Background

John is in Evergreen Hospital with a staph infection in his arm. It all started last Tuesday, I came home from work and John asked me to look at his right elbow, it had been hurting him. I couldn't see any cut or puncture nor did I notice a discoloration. By that night it was getting red and swollen. He went to his primary care physician, Dr P on Wednesday morning, he gave John a Rx. The next day, Thursday the pain was intolerable (worse than open heart, he said) and the redness and swelling had at least doubled, so he saw Dr P again and got another Rx. That controlled the pain, but the infection still grew. Dr P was unable to get to the office on Friday, so John was seen by one of the other doctors, and she thought John should continue with the antibiotic.

When I got off work on Saturday his arm was even brighter red than it had been that morning, John called Dr P who was on call that day. He told John to go to the ER at Evergreen which is what we did. He was seen by Dr H. Originally we all agreed he would get an IV drip, go home and come back to the hospital 12 hours later for another drip. About 45 minutes into the 60 minute drip, John got all flushed (Red Man Syndrome). The doctor said that was caused by too fast of a drip. Then John got cold and was shivering. He then suggested John be admitted, which he was. He developed a fever in the early evening of 101.