I'm sorry to read this and hope that your grandson continues to improve with no further complications. What a worry for you and your daughter.

You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.

I am going to think positively here. You caught it in time. And he is *young*!

Now, remember to Keep Calm, etc. Hope you will be back before long, telling us your DGS is fully recovered.

Wishing the best for your grandson, prayers too sent to all.

Sue

What an ordeal for you and your precious grandson! I will keep you and your family in prayers. May your grandson heal quickly. Your daughter is very fortunate to have a loving and wise mother.

Prayer just said for your grandson, your daughter and for you too. Please update us as soon as you know more.

Your grandson is in my thoughts and prayers.

Prayers are flying your way. He's young, so I'm hoping he heals fast.

So glad you were alert to his condition and insists on the ER visit. And thankfully someone at the hospital reviewed his case a bit further! I'll be saying prayers for a quick and full recovery for your sweet grandson. And for your family. It's hard on everyone when stressed with a hospitalized loved one.

edit d to add - my neighbor got some small injury at her horse barn recently and I asked her if she had gotten a tetanus shot since moving to the country (they just bought the property across from us a couple of years ago). She said no, and I reminded her to get one asap, as there are all sorts of strange bacteria out here and minor scrapes can be deadly. She promised she would.

Momma's and grandma's always seem to know when something isn't right - when something is wrong. I am so glad you did what you thought was best.

I hope the antibiotics will do the trick. My thoughts are with your grandson and all of you.

Your grandson is in my prayers. ((((Hugs)))) for everyone.

Adding my thoughts and prayers!

Adding my prayers.

Keep us up-to-date please, Anglo.

Prayers for a quick complete healing...and prayers for you and your daughter for comfort. Hugs.

Hoping & praying for the best ... a safe and speedy complete recovery!

Wow, scary thing to happen. My thoughts are with your grandson.

Thank you for looking after him. In so many cases, people's intuition has been correct so I think it's good to pay attention. I know I've been glad to get a second opinion when i feel something is not quite right. Please be well soon grandson, you have a good loving family, the best thing in this world.

You're absolutely right....a minor cut or scratch can very easily lead to something more serious.....even a bug bite! So glad you followed up on your instincts. Your GS was lucky you're an "alarmist"!!! Prayers for a speedy recovery coming your way. Please keep us posted.

Sending my prayers also. Glad you were an "alarmist"--you may have saved his life. Hugs!

saying prayers right now

Sending thoughts of healing strength and courage to you and your whole family.

What a terrible turn of events! Sending prayers for your grandson's recovery.

Hope he gets better fast. He is in the best children's hospital in the area.

Sending positive thoughts for you, grandson, daughter and family. I think your warning about a minor wound is a very good one. Thank you.

Thankfully you had him checked out! He has my prayers for a full recovery. Please keep us posted!

One can't be too careful these days with infections. I hear of more and more people ending up In hospital, in intensive care, with a life threatening infection. I guess bacteria has gotten stronger, like we were warned about years ago, and our antibiotics no longer have the effect that they once had. Prayers for the speedy recovery of your grandson. I think he has youth on his side.

You write well, and your story is a cautionary tale that could help many. Healing thoughts for your grandson.

Oh man, I'm sorry he's going through this. You can add my thoughts and prayers for a speedy and complete recovery. It will serve him well that he is young and strong. And has a grandmother who acted quickly!!

DGS had his last IV antibiotic at 6PM last night and was to be released to go home. I have a feeling that it took a long time to actually get discharged (how much paperwork is actually required and why on earth does it take hours?), but he's home now on powerful oral antibiotics with instructions to watch that foot/ankle very carefully for any further swelling/changes in color. His mother was to go to Durham on a business trip today - don't know if she delayed it or not. Father is a wonderful dad to his sons but not always on top of things like this. If DD did go, I may stop by the house later today to check on that foot/ankle!

Thank you all SO much for all your prayers and concern!!! It's very scary when a big strapping healthy boy can be laid so low by a simple fall from a bike with a few scrapes. I'm hoping this is a learning experience for him, his brother and his parents. Even minor scrapes/splinters have the potential to become life threatening due to what appears to be an increase of staph and strep bacteria these days. My motto is if it's not getting better, get to a doctor!!!

Thanks for the good news that he's going home. I know you will be vigilant with his recovery. He's lucky to have you!

I'm so glad to read that your grandson is home now and I hope he will recover completely now.

I'm glad he's ok.

