Watts,
First off I'd like to say that I'm happy things worked out of you by ending on a positive note.
I too had a battle with a staph infection just over 18 months ago. My stay in the hospital was just about as long as yours. I had gotten a scratch on my right hand that I didn't think much of. I kept it clean but it started getting worse and worse. I also developed a fever so I decided to visit my doctor.
He examined me and looked at my hand. Just like you said happened to you I developed a dark area the size of a silver dollar around my scratch and my hand was swelling.
Doctor put my on oral antibioticts and told me that if things got worse give him a call. Well I called him at 1AM, told him that my and was a lot worse, swollen, very painful and that I now had red lines running up my arm to my elbow. He told me to get to the ER and that I would be admitted for treatment. At that point I would have agreed to just about anything just to make the pain go away.
The ER doctor, a very young 27 year old told me that I may loose my arm!
To make a long story short I was admitted on Tuesday morning. The only bed space they had was in the Oncology ward with cancer patients. I left the hospital that Friday, in time to pick my son up for the weekend.
Three good things happened while I was there. I got to keep my arm and it was all better, The meds took care of the cold I had been fighting since October. I was in the hospital in March. And the last good thing that happened was that I quit smoking.