It’s called MRSA, a drug-resistant strain of staph that is getting out of control in U.S. hospitals. Check this article out in it’s entirety for a sobering read, and then Google “MRSA stay out of hospitals” for more. This is precisely why I don’t want my daughter’s inch long sliver cut out of her foot in a hospital:

“If you are an American admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam, Toronto, or Copenhagen these days, you’ll be considered a biohazard. Doctors and nurses will likely put you into quarantine while they determine whether you’re carrying methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a deadly organism that is increasingly common stateside, especially in our hospitals. And if you test positive for methicillin-resistant staph, or MRSA, these European and Canadian hospital workers will don protective gloves, masks, and gowns each time they approach you, and then strip off the gear and scrub down vigorously when they leave your room. The process is known as “search and destroy”—a combat mission that hospitals abroad are undertaking to prevent the spread of germs that resist antibiotics. Our own health authorities, meanwhile, have been strangely reluctant to join the assault.”~excerpt from Squash the Bug by Arthur Allen

He goes on to say:

“In the United States, MRSA kills an estimated 13,000 people every year, which means that a hospital patient is 10 times as likely to die of MRSA as an inmate is to be murdered in prison.”

Now, fear and worry are sin, and God hasn’t “given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7) And as hard as it is for me to imagine that my 7 yo daughter’s 1.25″ (3.6 cm) sliver is okay just “stagnating” in her foot, it’s even harder for me to blithely drop her into the hands of a hospital surgeon and pretend that it’s not a big deal.

The alternative therapy lady we visited ended up practicing Applied Kinesiology on 7 yo. It’s a little weird, even for a “wacko” like me who relies more heavily on her chiropractor than her medical doctor! Even so, I was impressed at this doctor’s knowledge and advice. She says that 7 yo is fighting several infections in her lungs, kidney, liver, etc. But dh and I still don’t have clear direction on which way to go.

Podiatrist says the sliver must come out. The Alternative Doctor says we can fight it out with nutritional supplements.

What to do? Any input? And believe me, I’m not trying to be an alarmist about the MRSA. Do your own research, or better yet, share your story in comments.