothing else. Before lunch it still hasn't gone away, so I make an appointment to go back to the doctor.

Now I don't know if any of you have conversations about lice. Here at the office, because of the families we work with, it's a frequent topic of conversation. Whenever it comes up, we all feel itchy as if we have lice ourselves. Similar thing happened with me today. As soon as I notice this rashy area, I suddenly begin to itch at other areas. My stomach. Neck. Head. Arm. Leg. "It's spreading!" Just kidding. I'm obviously imagining things.

2:15. Go to doctor. "It's definitely not MRSA." Thank goodness, but now I feel like a moron. Doc says "have you come into contact with any animals, new lotions, etc." Nope. Nada. "Well...my partner is taking Augmentin. I'm allergic to it, but I know I can't get it from touching it, so I don't know what it could be." Doc says "actually...if you broke out in a really bad rash from it, it's possible it could cause minor skin irritation if you come into contact with it." So now I can't touch Kim's meds, and she's gonna need to wash her hands before touching me after taking it.

So that's been my fun week. MRSA anyone?