Thursday, December 4, 2008

Infections and a Cuteness Overload....

So last night Rhett did this when I told him we needed to put his dressing back on his g-tube site.......


It didn't look all that bad though. It looked pretty good.

Then today we get this......


Here is a close up, not his most shining moment, and his sats are low tonight, so his skin was pretty mottled.....


Any of you have any idea what's up? He is in the middle of being treated for staph. Think maybe this is a yeast infection of some type from being on antibiotics for the last 3 weeks?

Everytime we go to the hospital and then come home, 2 weeks later he ends up with staph in that damn stoma. I am so flippin careful, and I wash my hands all the time. But he sticks his fingers under the dressings and goes diggin all the time, and I wonder if he is getting it dirty. After all his hands hang out in the trash, the sink, and the toilet every day no matter how hard I try to keep him out of them. Any thoughts on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Now for the cuteness overload, since I have grossed you out.

He got these jammies in the mail today, along with the cute blanket that he's sitting on. They are so super soft and cuddly. Cute jammies and blankies for a cute boy!!


Don't you think he just looks so snuggly? He smells heavenly in this picture too. Trust me, he just had a bath, and then had baby lotion smeared all over his body. Oh, yeah we did some serious snugglin' after this!!


Ooooh! I could just eat him up!!

Okay enough mommy gushin'.

Today I am thankful that Rhett has super warm jammies to sleep in and fuzzy blankies to sleep with at night. So many people don't have that luxury. I am also thankful that he is starting to put his words together to make 2&3 word sentences. Today he told on Dakota because he wouldn't get him a drink. ("Moooommmmm!! Koda No Grink!!")
Okay, so that was 4 words, but the Koda no Grink came after I said what when he called me. You get the picture.....

19 comments:

Aimee said...

Sorry buddy, that looks painful! I love his warm jammies though.... Have you ever tried Calmoseptine Ointment for rashes on Rhett? It worked wonders on Ava.

mommy to Kaden, Brody and angel Ava said...

I am not sure exactly what that could be, I don't ever recall seeing it on Kaden. Do you think that his skin could be irritated from the dressing if his sight is still draining and causing the dressing to get wet?, especially if it is stomach acid coming out??? Just a thought. Good luck on finding an answer.

You said he had staph, right? Is it a possiblity it is from the staph.

Your right those are very cute jammies, with a very cute little guy inside.

Amie said...

Yeast? Probably. It does look a lot like yeast. Brody got staph after his chest expansion surgery and was on antibiotics for 6+ months. So he got yeast a lot too. You'll often notice it in the diaper area or mouth as well. I'd ask your doctor for some Nystatin ointment and maybe some oral Nystatin as well. Hope he gets feeling better. Poor little guy!

Unknown said...

This may be way off but curious if those jammies are Carters brand? They look similar to a pair my nephew had on this weekend and he broke out in a HORRIBLE rash from them. We all remembered then that there'd been a recall on Carter's pajamas this fall - that they irritated the skin on some kids. Just a possibility of maybe why he's broke out - and something that may be less serious than the other concerns.

The Hopeful Elephant said...

You know what..Jack just had a rash like that too. It totally might not be the same, but let me tell you what happened. He had been on this antibiotic a MILLION times and all of a sudden this rash. Well I took him to the dr and they said that it was an allergy to the antibiotic---they can build up a resistance if they've been on it too much. Well, considering our boys will pretty much LIVE on antibiotics, it makes sense! I changed, and within a day, he was back to normal. I also changed to that baby eczema bath and lotion and it helped with his stoma looking better too. Just my 2 cents for the day! :)

Teddybear said...

Rhett is so cute in his new PJ's.

I have a thought - yrs ago when my son had a tube in his tummy - at first it didn't bother him - then all of a sudden he started picking on it etc... my son was not talking at the time - the dr told me it was because he didn't want it anymore and it was bothering him.

Could that be the case with Rhett. He has had enough or it bothers him.

I certainly will be praying for Rhett. Love Deb.

Leah Spring said...

That's a staph rash, and man does it bring back memories! UGH! Ok, they need to CULTURE it and find out what it's sensitive to. Otherwise you're just treating and treating, and it will become resistant to all the antibiotics. With Angela, she always had some amount of drainage, so always needed a gauze around the button, however having the gauze there increases moisure, which in turn increases the staph infections. It's a vicious cycle! We found "painting" her stoma area with maalox or mylanta to be helpful in decreasing the amount of moisture, while at the same time cutting down any acid exposure from stomach fluids. Oh...and we also made a paste with aquaphore/maalox and put a VERY light layer around the stoma.

