Hospitals - Do Not Shave Zones !

[BigJ]

Glad you made it out of the hospital! That is the main thing IMO!

 

[Gator Bait]

What a story, Blair! Thank you for sharing it. I hope your recovery continues well, and I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

I used to work as a nurse aide in a hospital, and I spent some time in the skilled nursing facility. I was all over the hospital, actually, as a floater. I never saw anything like a common electric razor passed around. That's wild! I don't quite know what I would do if faced with that. If patients did not have their own shaving gear, we would get them a disposable razor. Of course, this is about twenty-five years ago, long before MRSA and other superbugs really hit the scene.

Thanks Tex, I hope others can learn from my story. Diabetes is my great educator and always full of surprises. This is but one chapter and I haven't mentioned the heart attack I may have had during surgery, bed sores, fever for three nights following surgery, slight pneumonia, low blood oxygen levels not to mention phantom pain as well as the real deal. Phantom pain/sensation can be funny, my missing right foot itched like crazy for 72 hours after surgery, I was always finding myself scratching the blanket over where it should have been wondering why it didn't help the itch.

These resistant bacteria are scary, we can't be to cautious. I love to kayak and every year I am hearing of more cases of the flesh eating bacteria then the previous year. A friend of a friend in Sarasota just lost a leg to it this July. That's hitting awfully close to home. I get back on the water and I will be washing both legs with Hibiclens, an antiseptic/antimicrobial skin soap the has a carry over effect of about 24 hours in hopes it will help keep me safe. On the water is home, I can't just give it up and live in fear.

Blair

 

[Gator Bait]

Glad you made it out of the hospital! That is the main thing IMO!

Thanks BigJ, you make a vey good point. It only takes a moment to pass through those ER doors going in, getting out again can be another story all together. It's a good thing insurance will only pay for so much or I may still be there today with all those pretty nurses, meals delivered to bedside three times a day, snacks when desired and a private room with a view. Thank God nothing can beat freedom and our personal liberty to live our own lives. I was away from home for three months with few choices of my own. Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz had it right, there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home . . .

Blair

 

[golem]

Not shaving in a hospital is the way to go. In a study by the journal of hospital infections, hospital staff without beards were three times more likely to be carrying MRSA on their faces. This is thought to be due to micro cuts on their faces harboring colonies of the virus. There is a theory that beards grow their own bacteria that may kill viruses like a drug resistant E. coli.
What do I know? Absolutely nothing. It's interesting though.

More importantly, I wish you the best. May your recovery and rehabilitation go well.

 

[Gator Bait]

Not shaving in a hospital is the way to go. In a study by the journal of hospital infections, hospital staff without beards were three times more likely to be carrying MRSA on their faces. This is thought to be due to micro cuts on their faces harboring colonies of the virus. There is a theory that beards grow their own bacteria that may kill viruses like a drug resistant E. coli.
What do I know? Absolutely nothing. It's interesting though.

More importantly, I wish you the best. May your recovery and rehabilitation go well.

Hi golem, thanks for the very interesting information. In the past we were always able to think of hospitals as safe places but these resistant bacteria have changed all that. We are dependent on our antibiotics and that is part of the problem as more bacteria develop an immunity to them. This is not going to go away and we have to learn to live with it, we can never be to cautious.

Thanks for the best wishes, they all help. I never would have guessed full recovery, if at all possible, would ever take so long. It is an up hill climb all the way but will be worth the effort to get back what I am currently missing. I plan on getting all the rehab I can. I have a great therapist who beats on me without mercy. LOL

Blair

 

[RSC]

Blair, thank you for the reminder. This comes at a good time for me. I'm due for a hip replacement in November. I won't be in the hospital long enough (knock on wood) to be concerned about shaving, but the surgeon tells me that I will have to take precautions for the rest of my life to avoid deep infection.

Best wishes for your recovery. The wife and I just bought a kayak and have taken it out a couple of times. Kayaking is somewhat seasonal here, and I have the operation coming up, but with the return of warm weather we hope to be out on the water. With a name like Gator Bait it sounds like you could be in a really good kayaking area.

 

[Commander Quan]

Almost 11 years ago (before I shaved, with or had ever even seen a safety razor) I was admitted into the hospital with undiagnosed abdominal pain. That's what they call it when you are laying on the floor in the fetal position in agony and the doctors have no idea why. On my third day there, and maybe 4th? day without a shower I asked the nurse if I could shower and shave. She brought me a small bar of soap, some shampoo, and one of these.

Having no idea what to do with it I used my regular cartridge technique of scraping it against the grain. I think after the 3rd pass I just gave up.

 

[auparson]

Gator, so glad you posted this! I pray for you a continued speedy recovery. A few weeks ago in the shower I felt a slightly painful bump under my arm. Within 3 days it was the size of my hand. Last week they tried to open and drain it, but it was too deep. I had surgery to clean out the abscess, which was MRSA, and spent two nights in the hospital getting IV antibiotics. All from just a little bump. Needless to say, I've been washing with Hibiclens each shower, but I'm going to be scared about each and every bump from now on.

 

[Deltaboy]

I never had a issue the two times in been in the hospital. I had the wife to bring me my stuff and I went to the bathroom and shaved.

 

[ackvil]

Thanks for posting, Blair.

First and most important, wishing you a speedy and complete recovery.

I have been blessed and have only been in a hospital for an overnight stay. However, last year my wife was in a hospital in Seattle for two weeks and then in AZ for three. I had a number of discussions with various nurses about what you warned about. I never realized how prevalent MRSA was and how easily it could be spread. Often, when you are in a hospital your health condition makes you susceptible to MRSA.

I was told that there was a written protocol on how to shave a patient or assist them with shaving!