Well that's a thing (medical)
Sep. 1st, 2016 03:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drwexThis entry discusses infection. I'm cut-tagging because ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
taura_g reads my LJ and shouldn't get landmined.
Last night,sweetmmeblue and I briefly joined the crew helping sariel_t and her household move. This was one of the typical Boston-area fusterclucks caused by requirements to be out of current dwelling at lease end (usually August 31) but unable to move into new dwelling until the first of the next month. Presumably everyone and all their stuff drop into Bags of Holding for one night; in reality all sorts of semi-legit arrangements happen. Oh, and something north of 50% of U-Haul's North American fleet ends up in eastern MA over Labor Day weekend.
Normally I stay the hell out of downtown but Sariel wasn't renting a truck and asked for people with capacious vehicles to come assist so I did. The move is a big story in which I played a small part and someone who understands that story can tell it. The important part is that we came home sweaty and dusty and decided to shower before getting into bed.
While prepping for shower I noticed that the second toe on my left foot was darkly discolored (like, the color of bruise blood) under the nail and slightly swollen around the nail. It was a little sensitive to being poked or squeezed but I have arthritis in my toes, so they're kind of sensitive all the time. Pygment opined that it was infected and that I should see a doctor. Normally I'd slough this sort of thing off but (a) I'm about to be traveling and (b) it's coming up on a holiday weekend. Both are bad times to have a medical situation go critical.
So this morning I hied myself to the local doc-in-a-box. I wanted to see a podiatrist but I've not seen one in so long he's retired so there wasn't a convenient "see me now" specialist. I don't recall doing anything particularly bad to this toe. I didn't drop anything on it, stub it exceptionally hard, whatever. I walked a lot last Saturday so my feet have been generally hurty the past few days but they've been getting better.
The doc poked and squeezed a bit and examined with a bright light and magnifier. She indicated she didn't see anything under the nail that might be causing it, so the likely cause was "non-specific cellulitis". Since these infections are almost always bacterial the usual response is a course of antibiotics. Also, my last tetanus booster was long enough ago that we agreed another shot was called for. (I ended up getting a full tdap, which is giving me annoying fever at the moment, but it's what they had on hand, so.)
Then she says the scary sentence: "Have you heard of MRSA?" Um, yes. I have, rather. It nearly killed a good friend of mine some years ago. Well, she says, studies show that something like 50% of adult white males in the US have some amount of MRSA on/in them even when ordinarily healthy. Most of the time it manifests like this - a skin infection. However, if it gets into the bloodstream things can get unpleasant. So I'm not just getting "an antibiotic" I'm getting the Alexander Fleming equivalent of a tactical nuke - 4 pills/day for 10 days. If I don't see improvement in 48 hours I'm to go back to a doctor.
Honestly I'm not worried. But writing this down for my own records and compensating for my bad memory is worthwhile.
It's also worth noting that the doc-in-a-box was fast and pretty efficient as advertised. I was seen within 5 minutes of arriving and the whole thing took maybe 20 minutes. That's less time than I'd've been sitting in the Lahey waiting room.
taura_g reads my LJ and shouldn't get landmined.Last night,
sweetmmeblue and I briefly joined the crew helping sariel_t and her household move. This was one of the typical Boston-area fusterclucks caused by requirements to be out of current dwelling at lease end (usually August 31) but unable to move into new dwelling until the first of the next month. Presumably everyone and all their stuff drop into Bags of Holding for one night; in reality all sorts of semi-legit arrangements happen. Oh, and something north of 50% of U-Haul's North American fleet ends up in eastern MA over Labor Day weekend.Normally I stay the hell out of downtown but Sariel wasn't renting a truck and asked for people with capacious vehicles to come assist so I did. The move is a big story in which I played a small part and someone who understands that story can tell it. The important part is that we came home sweaty and dusty and decided to shower before getting into bed.
While prepping for shower I noticed that the second toe on my left foot was darkly discolored (like, the color of bruise blood) under the nail and slightly swollen around the nail. It was a little sensitive to being poked or squeezed but I have arthritis in my toes, so they're kind of sensitive all the time. Pygment opined that it was infected and that I should see a doctor. Normally I'd slough this sort of thing off but (a) I'm about to be traveling and (b) it's coming up on a holiday weekend. Both are bad times to have a medical situation go critical.
