Tag Archives: Ontario

One Face of MRSA, Resistance Bug, in Kitsap County

One Face of MRSA – What Does the Resistance Bug MRSA Look Like in Kitsap County?  Here is one face.Wounds

A Look at MRSA

 

Ignoring edema in your lower legs?
I did. Ask your doctor how to get rid of it – permanently…not just take water pills and forget it.

There is a reason edema develops for each person. Find out the cause, and, if possible – fix it. You do not want what I have.

Ask your partner – your doctor.
The latest recent culture of my open wound came back positive again – the second positive result since it began again in my lower left leg, October 2013..

“MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It causes a staph infection (pronounced “staff infection”) that is resistant to several common antibiotics. There are two types of infection. Hospital-associated MRSA happens to people in healthcare settings. Community-associated MRSA happens to people who have close skin-to-skin contact with others, such as athletes involved in football and wrestling.

Infection control is key to stopping MRSA in hospitals. To prevent community-associated MRSA

Practice good hygiene
Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed
Avoid contact with other people’s wounds or bandages
Avoid sharing personal items, such as towels, washcloths, razors, or clothes
Wash soiled sheets, towels, and clothes in hot water with bleach and dry in a hot dryer

If a wound appears to be infected, see a health care provider. Treatments may include draining the infection and antibiotics.

NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases”
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mrsa.html
My opinion: (Test all patients and personnel in hospitals – stop the spread of MRSA)

Ignoring it – spreads it
**********************************************
Harrison Medical Center Wound Care, Hyperbaric Medicine, Infusion Center
The understated low-slung buildings in the old Sheridan Village show a benign face to the wounded people who fight life and death wound care treatment inside.
Opening the door to the reception area brings a cheery “Hi! …Debbie knows your name.Debbie Knows Your Name and smiles a welcome!

Debbie Knows Your Name and smiles a welcome!

Debbie is usually the first introduction to the amazing friendly, competent and cheerful docs, nurses, technicians – all the great people working there. The patients reflect their environment as does the varied reading material offered. From deep sea training to bird reading …nothing ordinary about this place or the people in it – health care  or patients.
A minor breakthrough happened when I awoke a few mornings ago feeling nothing. An absence of pain in my leg – no pain anywhere….the apparent result of the new sulfur antibiotic for the escalating lymphedema/cellulitis/MRSA wounds in my left leg.
The pain gradually returned.

Debriding is done with a sharp razor after the wounds get surface Lidocaine to deaden the flesh. Most of the time it works.
**************************
GOOD NEWS: I heard about an Ultrasonic Debridement machine – pain free that takes the place of a sharp razor and found a study on it in Ontario, Canada.
Efficacy Study of Ultrasound-Assisted Debridement to Influence Wound Healing (UltraHeal)
Principal Investigator: Christine A. Murphy, MClSc PhD(c) The Ottawa Hospital
Sponsor: Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
The start date was December 2013 – Estimated completion December 2014.
Official Title ICMJE A Randomized Controlled Trial to Investigate if Application of Low Frequency Ultrasound-assisted Debridement May Improve Healing and Infection Outcomes for the Person With Vasculopathy and Recalcitrant Wounds of the Lower Extremity
Brief Summary The UltraHeal Study is a randomized controlled trial to compare healing response of low frequency contact ultrasonic-assisted debridement in addition to best practice wound care to best practice wound care alone in a Vascular Surgery Clinic patient population with wounds of the lower extremity.
Detailed Description The study will also investigate the bacterial tissue burden and protease activity to provide further insight into the infection and inflammation aspects of healing barriers in a challenging population.

IF the study proves out, we should be thinking about getting a Ultrasound  machine that uses new technology to debriding wounds and helps healing…

Harrison Medical Center Foundation – how can we help you help us get that machine if the study is successful?

1-IMG_37712-IMG_37695-IMG_3765

Thanks for listening… more later…
Sharon O’Hara, (familien1@comcast.net)

Lungs Win the Fight Against Fat

If we are in a boxing match, Fat in one corner, and Lungs in another, Fat wins every time.
Why?
Fat takes up the chest room Lungs need to expand and for lung patients, fat compromises our ability to breathe.

The fat v lungs slammed home to me a couple weeks ago when a granddaughter, taking a new class on her way to becoming an RN, told me she just learned that each pound of excess fat is fed by SEVEN MILES of blood vessels.

I went online that night and found an airport-scanned photo (Digg) of a 250-pound woman next to a 120-pound woman. Fat filled her stomach and chest crowding her lungs and heart. Heaven knows what all that fat is doing as it surrounds and crowds the kidneys, bladder and other organs….it cannot be good!

Look, fellow Tubby’ettes and join me. To date, I have lost 133 miles of excess blood vessels supporting nineteen pounds of excess fat.
Regular Tubby’ettes is lucky if their health is not yet compromised.

Lung patients, easing the fat surrounding our lungs will not change the PFT numbers, but we are bound to feel a sigh of relief from our lungs as the fat around them retreats and they can finally expand to capacity and add to our quality of life.

********************
Obesity and the lung: 5 • Obesity and COPD
Thorax 20 08;63:1110-1117 doi:10.1136/thx.2007.086827
Abstract
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and obesity are common and disabling chronic health conditions with increasing prevalence worldwide. A relationship between COPD and obesity is increasingly recognized, although the nature of this association remains unknown. This review focuses on the epidemiology of obesity in COPD and the impact of excessive fat mass on lung function, exercise capacity and prognosis. The evidence for altered adipose tissue functions in obesity—including reduced lipid storage capacity, altered expression and secretion of inflammatory factors, adipose tissue hypoxia and macrophage infiltration in adipose tissue—is also reviewed. The interrelationship between these factors and their contribution to the development of insulin resistance in obesity is considered. It is proposed that, in patients with COPD, reduced oxidative capacity and systemic hypoxia may amplify these disturbances, not only in obese patients but also in subjects with hidden loss of fat-free mass. The potential interaction between abnormal adipose tissue function, systemic inflammation and COPD may provide more insight into the pathogenesis and reversibility of systemic pathology in this disease.”
• Review series
1. F M E Franssen1,
2. D E O’Donnell2,
3. G H Goossens3,
4. E E Blaak3,
5. A M W J Schols1
1. 1
Department of Respiratory Medicine, University Hospital Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands
2. 2
Division of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
3. 3
Department of Human Biology, Nutrition and Toxicology Research Institute (NUTRIM), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
1. Dr A M W J Schols, NUTRIM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Department of Respiratory Medicine, University Hospital Maastricht, P O Box 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht, The Netherlands; a.schols{at}pul.unimaas.nl
• Received 15 February 2008
• Accepted 30 April 2008
• **************************
• http://digg.com/health/Body_Scans_of_a_250_lbs_Woman_vs_120_lbs_Woman
More later… Sharon O’Hara

Fat Airport Scan