Tina:0) said...

Looks like it could be a staph, or with all the antibiotics Rhett's been on, yeast is a BIG possibility! Maybe roseolla?! My girls both had it - its viral & it really shows up when they're warm.

Maybe try desenex powder. Its really made for athletes foot, but when nystatin doesn't work anymore (Vaeh became resistant to they nystatin) it worked like a charm!

As for keeping his fingers off the tube, try putting a onsie on him. Vaeh is always picking at her's & if I keep a onsie on her, she can't get too it! Just a thought...

Niksmom said...

Well, it could be a few things...all of which have been mentioned! Yeast: Try to get yogurt or some acidopholus into Rhett. Won't "cure" it but it helps his body's natural resistance. ALLERGY: Is he getting raw in diaper area, too? We found that as Nik got bigger and the doses of antibiotics increased, he developed intolerance. Can't take ANY cephalosporin type drugs (most common antibiotic!) any more.

For the stoma itself, Calmoseptine is the BEST thing we've encountered. Not $$ either. I've got a package I'm putting together for you and will put in a couple of samples the doc gave us (we have a whole tube now).

As for the picking and pulling at the tube, Nik did that for a really long time (almost a year!) then stopped. It seemed like it was more of a fidgety/fiddling kind of thing than wanting to get rid of the tube. It was never angry or upset, just curious exploration. We had to clean the site several times daily. BTW, some docs will say to use 50/50 peroxide/water to clean stoma but that's really rough on the skin. Once we switched to plain saline it got less irritated and we haven't had to even put a dressing or ANYTHING on Nik's for a good 4-6 months now!

Good luck!

Lacey said...

It looks like a rash from the tape. Jax gets it sometimes so I started putting cavalion skin barrier on before the tape. It really helps. I was told g-tubes don't get infected often because its not a steril place. Even the surgery to put the g-tube in is not a steril procedure, our surgeon said.

Shari said...

It looks like it could be yeast. However, I am not a Dr. As far as his hands being everywhere during the day; I used to have a child that did all the things you mentioned. I used hand sanitizer several times a day on him because washing his hands was such a chore. I hope this helps.

little.birdy said...

I am going to break the trend of helpful advice and say that I am so excited that Rhett is putting words together! YAY!
Sorry I don't have any helpful advice. I hope it clears up!

Anonymous said...

Looks like a yeast infection to me... I have seen it many times (I am a home health pediatric nurse currently but have varied experience.) I have always been able to clear rashes that look like this up with Nystatin. HTH! LOVE LOVE LOVE his jammies... they look sooooo cozy! He sure is a precious little boy!

Carey said...

that's just what chelsea's bum has looked like for the past four months, ... just fyi ... the thought it was yeast, but it didn't clear up w/ fluconozole, but she was still on antibiotics, so who knows! if you figure it out, tell me, ... please!

cute jammies!

Leanna said...

K...I sure hope you hosed off that booty before you stuck it back into these 'oh so cute' jammies! ;)

Wish I could get Cole into these kind but he freaks out if anything is touching his feet when he is trying to sleep...guess I could cut the feet out (but that's part of the cuteness).

Did you ever find out what the rash was from? Is it calming down yet? Poor Rhett!

Samm said...

It kind of looks like a viral infection, or yeast. Hailey has both, and they look soooo similar. I think you should put dressing over his whole stomach lol. That might keep him from sticking his fingers in there, but most likely not.

Get better!!!

My Three Sons said...

I think it looks like either yeast or maybe even impetigo. Carson gets that and you can get it from your own nails. If he is scratching it????

Sorry we have been away. Thanks for checking in on us. If that was all it would take to get you to hop on a plane.LOL We are finally all on the mend and I'm excited because we actually get to go to church tomorrow for the first time in about a month. I will say an extra prayer for your family tomorrow as well.

Take care and give the kiddo's big hugs from me.

Kari said...

Hey girlie. Haven't been by for a while. My life has been way crazy. No advice on the rash but I do know one thing that little boy sure is a sweety Pie. I just wish I could give him a huge snuggle :)

Sandi said...

Tommy is battling his second round of staph around his gtube in two months. Grrr. I have taken to a split gauze around the stoma taped together (but not to him) and a onesie under his clothes all the time.... so he can't pick at it with his grimy hands :)

Good luck, we love Rhett!