welp all the medical stuff

[tielan]

I was supposed to get a blood test on Monday. I fasted and everything. And then the doc couldn't find my veins. This is not an unusual problem, although he's been pretty good at it before. It's just sometimes nobody can find a good vein in me. And it's not usually this bad.

So I came away with a paper for a pathology appointment where the people seem to manage it very well and swiftly (they're also younger; I like this doc, but he's pushing 70 if not 75). I made the appointments for a couple of weeks time because it's fasting, and because my veins in both arms had not been forthcoming so no point in trying again and collapsing them further.

Tuesday was the solar battery guys (which is going quite great guns, tbh), and while I was clearing stuff away for them, I felt a sting in my heel.

Ugh. Pointy wood splinter, in under the skin. I pulled it out, tossed it away, and thought nothing of it. I didn't put any antiseptic on it, or try to clean the thing out. I just didn't think of it at the time since the splinter came out cleanly.

Except, obviously, the splinter wasn't clean.

Five hours later, my ankle hurt right in the spot where the splinter had been - over the achilles tendon, making walking difficult. I skipped hockey training, went to bed early.

Woke on Wednesday, still swollen, and the swollen area was slightly larger. I was a bit worried, but hoped it would pass. By midday, I was feeling tingles in various extremities. Not a good sign. We had a set of antibiotics from...some time previous. So I started taking those - keflex, is the type.

I booked an appointment with the doctor the next day. Went to bed. Woke up feeling a little better, but still with the swollen heel and the tingly. The doc looked at it, declared it infected, and put me on a course of penicillin, which I've been taking the last four days with varying regularity. The tingling has pretty much stopped (phew) and I'm supposed to check in with him on Tuesday.

So that was my near-brush with infection this week.

Lesson: when stuck by a bit of anything in the garden, clean it off!

--

Today, the half-brother and his family are coming over for dinner. Hopefully the little girls will be okay, because the twins are eager to meet them. I've met them both before, although the younger one was only just over a year old and she wasn't great with strangers, but we hardly see them at all and we're not really a presence in their lives except distantly.

I'm doing dinner - roast goat loin and roast pork. Along with roast vegies.

Anyway, hopefully it all goes well.

Comments

[ringsandcoffee]

Ooof on all the medical stuff. Hope your next blood draw goes better.

[tielan]

Honestly, I think it was the doc. He's old, and he had to check the veins a lot before he decided to try the needle.

I expect the blood techs at the pathology place to be younger and more experienced in the day-to-day draw. So, yeah, it should go better...

[kore]

YIKES, sounds like a good time for a tetanus shot, or did you already have one?

I have that EXACT same problem with my veins and it's so frustrating, especially when a nurse or blood tech insists on probing around and I wind up with giant bruises and still no blood draw.

[tielan]

Yeah, had one at least five years ago, I think we get them every 10 years here.

Yes, I remember! I'm afraid now I always think of you and your terrible blood draw experiences when I have to get blood taken! XD

[eggsbenedict]

Yeep. Hope your ankle is feeling better soon, sounds like the antibiotics are kicking in at least! (You know you're not meant to take leftovers right?? XD) Hope your rebooked blood test goes well, too!

Goat loin sounds tasty :d

[tielan]

Yes, I know I'm not supposed to take leftovers! :D

[timespirt]

"HUGS"

[tielan]

*hugs back*

[kat_lair]

Yikes on the splinter, glad you got treatment!

[tielan]

Yes, modern antibiotics = amazing.

[adafrog]

Dang. Hope your heel gets better soon.

[tielan]

It's good now. Once I started taking the antibiotics it all started settling down.

[barbaratp]

Adorei o jantar que você vai preparar para seus familiares. Que vocês tenham um bom momento.

Que perigo hein. Algumas pessoas não dão muita importância para coisas assim, mas qualquer ferida feita principalmente por madeira tem altíssimas chances de infeccionar. Eu tenho um primo que caiu contra os degraus de cimento da escola (aqueles gigantes que fazem parte da arquibancada) e ralou um pouco a perna abaixo do joelho. Ninguém achou que fosse nada, até ele ser internado com uma infecção gravíssima no sangue, pois um pedaço de cimento do degrau caiu na sua corrente sanguínea e na hora nem os professores nem ele mesmo higienizou o local.

Eu tenho um gato, morei no interior/roça e digo, toda vez que me furava, cortava ou rasgava até tocava algo que pudesse fazer uma ferida eu limpava. Lavo com água corrente, sabão neutro, passo álcool e até algum outro tipo de desinfectante.

Minha avó teve um encontro com um gato de rua e teve a questão de ter sido arranhada. Foram injeções de antitetânica e anti-rábica. Além dos cuidados com a região para evitar algo. E ainda teve que vigiar o animal.

Farpas/ferpas são um perigo. Que bom que você tinha medicamentos em casa que retardaram a ação da infecção e que agora está tomando penicilina.

Quanto ao sangue, olha odeio fazer coleta. Minha veia some, é fina e lá para o fundo. Quando vou fazer algo do tipo bebo muitos litros de água antes dos exames, pois o jejum impede só a alimentação, mas a hidratação não. Isso auxilia os médicos a acharem minha veia. Mas já houve casos onde tiveram que colocar uma seringa direto na minha veia pois só a agulha da coleta não encontrou. Já tirei sangue do pulso, antebraço, dorso da mão e quase tirei na perna quando não acharam a veia na dobradura do braço.

[tielan]

Yeah, I sometimes forget that I should get things cleaned out when I scrape myself in the garden. It was a crazy busy day - the day the battery got installed - and everything was just a madhouse.

The next blood draw should be better - it'll be from a professional who does almost nothing but draw blood. I really like my doctor, but he's in his 70s, and while I can't say it to his face, I really kind of doubt his vein-finding abilities at this point in time...

[barbaratp]

Tadinho do seu médico, nessa idade eles são excelentes em muitíssimas coisas, mas no quesito achar veia acho que a vista vai cansando e fica mais complicado. Mas adoro um profissional mais idoso, às vezes eles resolvem tudo que um jovem não faria igual (mesmo tendo acabado de sair da faculdade).

É imaginei que por conta da correria você tivesse deixado a farpa para lá como algo banal, que bom que tudo se resolveu mesmo você tendo pegado essa infecção leve.

[tielan]

Yes, it's his age that makes me prefer the pathology staff. He was fine even up to a few years ago, but I'm just like "he's getting old, this is not a good sign". And yes, I prefer the older medical professionals because I've found they do put more effort into fixing you (for whatever their definition of fixing is).

[wpadmirer]

YIKES! That infection came on quickly. There was something nasty on that splinter!

I'm glad that the antibiotics worked well.

[tielan]

Definitely something nasty. It was in the chicken coop, so probably some very infections nasties. Phew for antibiotics!

[beatrice_otter]

I am glad the ankle issue was so easily fixed, and hope they can do the blood draw next time!

I sprained my ankle a month ago, and although it has improved a lot, it's still noticeably not good.

[tielan]

Ugh. I have a friend who's a student minister at church, she fractured a bone in her ankle and has been in a boot for the last month. Before she got the student minister position, she was a fitness consultant, so she's nearly climbing the walls right now.

Another couple of weeks. Eek.

[beatrice_otter]

I'm autistic, and pacing is one of my stims. The first few weeks when I couldn't really pace were HORRIBLE.

[hiddencait]

Big oof and a hug for all the medical things :(

[tielan]

Thank you! It was a lot last week on top of everything else. What a way to close out a Mad March!