I see a lot of articles lately about the dangers of overusing antibiotics – how dangerous superbugs like MRSA are going to kill us all and how parents need to stop giving their children antibiotics for every cold. Those types of articles terrify me. People like my daughter are the ones who will be first to die from aggressive infections.

Gracie is back on antibiotics. Since her March hospitalization, she has had no more than 10 days off antibiotics before starting another course. First she had the cellulitis in her finger, then a bladder infection that wouldn’t quit, now she has impetigo and presumably strep throat too along with an ear infection. She is dependent on antibiotics to survive.

The antibiotic dependence is terrifying because of the possibility of her getting stricken with a superbug. But we are dealing with something much more real and much more terrible. Now, five days into this latest course of treatment, she has a fever. She is getting sicker despite the medicine. I have been told so many times that she needs to be brought in immediately if she gets a fever while on antibiotics, but we can’t go in right now – we’re out of state.

If we were at home I would have taken her to her doctor today, but we’re not. We’re a long way from the team of doctors we’ve assembled so carefully and the hospitals we know so well. We are biding our time – monitoring the fevers and trying to enjoy the visit. If her fever continues to rise we will have to find an emergency room here, but if they stay the same or improve we’ll wait until we’re back in our hometown. Always the difficult decisions – it is so stressful to have to wait a few days while we’re out of town, perhaps letting the infection grow, but it’s also stressful to think of potentially having her admitted to a hospital in another state.

So yes, I am worried about antibiotic resistance and superbugs. It hits too close to home – it is something we deal with daily, weekly, monthly. We are always fighting infection, and hopefully will always win the battle.