Hey, you asked, here's the answer (and I bet it's quite similar in the US):

Answer from Quora

Gaurav Sharma, I have spent more time in hospitals than my home

Answered Jul 15, 2016

Hospital
in-patient discharge is a complicated process. It actually consists of
several steps many of which do not run parallel to each other and thus
it makes the process time consuming. Broadly, the steps are as following
in an Indian private hospital:

1. Doctor orders for discharge and prepares discharge summary.
2. Nursing clears all investigation,consumables and drug orders ( Nursing Clearance)
3. All investigations that are done are charged and all which are charged but not done are removed.
4. All returnable drugs are returned and all drugs that patient needs to take home are ordered.
5. All consumables are accounted and charged.
6. Pharmacy clears all drugs( Pharmacy clearance)
7. All returned drugs are removed from bill.
8. All drugs given to patient are charged to bill.
9. Bill preparation

Now
in case of cash patients, the patient is called for bill settlement.
However in case of Insurance patient, bill,discharge summary etc. is
sent to TPA. TPA provides authorization for discharge after scrutiny and
this takes almost 4–5 hours.Following this, bill is settled.

As
is easily seen, 2nd and 3rd step are physical process with very less
automation. Also, they serve as scrutiny points. These take undue amount
of time. Also, TPA processing takes a lot of time. This leads to
discharge being a long process.

Hope it helps.

So thankful your DGS is better and at home! I hope he will not have any more problems with it and be back to normal very soon!

Oh my goodness I had no idea a small scrape or cut could get so bad, that is very scary. Glad to hear that he is being discharged.

When skin is broken, it makes it very easy for bacteria to get into the body. It is typically either staph or strep - can sometimes be MRSA (thank goodness it was not - I would probably never be able to be around him again with my pulmonary problems!). When the body starts fighting the bacteria, it can sometimes go into overdrive and start fighting the organs in the body. That's when it gets very lethal. It's for this reason that the infection must be treated quickly.

At my age, the skin on my legs (also some on my arms) is as thin and delicate as wet tissue paper and a small bump may mean a skin tear/flap. You would not believe the scars on my legs - it's why I try for a tan on them in the summer to hide the scars! If it's a skin tear/flap, I go to a walk-in clinic to have it professionally cleaned and often a butterfly bandage applied. I then must use a prescription antibiotic cream, twice daily and keep it covered. I can no longer use bandaids - they tear my skin when being removed (yes, it's THAT thin!), so I use a flexible wrap over a non-stick gauze pad. I always keep antibiotic cream on hand and apply it if it's even a minor scrape. Not taking any chances!

Talked to DSIL today. The boy is much better, foot looks fine, DD went on business trip this afternoon.

Glad he is home and doing better. You asked why it takes hours to get discharged? Well, having worked as a nurse on a med-surg floor recently, I can tell you-lol. The nurse is the one who has to do most of the work to get the discharge done, while taking care of her other patients who are possibly being admitted and discharged too. She has to give meds, call doctors, pharmacy, social workers, and a ton of other people during the shift. She also has to wait, possibly for hours for the doctor to write those orders. I used to love it when the doctors would make rounds and tell the family and patients that they'd be out of there by noon...and then not write the orders till 5 or 6 pm....or later. I've had to page doctors over and over through the day all the while getting screamed at, cussed at by patients and family members. Once your nurse gets the orders, she has to put a discharge note in, print out instructions for home care, wound care, etc...pharmacy then has to come and give them information on the meds they'll go home with (at least in our hospital they do). Sometimes the doctors will put orders in but with a note about waiting till the attending comes to see the patient, which could take hours. Oh, and your nurse is busy taking care of the patients, hopefully she doesn't have a really sick or dying patient or two because then you're really not going to leave early. She has to prioritize and a discharge isn't at the top of the list usually.

It seems as if it would be so much quicker with hospitals doing so much electronically today. But in fact, it appears that all the paperwork is still there as well as in the computer! There must be a better way! Years ago, there was a "discharge nurse" and that's all she did. Now I guess all do discharge and patient care - sure that can be blamed on the bean counters.

I will confess I don't do well with bureaucracies which means it's a good thing I didn't go into health care, the military or government work!

a speedy recovery for your GS and long distance gentle hugs to you,Anglo......

Angliophilia, all our stuff is computerized but you still have to type in the computer on all your patients. The initial assessment on new patients for example takes forever, especially if you have a talkative patient or family member. You want a short answer but end up with a life history and other stuff you don't need or have time for. Sometimes you have to listen, though, people are upset, hurting, etc...it's hard to cut off someone like that even when you know you have 3 or 4 discharges waiting and you're trying to get this huge note in the computer, set up ivs, fluids, make sure the doctor put all the orders in...especially basics like diet. No one wants to go hungry after spending all night in the ER and then missing the last meal of the day because someone (the nurse) didn't catch that the doctor never put a diet order in. Same with discharge notes..all computerized but it takes time to chart everything, print it out (hopefully the computer and printer are working like they should) and then you have to make sure the patient has that information. They can't take our computers home with them so they have to have a hard copy. We used to have discharge planners at my hospital but they never did the actual discharges, only set up home health, rehab, etc...the nurses always did most of the discharge work. We also get really sick patients that need multiple antibiotics, blood, or someone physically watching them. I'm so glad I don't have to do that anymore. It was killing me, physically, and the stress was awful most days.

