Last week we lost a family friend to MRSA - Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus - a drug resistant form of staph infection. Never would I have thought that I would be sitting down this week to write about the passing of this vibrant woman...
Jackie was an amazing person. She was like a hummingbird - all activity - constantly working at something and always giving to others. She volunteered for her favorite causes, she and her husband farmed at their ranch, always sharing their harvest. She was a crafter with a real artist's eye, making many beautiful items she would gift to others. She canned and she baked, too. Boy, did she bake! I don't think I can remember a family Christmas in the past 15 years or so at my Mom's house that we did not have Jackie's fabulous croissants for our holiday breakfast. I often thought that Jackie was a driven person - filling her life as full as she possibly could. She lost her only child - a son - in a skiing accident, an avalanche, at Thanksgiving time many years ago.
The last time I saw Jackie was in August while visiting my Mom in Washington state. Of course, she came knocking at the door with two huge boxes of the most beautiful freshly picked peaches from their orchard. It was a birthday gift to my Mom. Then the next thing I heard was that Jackie had taken a fall and had an injury to her leg and was in Seattle at a hospital there. She came home after three days but things did not go well. And soon she was in the hospital again in a town nearby. What originally happened to Jackie was that she fell and broke her leg just below the knee. The was not a doctor in the area with the skill to repair her leg, so they sent her to Seattle. When she returned home, the most likely scenario is that she brought MRSA along with her. Within just a few days she was in and out of consciousness. The MRSA appeared to have attacked her heart where she had a valve replacement some years back. In the end, she suffered a severe stroke and we all are facing the loss of an extraordinary woman.
There isn't much more I can say.... Simply the old cliche - you never know if this is yours or someones you love last day - get out there and enjoy what makes you happy and share a bit of yourself and your talents with others. And maybe learn to make croissants to honor our dear Jackie! I am sure going to give it a try! Anybody have some good hints for me? I know they are very labor intensive. And I know that Tramp 1 will happily snarf down all my mistakes!!
7 comments:
I'm so sorry for your loss. We struggled to rid our family of MRSA a few years ago. My husband was burned in a flash fire at home and picked it up in the hospital. He passed it on to me and to two of our children. One son and I ended up hospitalized on IV antibiotics, the other was a carrier. It took weeks of daily treatments, disinfecting and washing bedding and towels daily in HOT water and bleach to rid us of it. Fortunately, we all came out alright, except for a few scars. It's not something to take lightly, now every time someone gets a scrape, I cringe.
Judy
I'm so very sorry to hear about your loss!!!
To tell you the truth...I've never heard of MRSA but I certainly will familiarize myself with it now.
I will check back to see how you made out with those croissants too!
Cath
You are right, we need to ;et those we care about just how much they mean to us...you never know when you or someone will leave this earth.
Blessings
so sorry to hear of your loss! So true that we just don't know what a day will bring isn't it?
My prayers to you and her loved one.
Judy,
You certainly have first hand knowledge of MRSA. I am so glad that you all made it through your ordeal.
Cath,
It is good that you will learn about MRSA - it is frightening. And I know it will be awhile before I master those croissants but I really want to do this. She would freeze them raw and bring them to us that way along with a sheet of parchment paper to cook them on. They were so decadent!
Diane and Mary,
It is so hard sometimes being caught up in the day to day trials and tribulations to remember to truly feel blessed for our time here. And to know it may be cut short at any moment.
Thank you all for caring and lets use this sad death to help educate others about MRSA and how to recognize it early when possible and maybe save some lives.
When I worked in the hospital, the spread of MRSA was one of the biggest worries. Such a sad chain of events led to your friends death, it is so unfair. MRSA is getting much more common too. We know a family that struggled with it for many months. No one in the family died from it, thank God.
That was really sweet, sorry cuz, I don't bake much, but I sure enjoyed hearing about Jackie's story.
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