Cellulitis

That is my foot diagnosis. By day's end yesterday, I was in tortuous pain and my legs from feet halfway up my calves looked like they had been dipped in boiling water for a few minutes. Hot, bright red, swollen. Despite smiling my way through the day at work (with an impromptu rendition of Mercedes Benz for one class), I was on the verge of taking a scalpel and performing surgery on myself and removing the offending body parts from the rest of me.

I saw the nurst pratitioner at 4:15 and, by that hour, I was ready to die. The waiting area and examination room were, to me, hot and stifiling. On the edge of passing out, I croaked "water, please" as soon as she walked into the room. Quickly she dropped her clipboard and got me cups of cold water. After she was assured that I was stabilized, she looked at my feet, looked at me and we both laughed. Of course I was overly hot, overly sensitive, wobbly...I was being eaten alive by an army of bacteria that had invaded the deeper tissues of my skin and were marching along destroying everything in their path. I had cellulitis.

Cellulitis is rather common, you see it in kids and adults, both. But, it can be very, very serious if not treated quickly and I was at the stage of "hope oral antibiotics work." If not, its into the hospital for intravenous antibiotics. Although the flesh-eating bacteria are an extreme example of this condition, I counted my toes and they still number 10. That is comforting.

What is cellulitis? An staph or strep (or other) bacteria infecttion that gets into the connective tissue and subdermal skin layers. It can also get into the lymphatic system and use it as a highway to move around and also pummel your immune system. Here are a couple of links for the science-minded:

Cellulitis - Mayo.com
Cellulitis - Merck

Now, this doesn't explain my other health tribulations, but at least is one thing diagnosed and on the road to treatment. More progress that I've seen in a coon's age and my mood today is as elevated as my feet. Real accomplishment. Something with a name. A tangible enemy to fight. Just the ticket!

The pharmacy provided me with the necessary antibiotics and Tylenol and I sit today with feet raised, movies on the television and a large apple cider vinegar cooler at my side. I am under doctor's order to stay off of my feet except for absolute necessities. I have a doctor's note which forbids me from attending work today and only permits it tomorrow if my feet have responded sufficiently to the antibiotics. Staring at my plump piggies peeking over the top of my monitor, I have a suspicion that tomorrow will be another day of rest.

I phone conference with my doctor today and have an appointment to see her tomorrow. Another feature of yesterday's visit was a few of the results from my latest round of tests. The nurse pratitioner said that the doctor would study them and give me a more detailed profile, but she mentioned a couple of things. The chest x-ray showed no abnormalities. That rules out congestive heart failure. Yeah! Blood glucose and potassium were normal. Yeah! No arthritis factors. Yeah! Sodium was low, though, which is weird. There was blood in the urine, but not a tremendous amount. I was also anemic. The biggest thing, though, was that I was completely packed with poop. Now, I've always been constipated, but apparently, this is far beyond the norm. "Stem to Stern" was her description. For that, I will likely have to be referred to a gastroenterologist to see why things just don't move. So, another wrinkle in the suit of my life...

I count yesterday as a success. Some possibilities ruled out, which is positive. Nothing definitive diagnosed, but perhaps the doctor will have more insight to narrow the focus of our search. Feet under control, hopefully. After such a long string of failure and frustration, yesterday's few crumbs of information are mind-lightening. No wonder I'm choosing happy films to watch today...