Holly Needs Us: Surviving Serious Infections

On June 3rd, my wife Holly tried to break up a cat fight between two of our cats and got scratched and bitten pretty badly on her hands and wrists. It seemed to be healing until near the end of the week when both her hands swelled up. She went to urgent care on that Saturday and they cleaned the wounds and gave her two antibiotics. They told us if it wasn't better by Monday to go to the ER. On Monday, she went to the ER in Carthage and they had her transported by ambulance to ICU in Freeman Hospital Joplin.

After she arrived, she was taken directly to surgery on both hands. The surgeon said it was the worst case of gas and pus infection he had seen. During a mid-surgery consult, he said chances were good that she would have died had it been much longer, and that there was still a possibility of amputation. After the surgery was over, Holly returned to the ICU and had a PICC line put in. Then she was moved up to the General Surgery unit for a follow-up surgery to clean out the remaining infection.

The second surgery went well; the surgeon mentioned in both cases that he was cleaning out pus and infection but working around tissue in her hands.

The infectious disease doctor identified the bacteria as Cat Scratch Fever, which morphed into necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating disease).

As the weekend came, the hospitalist assigned to Holly expressed concern about her left wrist. She ordered blood work and an ultrasound. Plans for Holly to go home on Monday, June 16th were dashed as the scan revealed infection moving up her arm. Another surgery on Tuesday extended her sutures up to her forearm as the surgeon worked to remove the infection and some infected tissue in her wrists.

Post-surgery, Holly has been recovering in the hospital as the medical staff tries to manage the intense pain in her hands and wrists. At this point, she has been in the hospital a full two weeks and we are hopeful she will be able to return home soon to begin wound care and occupational therapy.

There is a long road ahead for her recovery and we appreciate any help you can give!