So here’s a crazy thing. GC had to have a medical test a couple of weeks ago as a follow-up to an earlier test a few months ago. The doctor was 99.9% sure everything was okay, but he just wanted to guide a camera through GC’s urinary tract to make sure. (Don’t worry, the graphic images aren’t of that.)
GC was tempted to call the whole thing off a couple of days before the procedure, since everything seemed fine and nobody really wants a camera inserted into their penis. But he’s a much better patient than I am, and he rarely cancels or even reschedules anything, so he went through with it. He even said okay when the doctor asked if his resident could perform the procedure, since his resident needed the practice.
The procedure seemed to go okay, but there were complications. Something got nicked. GC was bleeding more than is normal after such a procedure, and by early evening he couldn’t pee anymore because there was a blockage. We headed over to Emergency.
You know how Emergency is. Everybody acts like your personal emergency is just another mundane, insignificant event in an endless series of mundane, insignificant events. Your penis is bleeding? Ho hum.
We did see a slight flicker of interest while GC was being triaged. A young couple came up to the triage window and the man said that it was his pregnant wife’s due date and she was acting strange and Telehealth thought she might be having a stroke. The triage nurse looked ever-so-slightly more interested in that than he did in GC’s penis.
Eventually GC was examined by a urology resident, who said a catheter and an hour of irrigation should clear things up. It didn’t, so they admitted him overnight and said he should be fine in the morning after being irrigated overnight. The next morning he still wasn’t okay. They kept him till 4:30 in the afternoon, at which point he was declared cured and discharged.
BUT.
An hour earlier, at 3:30 in the afternoon, while sitting in his hospital bed, he suddenly got this weird thing with his foot. It was itchy and tight and it felt like something was tugging on it or like there was a magnet in it, pulling. I took a look. It was on the side of his foot. A red patch about two inches long, with a bunch of tiny blisters.
We called the nurse. She washed his feet in warm soapy water and called the doctor, who changed his antibiotic prescription just in case it was an allergy. They thought it might be contact dermatitis. They said he could go home, but if it got worse to come back.
We got home, ate, fed the animals and then took another look at the foot. All the little blisters had joined together and become one big fat blister. And there was a second area, near the heel, that had become inflamed. I sent a picture to Mudmama who said it looked like cellulitis, which can be dangerous.
We went back to Emergency, and waited for hours. This doctor didn’t know what kind of infection it was (she said it might possibly be cellulitis) and she broke the blister and sent us home, with instructions to come back if it got worse, and a prescription for another antibiotic.
He has since gone to his own doctor, who also doesn’t know what it is but who says it might take awhile to clear up. It has been 12 days, and this is what it looks like now.
Really, they gave up that easily? Where is House when you need him. GC, I hope you feel better soon…
I know, eh? They just say “Hmm, wonder what that could be? Oh well, doesn’t matter, take these pills and come back if it gets worse.”
Poor GC! Very scary looking and I hope GC is not in pain.
GC insists it looks worse than it feels. And, on the bright side, it does look considerably better the last day or so.
good lord, that looks bad. go back. for explanations if nothing else. the bod can react randomly and mysteriously but still. hope that clears up.
They seem reluctant to go down the road of actually identifying the infection. I’m really not sure why that is. But no doctor so far has seized the opportunity to try to figure it out.
GOD, I hate hospitals. I never used to mind them, but then I worked in one. Everyone does the best they can, but geez. Next time I’m admitted (hopefully won’t be for a looong time!) I’m getting the hell out of there as soon as possible! Hope GC gets better sooooon!
Jenny, I’ve heard that from several people who work in hospitals. It’s like people who work in factories never again eating any food that they saw being made. My grandfather worked for Aylmer’s, and he never ate tinned food from Aylmer’s again. So…ummm….what have you seen in the hospital that makes you wanna run for the hills?
I was hoping one of the commenters would have an idea of what that is. It obviously is not healing. Back to the doctor? Try another doctor? How about a dermatologist?
It looks a lot better now. Still discoloured and everything, but with a nice layer of skin over it now.
Did they test him for mrsa?
Connie, that comment had us scurrying over to Google.
They swabbed him the night they were admitting him, but that was the day before the foot infection set in. I don’t know what they were looking for, but I assume he didn’t have it. They didn’t test for anything after that. They didn’t seem to think it mattered what was causing the infection.
Man, am i glad someone said it before me!! That doesn’t look good and I think you need to go back (not to the emergency room). I am not doctor and i don’t play one on TV but someone once told me you don’t pop blisters because it gives the infection another place to go. Gut feeling…something is wrong there!
Poor GC! I recommend lots of hugs and kisses and patience.
P.S. I still think GC needs a new name as he is no longer a GC but here to stay! Yea!
Mikatana, I just asked GC if he’d like a new name…he’s going to think about it. Do you have any suggestions?
My husband actually likes the DH designation that Ravelry folks seems to use alot. DH for Darling Husband or when the mood or case arises for D**k Head.Although, m sure that the latter would never be use for GC.
Thats exactly what my cellulitis looked like – it took months to heal (and it turns out I’m seriously allergic to the particular staph that caused mine because I ended up getting tested for rheumatoid arthritis from my reaction to it – never mind the gaping wound it caused. My doctor usually looks completely nonplussed when I come in – he sent me straight to the hospital when I said “well the swelling and stinging hasn’t gone past the line you drew on me but all my joints have swollen up and my hands are either completely numb or feel like they’re asleep, you know pins and needles? In the morning it’s so bad I can’t hold anything at all. Is that a normal reaction?” It healed really well though. It looked just like GC’s and you’d just think I have a bug bite where it was on my arm …and leg…now.
I remember when you were going through that! That was bizarre.
I’m so glad he’s healing up now. My first fear was MRSA, so I’m glad that was ruled out early.
Belated congrats to you two on your nuptials!
…sometimes you have to fight against the doctors. You’re right, they do get to a point where everything is just “ho hum, whatever”. But you can’t take “I dunno” as an answer. Go to a clinic, push to see a specialist, get the tests done.
I am a mrsa carrier and have been hospitalized twice (and in the ER several more times) for infections that became cellulitis. It is serious and should be treated so. I am on antibiotics right now for another infection in my upper arm (that blistered as well as turning bright red, swelling up and being very warm) It spread to a rather wide area that now, 5 days after antibiotics began (with 5 days more to go) is pink and still sore and itchy. There are so many bugs out there that our bodies don’t like!