After doing some research to figure out what was the likeliest culprit, I am actually feeling well enough to consistently consume light meals as long as I do so slowly and they are spaced far apart from each other. I’ve decided to start taking all of my medication with something to eat rather than by itself, because my stomach has made it clear to all involved parties that it can no longer handle being… jostled, or not handled with care. Had this gone on for a few more days I would have had to present to the emergency room not being able to keep anything down, but I am so glad that has gone off the table. As mentioned in the previous post concerning this, I can tolerate pain a lot better than I can tolerate nausea of any kind. Pepto-Bismol became my best friend, and I tried as hard as I could to avoid direct contact with Monster and Bub so as to minimize the risk of transmitting this to them assuming that it could be done. So far, all’s well that ends well!

In addition to avoiding prednisone unless I am actively dying of something, I also need to continue to avoid NSAIDs (aspirin, Ibuprofen), albeit for different reasons. If the lining of my stomach is made thin by anything, that invites infections to settle that I would otherwise not have to be concerned with. I’m not repeating that.

Now that I have been on three different antibiotics, the Staph wound on my leg (well, legs… but only one of them is a major problem, as it’s been much larger than the other) is finally, finally beginning to heal. However, as it heals, a lot of scar tissue is being laid down, which is nowhere near the most comfortable feeling in the world… and there’s the fact that it was deep enough to infiltrate the dermis, which means that nerves in the skin have to grow back. That is nowhere near the most comfortable feeling in the world, either.

So far, I’ve been managing this pain with codeine that my pain management clinic has been prescribing me, but it’s hit and miss as to whether or not it works effectively. Sometimes it does, sometimes it… doesn’t. (And apparently some people can be “low-responders” to codeine and morphine, which I suspect that I am and will be.) When I see them again next week, I’m going to ask if they can put me on something like Tramadol to see if that works better. I don’t need “the big guns” to deal with this as much as I just need something that consistently works to ameliorate pain when I’m doing dressing changes, bathing, or just because. Aspirin and Ibuprofen don’t cut it, and they almost always aggravate my asthma, so even those alternated at max doses are not a viable option. I would be nebulizing most of the day or back on prednisone, and, well…

Prednisone caused this, and I think I need to try to stay off of prednisone for the long haul.

Since I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here, my primary care doctor referred me to a wound care clinic. Through that, we found out that I am allergic to the adhesive in Tegaderm (and no, WordPress, that is not “megadeath”), so I had to be given… something that’s slightly different, a bit itchier once it stays on my skin for a long enough period of time, but not entirely bad. I was also put on two different antibiotics, and predictably at high doses, because of the severity of this wound. If side effects from these continue I’m going to be calling, or conversing with, the wound care clinic before the fourteen days are up that I’m supposed to spend on the longer of the two and asking if I can just be put on IV antibiotics. Apparently you can do those at home if you’re competent enough to manage your own care, and I would like to give doing those a try.

As the generation Z kids say, I have regrets about this wound care clinic… to include the fact that they do not prescribe pain medication that is not lidocaine for wounds even when the wounds clearly need medicating.