So this morning I hied myself to the local doc-in-a-box. I wanted to see a podiatrist but I've not seen one in so long he's retired so there wasn't a convenient "see me now" specialist. I don't recall doing anything particularly bad to this toe. I didn't drop anything on it, stub it exceptionally hard, whatever. I walked a lot last Saturday so my feet have been generally hurty the past few days but they've been getting better.
The doc poked and squeezed a bit and examined with a bright light and magnifier. She indicated she didn't see anything under the nail that might be causing it, so the likely cause was "non-specific cellulitis". Since these infections are almost always bacterial the usual response is a course of antibiotics. Also, my last tetanus booster was long enough ago that we agreed another shot was called for. (I ended up getting a full tdap, which is giving me annoying fever at the moment, but it's what they had on hand, so.)
Then she says the scary sentence: "Have you heard of MRSA?" Um, yes. I have, rather. It nearly killed a good friend of mine some years ago. Well, she says, studies show that something like 50% of adult white males in the US have some amount of MRSA on/in them even when ordinarily healthy. Most of the time it manifests like this - a skin infection. However, if it gets into the bloodstream things can get unpleasant. So I'm not just getting "an antibiotic" I'm getting the Alexander Fleming equivalent of a tactical nuke - 4 pills/day for 10 days. If I don't see improvement in 48 hours I'm to go back to a doctor.
Honestly I'm not worried. But writing this down for my own records and compensating for my bad memory is worthwhile.
It's also worth noting that the doc-in-a-box was fast and pretty efficient as advertised. I was seen within 5 minutes of arriving and the whole thing took maybe 20 minutes. That's less time than I'd've been sitting in the Lahey waiting room.
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no subject
Date: 2016-09-01 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-02 02:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-04 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-01 11:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-02 02:32 pm (UTC)Thank you Motik
Date: 2016-09-02 01:01 am (UTC)MWAH!
RE: Thank you Motik
Date: 2016-09-02 02:32 pm (UTC)Troll will get out of his cave when properly motivated.
no subject
Date: 2016-09-02 04:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-02 01:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-02 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-02 05:53 pm (UTC)cdc's sheet is not what came with my vaccine when i had it in lieu of tetanus shot:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/tdap.html
ah, here we go - http://www.webmd.com/children/vaccines/dtap-and-tdap-vaccines#1
(bleh. the writing's a bit weird and wtf re toxin, but the single dose instead of td at some point especialy if near babies is the gist of the sheet i was looking for. i gotta get off the computer
What's the Difference Between DTaP and Tdap?
Both vaccines contain inactivated forms of the toxin produced by the bacteria that cause the three diseases. Inactivated means the substance no longer produces disease, but does trigger the body to create antibodies that give it immunity against the toxins. DTaP is approved for children under age 7. Tdap, which has a reduced dose of the diphtheria and pertussis vaccines, is approved for adolescents starting at age 11 and adults ages 19 to 64. It is often called a booster dose because it boosts the immunity that wanes from vaccines given at ages 4 to 6.
Immunity wears off over time. So, the current recommendation is that everyone needs a booster shot for tetanus and diphtheria every 10 years after first being immunized. That booster comes in the form of a vaccine called Td. But since immunity to pertussis also wears off during childhood, a weaker form of the pertussis vaccine has been added to the booster to make the vaccine Tdap. The current recommendation is that one dose of the Tdap vaccine be substituted for one dose of the Td vaccine between the ages of 11 and 64. Pregnant women are also advised to get the Tdap vaccine, preferably between 27 and 36 weeks' gestation.
no subject
Date: 2016-09-02 02:57 pm (UTC)Best, E
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Date: 2016-09-02 03:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-02 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-02 06:29 pm (UTC)By doc in a box, do you mean an Urgent Care clinic?
no subject
Date: 2016-09-03 12:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-03 02:42 am (UTC)As for antibiotics: I was on doxcycyline for 9.5 weeks and it did a horrible number on my systems. If you are allowed eat food with it, do so. The original instruction I got was empty stomach, but Doctor John told me that was out of date and not good for a person. This was doxy, tho. I ended up eating a couple of slices of bread first
no subject
Date: 2016-09-03 02:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-03 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-03 03:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-03 12:45 pm (UTC)I agree with you that these places are a good alternative to ERs which are really expensive.
I always eat with antibiotics. Also with ibu, but i can't take my ibu while I'm on this stuff or my intestines would up and leave.
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Date: 2016-09-15 02:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-15 11:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-03 02:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-03 10:36 pm (UTC)