God give me strength. She is still on antibiotics for the cellulitis on her ankle. Which looks great. Healing very nicely. Yesterday I notice a bug bite on her elbow that looks slightly inflamed. Not a big deal. All her bug bites do that. Don't know why. She is scratching at it so I cover it with a bandaid so she doesn't open the skin to another infection. My mother says, "Well she's on antibiotics already so she isn't going to get another infection." I figure better safe than sorry. Guess what? Mom was WRONG! Her elbow looks just like her ankle did. Swollen, red, hot, and the skin is starting to bubble. WTH is with this kid?! So I called the doctors office and spoke with a nurse. She is passing the info on to the doctor and I am waiting for a call from him. The nurse said both offices are full today so we may need to go to the ER. Dang it. I am SO not good at handling this stuff by myself and Larry and my Mom are both working til tonight. Crud.

Posted By PamWh on 08/29/2008 10:42 AM
There's probably not more they can do since she is already on a strong antibiotic. Just clean the bite and keep it covered and her from scratching it. You might also want to price bubble suits and clean rooms to keep her in.

That actually did cross my mind.

I wouldn't go to the ER.  No telling what Jenna might get there!!!

She is already on the anti-biotic, so I would clean it, banadage it and I would also make sure you change her towels, and hand towels in the bathroom.  So when she does wash her hands, she is using a clean towel.  If it is staph in her foot, she could have had that on her fingernails and then when she scratched the new bite...spread the infection.  I would go ahead and make an appt for tomorrow with your doc and it if it is better...cancel it....If not, then take her in and ask them to culture it, and do bloodwork.  If she has something in her bloodstream, you need to know this.  Good Luck and I'm sorry you keep having to go through this.  Poor Jenna, give her hugs from her friends here!  Wish I could send some puppy breath kisses!

Are they treating her for cellulitis or did they say it is cellulitis??  Cellulitis is some serious stuff too...since it's on her ankle right now maybe it popped up on her arm too.  and I know it an occur again....a friend of mine has had cellulitis 3 times now.

Sending you best wishes.....the bubble suit comment was funny.....sorry!

I 100% whole heartedly agree with Sarah on this one...no surprise, we are both nurses.  All antibiotics do not work for all infections.  It seems to me that this could be a systemic issue which is manifesting elsewhere.  I also agree if this is staph (which is what I thought it looked like the other day) Keflex is not going to cover it.  She needs something that this particular bacteria is sensitive to.  If the doctor told you to go to the ER, that is exactly what you should do.  Cleaning and covering it is good, but it will not do anything for the infection.

Still waiting to hear back from the doctor. I just don't know what to do. It seems as though noone takes anything seriously. I have found that in my experience with doctors offices the nurses often know more than the doctor. They listen more too. I honestly know NOTHING. I just don't get it. I hadn't thought about something systemic. They really looked like bug bites when they started but maybe they weren't. What else can I tell the doctors office to get them to hear me? I'm going to go call them back. Wish me luck.

Maybe I should move. Are doctors like this everywhere? I just called to see why noone had called me back. The doctor HAD sent a note back to the nurse. Why didn't anyone call me? He said to continue the antibiotics, give her benadryl, and use antibiotic cream. How bad do I let this get?!

For right now I am going to try what the doctor said to do. Please don't kick me. I have noone to help with my other kids tonight and I REALLY don't want to drag everyone in. She seems fine otherwise. I just really don't think what's going on with her skin is normal. If it looks worse tomorrow morning when Larry is home I will definitely be bringing her in to the ER. My main objection to the ER is that they are really no different than the doctors office. They don't DO anything. Is it like that for anyone else or is it just around here?

I don't blame you...if you go to the ER (here in Jacksonville) you will have wait a LONG time (b/c it's not life threatening) and I don't see where you'll get that much more help than from your primary AND have to pay more for an ER visit. 

No one's going to kick you for doing watching her close and doing what your DR is telling you to do.  I'm sure if her conditions worsens you'll seek more help. 

Good luck  ((HUGS))