Long time, no post (or and train) - thanks staph!
After my last tournament I went right back to class the following night. When you fall off you have to jump right back on that horse right?
I went to the no-gi class but wore a long sleeved compression shirt since I had a little mat burn on my elbow from a couple of weeks earlier.
I can’t say for sure that it was from this class, but the following morning I noticed my elbow was really red and swollen around where I had the mat burn. It was nearly two weeks old and since I cut it, I always wore a bandage and sleeves (or a gi) so I wasn’t expecting it to get infected.
Worried, I called up my doctor and was able to see him that morning. Turns out it was staph and he put me on some antibiotics. About three days later, it was only getting worse so he gave me a new prescription for a different type of antibiotics and marked on my arm so I could easily tell if the infection was spreading. At this point, halfway up my forearm, to about halfway up my upper arm was red, swollen, and in extreme pain. It was worse than my shoulder surgery I had about a year earlier.
My doctor gave me a 48 hour window to monitor the progress. If it didn’t get any better I was instructed to check into the hospital for iv antibiotics since it was likely a MRSA strain of staph that is extremely resistant to antibiotics. After 48 hours the progress was minimal, so I gave it another day. I’m glad I waited because the following morning it was MUCH better. It took about a week for it to fully subside, but it’s 100% now.
The worst thing was staying out of the gym for a month. I could have gone back sooner, but with the holidays I was getting a little lazy. I plan on returning soon. Oh, and I’ll be wearing my new rash guard, since those Nike/Under Armour compression shirts don’t seem to block out bacteria like a real rash guard. Looking at them side-to-side, you can really tell the difference in the material.
