Happy Endings

My story actually begins a couple of weeks ago when my brother-in-law saw a local doctor about what he thought were a couple of bug bites that were getting infected. By last Saturday afternoon, his elbow and arm were red, swollen, painful and he was running a fever. My sister-in-law finally stepped in and said, "Get your shoes on. We're going to the emergency room now."

He was admitted that evening and the next night as he got progressively worse, surgery was performed to open his arm and drain the discharge (that's the clean version) and relieve the pressure on the skin which was stretched taut. In addition, antibiotics were being given intravenously and initially, they seemed to be helping.

My sister-in-law mentioned in passing on Monday that he had a rash on his back. But on Tuesday, she told me the rash now also had pustules. I knew that was a bad sign, and I was somewhat miffed because neither the first doctor we told about it, nor the nurse even bothered to look at it. I struggled to temper my reaction to all of that because I am certain my grandmother's heart failed as a result of an anaphylactic reaction to an antibiotic. No one thought to mention to me that she had hives on her legs and her doctor had not returned their call. Had I known, I might have persuaded my aunt to take her to the hospital to be treated. However, even in that, I do recognize the omniscience of God. Still, I am hyper-sensitive to prospective allergic reactions.

When I left after a short visit on Tuesday, I was still concerned. The lab results came back that day and we learned that the infection was indeed MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus). A visit from the infectious disease specialist that afternoon led to a change in the antibiotics and the identification of the one causing the allergic reaction. I felt much better after that was taken care of. He did not. In fact, after a day and a half of his arm's swelling going down and redness going down, he started having problems again. By Wednesday afternoon, he was looking and feeling pretty badly though he was trying to get paperwork done for his job. It was something to see as he was quite organized and has some impressive equipment enabling him to work quite efficiently in a small space.

Late Thursday afternoon, another surgery was performed to repeat the procedures done on Sunday. He finally got to go home yesterday afternoon, but he has a drain in place in his arm which will be there for about two weeks. He has a PICC line in place and my sister-in-law administers antibiotics through it once a day and will do so for at least four weeks. He is hoping to go back to work next week, but only time will tell if that will really be possible. My husband is feeling his absence at work, but overall, we are so grateful that he has survived that we will do without him as long as necessary to know that he is recovering and will be back sometime.

This horrible infection is not a blood infection. There is no "red streaking" as we've been warned to watch for all our lives. This was localized, but the effects were just as intense and just as dangerous. He literally came close to death on Sunday. One doctor told us over 30% of the population are carriers of MRSA. It is literally all around us. But if an infection begins, seek treatment. If it persists, get back to the doctor again. Don't wait. But for my sister-in-law finally putting her foot down and forcing my brother-in-law to go back to the ER, we might have lost him altogether.

So after a week they spent in the hospital completely, a week in which I made long journeys to be there so my sister-in-law could go home for a little while each day, a week of intense prayer and supplication in his behalf, we finally have our happy ending. And we are so very grateful!

Now, I continue to pray about another situation and ask for God to resolve it clinging to the verse from the Gospel of Mark which says, "I do believe. Help my unbelief." I know what I want to be God's will in the situation, but I am almost afraid to believe He will do it. Why is that, I wonder?