She beat breast cancer and broke her back. But even these life-changing medical conditions could not keep Jill Rosenow down. A busy mom of four and business owner, Jill embraces life, and her cheerful outlook and smile brightens an entire room.
So in August, when she noticed a small abscess behind her right ear, she of course thought nothing of it. But when it became a bit enlarged and painful, she thought she should get it checked out at a walk-in-clinic near her home in Dickinson, North Dakota. They cultured the wound and it was found to be Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus – MRSA for short.
"MRSA is a type of staph bacteria that has developed resistance to many types of antibiotics including penicillins and cephalosporins, which makes it more difficult to treat," explains Dr. Ann Isaksen, a hospitalist at Hennepin Healthcare.
"This type of bacteria can be carried on a person's skin and most commonly cause abscesses and skin infections. It is dangerous because it can spread very quickly and if it gets into the bloodstream, it can spread to places outside the blood vessels like joints and heart valves. It can cause abscesses or emboli within the lungs, spleen and other internal organs as well. These types of infections involving joints and internal organs can be impossible to treat with antibiotics alone and often require surgery to help clear the infection."
Jill felt lucky. After taking a 7-day course of antibiotics, her doctor gave her the all-clear and she was feeling fine. So, she resumed her normal activities.
The second week in September she started feeling crummy and thought she was coming down with COVID, but she tested negative. Things quickly declined and she was feeling worse – hardly remembering her son walking her inside the emergency department in Dickinson, where the staff said if she had waited any longer, she would have died.
"They immediately sent me by ambulance to the hospital in Bismarck, where I was in the ICU and on a ventilator for eight days," Jill said. She had multiple areas where MRSA had spread, and during this hospitalization she experienced sepsis.
"The infectious disease doctor and his team worked around the clock trying to figure out the best approach for caring for me, but they finally decided that I should be transferred to HCMC in Minneapolis."
Jill arrived on HCMC's 5th floor Medicine Unit on October 15, feeling very helpless, but also very supported by the nurses and other team members surrounding her. By that time, MRSA had taken a toll on her lungs, arms, legs, and other areas of her body.
"I put my trust in everyone caring for me. They were all so kind."
"In Jill's case, the MRSA infection had spread to multiple sites throughout her body and required the involvement of multiple specialties to decide on the best approach to clear the infection as quickly as possible with as few surgeries as possible," said Dr. Isaksen, who also cared for Jill while she was hospitalized at HCMC, and gives credit to the team in Bismarck for making the right decision for transferring Jill.
"Most hospitals do not have the luxury of having easy access to so many different specialties. St. Alexius provided excellent care for her when she was critically ill, and then prepared her for transport to Minneapolis so she could receive care from our multi-specialty team."
Doctors from Internal Medicine, Infectious Disease, Interventional Radiology, Surgery, Neurosurgery, Dermatology, Rheumatology, Podiatry and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) were all involved in Jill's care at HCMC.
"We were able to quickly and efficiently diagnose and treat Jill's complex, life-threatening infection, thanks to the many different specialists on staff who have experience with complex medical and surgical cases," shares Dr. Isaksen. "She was very sick – and I'm so happy we were able to help her and that she was able to get back home to North Dakota as quickly as she did."
"HCMC saved my life," Jill said. "Now I can work on those things that I was worried I wouldn't be able to get done. There's so much to do – and to live for. Thanks to everyone for helping me on this journey."
