Note: this post is from 2012.
This has been a crap week for me. I am now in the 2nd emergency room this week for an infection on my leg. This is a result of several unfortunate events since the "bull nettle" encounter on memorial day. This story is a good example of how a series of small errors can add to a very serious problem.
It all started when I was walking a trail with one of my sons and some other friends in Fredericksburg on memorial day weekend. The trail was overgrown a bit from the last time we were there and we were all wearing shorts. However, since we knew the trails pretty well we decided to push forward (ERROR 1).
As we walked we saw all sorts of plants and even a few deer, plus the largest ant colony I have ever seen. One of the plants we saw was a bull nettle.
This plant screams "don't touch" and we did a good job of avoiding it except for me. I brushed against it with my right leg. It felt like it was on fire for a few minutes then the pain was gone.
Later when we returned home I nearly forgot about the nettle sting (ERROR 2). What I should have done is wash the affected area immediately and possibly used some tape to remove the spines that may still be in my leg.
A few days later I start to develop a rash that looked exactly like poison ivy to me so I got my existing tube of steroid cream from my last poison ivy incident and applied it every day for a week or so (ERROR 3). The rash appeared to improve but the itch was still there so I was still scratching it and breaking the skin. What I should have done is go see my doctor and get a new prescription instead of re-using an existing one. This mistake will end up costing me a lot of money later on.
I continue to exercise and live my life as normal and slowly begin to notice that my leg is not healing very well. At some point I also go swimming all day with the kids (ERROR4). I later learn that swimming in any water with an open wound invites all sorts of nasty bacteria to the sore.
So now I have a large, red sore area on my leg and neosporin is not enough to get it better. I schedule a Dr visit for next Friday when I get back from a business trip that week.
My leg wont wait that long. Early Thursday morning I wake up sweating in the hotel room and go to the ER for the first time. The DR shoots a huge syringe of antibiotics in me and get me a prescription for 2 more to use at home. Friday finally comes and my regular DR sees me and says I need to see a surgeon because I have a "developing abscess" and they need to drain it.
We go home and wait for the surgeon to call. When they finally do they let me know they don not take my insurance and that I should go to the ER immediately or risk permanent damage to my leg.
Now this is not what you ever want to hear so I go ahead and freak right out as my loving wife drives me to the ER (ERROR 5). Later, when I am calm I understand that DRs and nurses will always tell you the worst possible scenario over the phone. They have to because if they didn't they could be sued for it.
Now we are back to the ER at the beginning of this post. They drain the abscess, pack the wound, give me even stronger antibiotics and schedule me to come back on Sunday morning to see if it improved.
It did not, and they admitted me on Sunday morning. Now that I am in the hospital i get IV antibiotics and surgery to clean out the wound on Monday morning.
I am in the hospital until Wednesday. At this point I am sure we have spent 1000s of dollars on a totally avoidable injury.
This has been a crap week for me. I am now in the 2nd emergency room this week for an infection on my leg. This is a result of several unfortunate events since the "bull nettle" encounter on memorial day. This story is a good example of how a series of small errors can add to a very serious problem.
It all started when I was walking a trail with one of my sons and some other friends in Fredericksburg on memorial day weekend. The trail was overgrown a bit from the last time we were there and we were all wearing shorts. However, since we knew the trails pretty well we decided to push forward (ERROR 1).
As we walked we saw all sorts of plants and even a few deer, plus the largest ant colony I have ever seen. One of the plants we saw was a bull nettle.
This plant screams "don't touch" and we did a good job of avoiding it except for me. I brushed against it with my right leg. It felt like it was on fire for a few minutes then the pain was gone.Later when we returned home I nearly forgot about the nettle sting (ERROR 2). What I should have done is wash the affected area immediately and possibly used some tape to remove the spines that may still be in my leg.
A few days later I start to develop a rash that looked exactly like poison ivy to me so I got my existing tube of steroid cream from my last poison ivy incident and applied it every day for a week or so (ERROR 3). The rash appeared to improve but the itch was still there so I was still scratching it and breaking the skin. What I should have done is go see my doctor and get a new prescription instead of re-using an existing one. This mistake will end up costing me a lot of money later on.
I continue to exercise and live my life as normal and slowly begin to notice that my leg is not healing very well. At some point I also go swimming all day with the kids (ERROR4). I later learn that swimming in any water with an open wound invites all sorts of nasty bacteria to the sore.
So now I have a large, red sore area on my leg and neosporin is not enough to get it better. I schedule a Dr visit for next Friday when I get back from a business trip that week.
My leg wont wait that long. Early Thursday morning I wake up sweating in the hotel room and go to the ER for the first time. The DR shoots a huge syringe of antibiotics in me and get me a prescription for 2 more to use at home. Friday finally comes and my regular DR sees me and says I need to see a surgeon because I have a "developing abscess" and they need to drain it.
We go home and wait for the surgeon to call. When they finally do they let me know they don not take my insurance and that I should go to the ER immediately or risk permanent damage to my leg.
Now this is not what you ever want to hear so I go ahead and freak right out as my loving wife drives me to the ER (ERROR 5). Later, when I am calm I understand that DRs and nurses will always tell you the worst possible scenario over the phone. They have to because if they didn't they could be sued for it.
Now we are back to the ER at the beginning of this post. They drain the abscess, pack the wound, give me even stronger antibiotics and schedule me to come back on Sunday morning to see if it improved.
It did not, and they admitted me on Sunday morning. Now that I am in the hospital i get IV antibiotics and surgery to clean out the wound on Monday morning.
I am in the hospital until Wednesday. At this point I am sure we have spent 1000s of dollars on a totally avoidable injury.
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