I went back to the dermatologist this morning for the results of the tests they did last week to determine what my skin problem was. I have MRSA - Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus a.k.a. a Staph infection. No wonder its been going on so long and I couldn't make it go away. "Methicillin resistant" refers to the fact that this particular strain of staph is resistant to penicillin antibiotics and will require me to be on some pretty strong other medicines for a few weeks to get rid of it completely. I most likely got this infection for 2 reasons - first, because Alek had the same infection, in the form of an ear infection, around the end of April. Secondly, because I have a compromised immune system and am more prone to infections of all types. In April Alek's doctor determined that he most likely got it from some other child at his daycare. After 2 weeks of antibiotics he was fine. Right around the same time (beginning of May) was when I first started having problems with my skin. Initially I think the "outbreak" of boils/hives/bumps were my normal high-stress bumps that I often get when I'm under too much pressure. After that, they got infected with the staph and didn't go away. So now I know. Hey, families are supposed to share everything, right? Even germies :)