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.