Anglophilia - I am so glad to hear that your DGS is doing well and is on the road to recovery and does not have MRSA. It certainly sounded like he did as your story developed, and I kept thinking "Oh no!" Both I and my younger son have been through MRSA, a year apart and in different states - his developed from the tiniest pinprick, a tiny red dot that quickly became a thumbsize hole in his arm. We were put on very powerful antibiotics, two kinds at the same time; he had to go to outpatient 3 times a day for IVs, and his wife unpacked and repacked his wound every day for six weeks. MRSA is frightening - if it turns into sepsis you are in the fight of your life.

My doctor advised me to from now on wash my hands very regularly, occasionally using Hibiclens. He and other medical people have explained that frequent handwashing is the best preventative, other than avoiding the kind of accident that breaks the skin and allows in nasty bacteria.

You are a spectacular grandmother, able to drive all that distance with a medical emergency sitting next to you, and able to remain calm and think clearly! Your DGS is a very fortunate young man! And thank you for your story - it is a cautionary tale that everyone should read.

Good news, and yes a good warning: pay attention to your body!

Great News :)

Sounds like he is on the road to healing his wound. That's very good news. It's especially difficult to get a healthy strong person to realize that such a small injury could mean a very serious problem.

I fully understand the need for concern. I have been fighting repeated staph infections since the flood when we were exposed to so much contamination. When taking the extremely potent antibiotics there is a very real chance of getting cdiff because the antibiotics are destroying the good bacteria in the gut. Cdiff is as dangerous as the staph infection and difficult to get rid of. I was eating lots of Activia yogurt and drinking Kefir taking double doses of Probiotics to try to keep my gut bacteria in balance.

What many people don't know and don't do after a staph infection is you must go through a decolonization process. My husband and I have been doing this for a long time. I want to be sure it's gone! My original doctor never mentioned the decolonization procedure to me which is why I believe it returned. My primary doctor is the one who instructed us to do this process. Staph is a very serious infection!

I hope he has success and it does not return.

First, you were not far from me.....wish I'd have known! Second, my DH almost died from an infection after a surgery. I wish the best to your grandson. He needs to follow up with an infectious disease doctor as a precaution. My prayers.

Oh I'm so glad he's doing well. If he hasn't already taken one, maybe taking a first aid course is a good idea.

Our son was hurt in a mountain biking accident fortunately, not badly, but we suggested he take a wilderness first aid course and it was a really good investment.

So sorry he had to go through all this, but he will be better prepared next time. Life is full of little lessons. Thank you for sharing this with us.......sometimes we can learn from other peoples travails.

Thank you for updating us, it's good to know your grandson is on the road to recovery. Also good to know he is taking this 'lesson' to heart! !

And to be perfectly honest, I have learned from this, too! It never occurred to me that minor scrapes & scratches can be so dangerous! I have reached the age where my skin is thin, very thin! So I am forever getting little nicks and tears, especially on my arms. Sometimes I don't even notice them until I find some dried blood dripped somewhere. (I am on blood thinners, so there is always a lot of blood with even very small skin tears.) Then I just wash them of & go on with what I was doing. But from now on, the wasting off will be followed by antibiotic cream & a Band-Aid!

And by the way, Anglophilla, Band Aids were causing bruising and skin tears on me, too. I found the Band Aid brand 'Comfort Sheer' comes off pretty easy. And something I learned from a nurse after my second cataract surgery, gently massage some type of oil into the bandaid and it will come off very easily. In fact, the Comfort Sheers will almost fall off! I think any type of oil or lotion will work, the nurse that used this method on me was using what looked like hand lotion. I've used Vitamin E oil because that was what was handy at the time. I just wish I had known this trick 50 years ago, when I had a house full of growing boys! !

Rusty

Some very wise advice/suggestions here. I am allergic to almost all antibacterial meds and deathly allergic to Tetanus. I couldn't even take Tetanus in small doses when I applied for a Visa.

The one product that I use for nicks and scrapes...even minor burns...that I keep on hand in my kitchen as well as in both my bathrooms...is Povidone Iodine. It's easy to apply with a Q-tip or cotton pad and it's never failed me. Considering that lately, I'm thoroughly convinced I'm the # 1 klutz of the world, I'd be lost without this simple remedy. Plus...no Band Aid cover is necessary which eliminates another allergy problem that I have...to the bandage adhesive.