Hanging in there ....

All is basically the same with the skin situation. The foot has been horribly itchy for the past 4-5 days .... it may be psychological since I discussed suture/metal allergic reaction with the dermo dr. at the last appt., but it is much itchier now than it has been for the past two months. This week I'd say in a heartbeat that it does feel like there is something inside that should come out & is noticeably bothersome. I thought I was going to have to pull the car over tonight on the way home from work, as the itch on the foot was so intense! Ugh!

Yesterday I did some research on top dermatologists in STL, but I think the doctor that I'm seeing now is one of the best. She is certainly in the top 4-5. My STL orthopod goes to her & she has a segment on Fox news about twice a month.

I need to go work with the foot some. Over the weekend and today it has been very stiff & I wondered if I should be returning to pt. My therapist is out-of-town at the moment, so I'm going to use this week to evaluate. I had hoped to return to the gym this week, but I don't think it is wise yet (trying to be germ cautious, until the skin clears up).

I have another four weeks at work before students begin to arrive for visit days. Pray for some encouragement this week .... the cream, meds, Saran wrap routine are getting old without seeing results.

je

All the same ...

This is going to be the shortest blog post ever, as there is really nothing new to report! All is the same as it was a week ago. There have been no changes/improvements. The operative foot has been very itchy all week on the incision lines .... that leg is worse than left side. Tomorrow is the last day on the sleep meds, but I am going to call & request a refill .... Saran wrap and sleep are two words that don't belong together. I have at least another two weeks of Saran wrap before bed. My follow-up appt. w/the dermatologist is on the afternoon of 9/14.

Need to go start the nighttime cream routine .... thanks for continuing to pray!
je

Dermatologist Follow-Up ....

The dermatologist scoop is that we are starting over and trying new medications. She prescribed a new Rx antibiotic for the next 30 days that is stronger and two different topical creams. We are going to try one cream on each leg to see which one works best. Somewhat of a novel approach! The cream goes on before bed & then I have to wrap each leg in saran wrap & sleep with it that way. I am supposed to follow-up with her in three weeks.

She said that this is a dermatology issue (meaning Staph/skin problem) now and not so much of an allergy problem. If the skin doesn’t clear up significantly in three weeks, then she is going to refer me to another dermatologist to see if someone else has ideas on treatment. She felt bad that I am still dealing with this & said that I should have seen much more improvement by now. The dermo. dr. is not convinced that it is still not a hardware/suture issue internally. She understands that having the hardware removed is likely not an option, so we have to hope for some external treatment.

Keep praying that the new medication works!

je

Dermatologist Appt. Tomorrow .....

I am home from Louisville and am looking forward to my own bed tonight! I moved up my dermatologist appt. from next Monday, to tomorrow (Friday - 10:30am). I am fairly sure that I need to get a stronger antibiotic and take it for a while yet. There are so many more staph spots now than even a week ago. I am hoping that the dermo. dr. doesn't send me right back to the allergist, but we'll see. I've been very good about totally avoiding the lanolin and reading labels, so what I have now still has to be Staph. The gals that I was with at the Louisville conference were apalled at how bad it looked ..... I agree, but it almost seems routine for me now.

Will update more after the dermatologist appt. .... pray for a solid treatment plan & good appt. tomorrow morning.

je

All about the same ....

There is not a lot new to report at the moment with either the leg rash or the foot. The foot pain doesn't seem to be quite so constant lately, which is good. I have an appt. with the dermatologist next Monday (8/23), just in case I need it .... likely so! Her nurse said I could call this week to see if there might be a cancellation for this Friday. I'm going to have a heart-to-heart chat with the dermo dr. I've been done with the antibiotic medication for two weeks and since I stopped that, I do notice a negative difference. We are at a plateau with the cream .... it is not effective. I should have counted all the spots to begin with, because I think there are still new areas that were not present at the start of all of this.

I leave for a work conference in Louisville, KY tomorrow morning and return later on Thursday night of this week. Thankfully I am riding with my boss, so I won't have to drive. Need to finish packing and get things organized to leave early Monday morning.

Keep praying that the skin situation will clear and that the foot pain will cease permanently.

Love & hugs,
jenny

Allergist Follow-Up .....

The allergist appt. on Friday was pretty straightforward. She prescribed two new Rx creams to attempt to get the Staph to disappear and to promote skin healing. On the first one she said that I'd likely not be able to tolerate it because it stings very bad, so she wrote a script for a second cream if cream #1 does not work. She gave me a sample of cream #2 and it made the situation worse over the weekend .... promptly stopped that. Today I learned that cream #1 is over a hundred dollars, so for that amount of money I am going to call on Wednesday and will see if there is another option. Especially since she told me that few can hack it! My insurance does not cover cream #2, but it was too strong anyway. Cream #2 was supposed to be the "milder" of the two treatment options. Are you following all of this? What a mess! I go back to the allergist in six weeks.

Part of me just wants to continue on the cream routine that I was doing for another few weeks and see what happens .... it did seem to be working very slowly to some degree. Her feeling was that the heat is making it worse. Guess I need to stay in the AC more!

Foot pain was a little better on Sunday and today, but I sat most of the day at work today.

Thanks for your continued prayers and for checking in!
Jenny

Skin issues continue ....

Tomorrow (Friday) at 2:30pm is my follow-up appointment with the allergist. There have been new spots on my legs develop this week, the itching has increased, the skin is peeling, and there is this overall redness color that looks like it has been sunburned (no sunburn has happened). Not sure what is happening, but tonight several spots have been bleeding & it is an overall mess.
I thought it was improving last weekend, but quite the opposite this week.

I didn't connect w/Dallas this week. We missed each other on the phone and then I've been in all day meetings for the past three days. I'm about past trying to make this happen at this point. He really needs to see it or an x-ray to be able to tell me anything of substance, and neither of those things are going to happen. I'm in the process of arguing with Wal-Mart about the Rx overcharges .... prior to this year, the mistake of overcharges is quite substantial. It is probably a lost cause, but I'm going to attempt trying to get some money back.

Will see what happens tomorrow at the allergist, but likely just more blood work to see where we are with the white blood cell count.

je