Mtn Gal,
To tell you the truth, I don't think that this poses any real problem for anyone providing that they have a functioning immune system. I remember when it was first detected while lying in my hospital bed recovering from surgery. My roommate at the time was an eighteen year-old kid that had been totally paralyzed in a car accident. I never set eyes on him or heard his voice the entire time â€â€all of three daysâ€â€I was in the room with him. As soon as they found out that I had MRSA, I was moved to my own private room with an astounding panoramic view of the Charles River in Boston that I could not enjoy because I was so miserable. When I was transported to the Rehab hospital I was again put in a private room. It is to a person in his condition (my roommate's) I suppose that the MRSA poses a threat. As weak as I was after 15.5 hours of surgery, two days in ICU, being completely intubated and "awash" in drugs, it still wasn't enough to make me vulnerable to the MRSAâ€â€it may have cultured in me but it couldn't make me sick. In fact, my girlfriend who had been with me every day while I was in the hospital, spending every free moment she had with me went and had herself tested after it had been reported that I had contracted it. She tested negative. This made me wonder, "If she hasn't picked it up from me, then who possibly could?" I suppose only those in severely weakened states like my poor roommate.
The conjunctivitis that I recently contracted was the beginning of a nasty head cold that I also came down with. I blew it out in 4 days. It tried to spread to my lungs but couldn't get a hold on them because, after 30 years of bench pressing and ten solid years of jogging my lungs are too strong. That head cold is also the first one I've had since 1999! I'm now 50 years old but look like I'm in my 30s', half-deaf and still working in a rock band.
As an example, over the past week or so with all the snowstorms we've been getting here in New England, my day and night will typically run like this: weight training, jog in snow and ice for 4 miles at night (on residential streets), come back, change out of clothing soaked from sweat, bundle up, go out and shovel for three hours and do 80 pull ups to stretch out and unwind. In fact, it's snowing right now and I'm going to have to do it all over again! I ran two nights ago in 13° temps!
After my release from the hospital, I was naturally very concerned about MRSA and asked my PCP a lot of questions about it including whether or not it stays with us or how long. I never really got a definitive answer other than him saying to me, "I don't think you have to worry about it".
I hope this helps!
Paul
