Information

[gonecamping]

So my ds turned 18 at the end of Feb and for a year has been badgering us about a tatoo. Sure enough he came home with one after his birthday. I wasn't very happy because he had told us this guy who was learning how to do tatoos would do it for free. We told him not a good idea, sanitary reasons ect...Well apparently we didn't know what we were talking about because he got one anyway. My dh was mad and told him as long as he lived under our roof he needed to follow our rules. Fast forward to Sunday. I had been home from my wonderful weekend scrapbooking and I am cooking dinner. Its 6:30. DS comes home and asks me to make him a dr appointment because he has some wierd zits on his leg and its not getting better. It hurts now. He tells me he showed it to his dad on Friday. Guess dad told him to put some antibiotic cream on it. BTW its around his wonderful new tatoo. So I told him to show it to me. It was the most disgusting thing I have seen. He has an abcess on his leg about the size of ping pong ball and all this little pus pockets all around that damn tattoo. All he said was I watched the guy open up all the needles and the ink from brand new packages.

So off to the ER we went. Sure enough, staph infection. He had to have IV antibiotics and is now on some powerful antibiotic. The doctor was an idiot. I asked for it to be lanced and cleaned out. He said it was small enough it didn't need to be. Are you kidding me! Then he said if it didn't go away with the anitbiotics then it would need to be cleaned out. Yesterday morning I called his regular doctor. They were a bit dismayed it wasn't cleaned out at the ER. They want to see him Wednesday, unless things look worse. Last night it looked the same. All my husband told him was "I bet you won't be getting another tattoo any time soon." I asked him why he waited so long to have me see the infection. I guess he had it for about 5 days. He kept thinking it would go away.  So I am hoping this isn't the antibiotic resistant staph.

[-Kami-]

OMG! That's horrible! I hope he gets better soon.

[Grandma Flowers]

 I hope it gets better soon.  MRSA is a nasty infection to get rid of.

[bluejeans7]

 Oh no!  I hope it clears up fast!

[AmyTeets]

Yikes!  Tough lesson learned! 

[Kimandasmo]

 Hope it gets better soon.....atleast maybe he will have learned a lesson from this?????

[bigsmartass]

 Yikes!!

Maybe he won't want another tattoo at least??

[BeatrizS]

 oh wow!  hope it goes away soon and maybe he learned his lesson!!!  I would call his tattoo artist and give him a peace of my mind! and maybe even call the health department!

[tinkerbelldani]

 I hope he get better soon.

[Midge]

 I hope he gets better soon.

[scrapaholic]

 so typical kids never think parents know what they are talking about.

[mkcdaisy]

 Oh man thats not good.  I hope its gets better without much trouble.  Tell him not to do that ever again. 

[Firegems]

 I hope your son heals quickly and if he does get another tat he is more careful about where he chooses to go!

[justred2u]

Tanya please be patient with him... we didn't know what we were talking about either.  My son has a tatoo of his ex-wife's initial "K", notice I said ex-wife, but the initial is a Chinese type marking so he tells everyone it ... well something to do with being a fireman.  His father and I both know it is the initial K.  We tried to tell him too but ooooooo no we didn't know what we were talking about either.  I will have to admit his is medically worse which makes it a thousand times worse.  We have 2 sons and a daughter.  I don't care how "smart" they are somewhere around 17-18 WE just lose our brains but I do believe in all actual seriousness THEY will get them about the time they turn 25 and then life will go on.  Voice your opinion/rules, just love them from there ... the aliens will go away one day!  And when that happens, you will be asking your child "where is my son/daughter and what have you done with him/her".

Now back to the infection, that is not a good thing.  I can't believe they didn't at clean it out either.  Oh and don't look when they do that is some really nasty stuff!!

I hope all ends well though.  This isn't something that will heal fast either.

[baltoscrapper]

 I hope they lance and drain it before it gets into his system. Kids!

[LoveMyBella]

The staph isn't necessarily from the needles/technician (though it could be).  It could have been on his skin already.  A good majority of people carry it on their skin/in nasal passages, etc.  Hopefully it heals quickly and without complication.  Staph can be a tough one to eradicate.  Good luck!

[bumblebby]

 I have heard a lot of people say that their child went and got a tattoo when they turned 18. As long as they go to a reputable, clean place and get the tattoo somewhere that can be covered I think I'll be ok with it.

 Those people who get the tattoos right up their necks, I'll never understand.

 I hope the infection clears up soon!

[bluetulip]

 Horrible - you just can't be to careful these days.  I had what I thought was a pimple on my nose.  So, I attempted to pop it.  Well, it didn't go away and got bigger.  Sure enough I went to the doctor and it was staph (MRSA - not the kind you want to have).  I had to take major antibiotics as well.  Boys will be boys won't they?

[terri04]

 oh good luck to you.  what a way to learn a hard lesson.

[immom2anc]

 Darn kids!! I'm glad I don't have those problems yet... The worst I have is my monkeys getting fruit snacks after I've told them no. LOL... I hope your son gets better quickly. I will tell you too that it may not have been the tattoo itself but whatever cream/ointment he put on it after. My husband got a tattoo and his artist gave him some Tattoo Goo or A&D I can't remember which, but it broke him arm out so bad in a nasty rash that at first we thought it was a reaction to the tatoo, but turns out he was allergic to the cream and if he hadn't stopped with it, it would have developed into something a lot worse! Good luck!!