Monday, August 31, 2009

What a day and headed out

I'm done and dusted in the Paleo lab today, good to be finished and things went generally very well, many more results than I had before, and to be honest more than I expected. So a good trip work wise.

Today though has been a bear. So when I arrived here from Woods Hole, I had a reaction to some deodorant and broke out in eczema all under my armpits. Well, one of them got infected and turned into a small abscess. Well that cleared up after a week or so with some good rubbing alcohol, but as soon as it did another appeared. So I treated that and it went away, and another appeared......are you seeing a trend here? Well, 2 days ago almost my whole armpit swelled up, at that point I admitted defeat and called my insurance company to see what I had to do and how much it would cost. Luckily my US insurance works here, unluckily you have to pay out of pocket and claim back. Today I spent a good few hours in the emergency department, they broke open 2 abscesses and have packed them with gauze to drain, to the tune of $625. The bummer is I have to come back each day for it to be redone, until it looks better......so a phone call to the insurance later, and I sure hope they'll come to a deal with the hospital to direct bill them, as otherwise i'm sunk. By the by, injections (local anesthetic, 6 of 'em) in your armpit are horrendously painful, worse than the abscess by far! I am so not looking forward to going back tomorrow.....

The weekend was fantastic though - I moved out of my little Thunder Bay apartment and in with Carney and Kim - they are awesome! We hung out on saturday and then went to the Merillo Fair on sunday, Sammy got to ride a horse, Taylor sat in the trailer while we wandered around, it was awesome and relaxing! We then came back and played in the paddling pool and BBQ'd. A very nice weekend.

And then tomorrow, i'm going to be offline probably until i hit Hawaii, as i'll be in a cabin at the Sleeping Giant Provincial park with Carney, Kim and the girls. I can't wait - and luckily it's only 45 mins from here, so I can drive back at night for my arm.

Some paddling pool fun!

4 comments:

Nicola said...

oh, rhian. you know i mean it when i say i know exactly how you feel on this one. i have now had several staph infections (one as bad as you describe in an equally uncomfortable location), all started from eczema, which i get often and have to nag myself not to scratch. what antibiotics are you on? hot compresses, draining, and antibiotics should get you clear, but you'll likely have a scar. huge hugs.

bsa said...

Oh rhian--I am sending you hugs. Did they check yo for MRSA? I had one in an equally unmentionable location and it wasn't fun...I can't quite imagine an armpit injection. It does sound, however, as if you are surrounded with love (and distractions) so I know that helps a bit. We are sending you all good wishes.

RGW said...

Thanks guys, appreciate it. I'm on Cephalex, 4 times a day, quite a high does. I think it's doing the job. It's the repacking of the wick into the abscess (and the taking of the old one out) that has me on the floor each time. So far they've redone it 3 times, tomorrow i'm set for another. I am so not looking forward to it, but they did say last time this could be my last repacking. Ug.

RGW said...

Oh, and they did check for MRSA, no results as yet though.