J_Snow Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 Staphylococcus aureusStupid staph infection that I got in Sept '07 from a splinter and treated in March '08 made a return appearance over the weekend and landed me in the ER with cellulitis on my elbow. 3 trips to the ER, massive Septra, 2 x Vancomycin IVs, Doxycycl and it's still not gone... I'm off to one of my regular doctors this morning so that hopefully we can get it gone for good.And the real kicker? On yesterdays 3rd trip to the hospital they informed me that I owe them my $100 copay every time I walk in the door... so $300 gone just like that. Even for rechecks. That does nothing but pisses me off.On a happy note, although they treated it like MRSA, so far, it doesn't look like it is. I'm hopeing my Dr today will swab my nose and test it to see if there is a colony of little Staphys living there so we can kill em!Anyway-it sucks most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustaTexan Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 Staph infections are awful! My little girl had one once when she was younger. I thought it was a spider bite at first because it was like a boil or something. It was really hard and felt like a little ball inside her skin. But then it kept getting bigger and bigger. I did a bunch of research online about all the dangerous new traits of staph and got myself all worked up. She was fine. Sorry about your $300 copay. Wow that's fricking nuts. Hope you feel better J! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlitterGal Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 J:Negotiate with the hospital. Talk to them nicely and basically inform the Business Office that you were unaware of the copay situation and ask if they have a complaint process for billing. If so, the head of their ER probably has to review each complaint, and may waive one or more of the bills as a courtesy just to shut you up.As for the staph, you should also ask why the heck the hospital didn't culture it in the first place!! 3 visits and you still have to go to your doctor to have it cultured? That's stupid!Over use of vanco is one of the things that led to MRSA. They should determine the best course of action before just sticking you on an antibiotic. So, that's a ligitimate reason to protest the bill as well. Unless you are colonized by the staph (meaning it lives permanently in all parts of your body, a thing that happens mostly to healthcare workers), then it should have been gone by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Snow Posted April 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 well, its down to 2 copays now and Im happy with that. they treated my trip in on monday as the same visit from sunday since I still had my wrist band on. If I had kept it on tuesday they would have done the same thing.As to the culture-they new it was Staph because I told them it was since I had had it in the same spot last march and it was exactly the same symptoms. Because it had spawned cellulitis that had already moved once they wanted to start treating it as agressivly as possible. Also-the Vanco wasn't the first thing they tried. I didn't respond at all to the Septra and the other IV antibiotic they gave meon Sunday so the started the Vanco on Monday. Now-I'm not trying to defend them *at all* but I wanted to set the record straight.I saw my rueumy today and he has referred me to an Infectious Disease specialist that I will either see tomorrow or Monday. They are calling my insurance company to try to get them to bill as in network. He also is intrigued by the Splinter theory and thinks that the staph infection could also be the cause of my arthritis since I had no previous history of it and nobody in my family has ever had it. So-I might be able to get that cleared up as well! I'm TOTALLY stoked about the possibilty of going to just having a PCP since we are almost positive that the staph has been the cause of my 14 month battle with skin issues ranging from psoriasis to eczema to urticaria.This just might turn out to the what DOESN'T suck the most! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 mortons neuroma on my foot.feel like i have a rock in my foot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Snow Posted April 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 Well, went to the Infectious Disease Dr. today. he FINALLY swabbed my nose, extended my Doxy treatment by 2 weeks and is putting me on another MRSA killing antibiotic an the bactban for the nose for 2 weeks. I also get to shower with Hibicleanse for the next 2 weeks.No word on if this could be causing all my other problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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