Hi Gang,

I'm going to be missing in action for a while. I have a wound on my side that is not healing on its own. It started as a boil and after showing signs of healing, opened up and got really nasty looking. It is now the size of a pork chop. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

Biopsy came back negative for cancer, but they still don't know what it is. So this afternoon, I'm being admitted to the hospital so the infectious desease unit can take a look.

I'll check in when I can get to a computer.

If Mellysue or Dogfood reads this, both of you hang in there. Don't give up just yet!

Thanks in advance for your prayers! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Mark

Good luck Mark.

Prayer being sent to you.

Might have them look into a brown recluse spider bite...symptoms are similar...

You're the second person today that has said that.

I'll be suer to mention it.

Mark

HI, Mark...

I hope that you are well soon...

God does not give us more than we can handle...

You will be in my thoughts...

Take care! Godspeed! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Symptoms also appear similar to Staphylococcus aureus. Some strains are antibiotic resistant. Staph causes most boils and skin infections. Prayer sent your way.

BD

Mark, I am so sorry to hear of your troubles. Best of luck and may God Bless. hurry back!

I'll be the third person to express this same diagnosis. A bite will generally swell up to about the size of a golf ball, and after a few days will ooze and leave a hollow crater. Brown recluse venom is a hemotoxin that leads to necrosis of the affected area. I've seen two cases of it myself, and it is nasty. Some people have lingering ulcers that last for years that pop up every now and then from a brown recluse bite because many people do not have the proper biological mechanisms to break down or metabolize the venom, so it just kind of floats around in the body, waiting to pop up again. Now that is a small minority (not that I want to scare you), but it is something that definitely needs to be checked out. I know that about 50% of Missouri homes are infested with them, but they rarely are ever seen, preferring to live in dark attics and avoiding all light so as not to be spotted. That is how they get their name.

Howdy...

Just wanted to check in and thank everybody for their prayers and good wishes.

I'm currently in Provena St Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Illinois.

So far they have ruled out the Brown Recluse, and three separate biopsies have found no cancer. Two strains of bacteria (one red stain, one blue stain), though only family has been confirmed. Specific strain should be known by midday Sunday. Till then I am on two fairly broad IV antibiotics. Once more specifics are known, The antibiotic can become more selective.

I had surgery late Friday to clean out dead and nearly dead tissue. The surgeon said that from his view, it all appears to be only skin deep. He found no muscle involvement, but the ID (infectious disease) unit wanted a CT scan tonight to verify that there is nothing inside that is causing the trouble outside. I personally feel that this is primarily a CYA move on their part, since they wish to avoid litigation in ten years if a cancer were to go undetected at this juncture.

My pictures were done tonight at 6pm and they tell me I should have my proofs by breakfast... <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Anyway, thanks for the prayers and don't stop yet.

Mark

Yikes!!!! So happy that everything is going well. That must have been real scary. Rest up and take good care of yourself.

Thinking of you, and wishing for nothing but the best of news...
SD

Got cut loose from the hospital today! Hoo-Rah! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

My infection was a Gram Negative Bacillus called aceto bacter. It does not usually infect the skin, but when it does causes real havoc. In my case, it has caused a 4.5" by 7.5" hole in the skin below and behind my right nipple.

When I checked into the hospital last Thursday it had doubled in size in less than a week while taking Augmentin (4 GRAMS per day). On Friday, my surgeon (Dr Corrales) put me under and cleaned the site really well. Surgery lasted about 45 minutes and that night I was able to sleep pretty soundly. (I had good drugs, if nothing else.)

On Saturday when it came to time to change the dressings, we found out that the new growth had incorporated into the original dressing. (OUCH!) A different dressing was tried, and though it hurt like H377 coming off, it wasn't as bad as the first day. At the suggestion of the specialist from the ID unit, they changed to a dry Telfa dressing on Sunday night (after the games---Go Bears! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />) and on Monday, it took two nurses and a wound care specialist 2 hours to remove it from my skin. The surface (non-stick) mesh of the pad stayed behind when the dressings were pulled off. It took lots of sterile saline, a bloody bath towel and 4 grams of morphine(I feel much better now <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />) to get it back to where it was right after surgery. OUCH!

Monday, one of the day shift nurses and a wound care nurse tried a dressing called Carra-Dress. It is a clear, oxygen permeable gel/membrane that actually feels cool to the touch all of the time. Tuesday's dressing change took ten minutes and today it was about the same just before I left for home.

Follow up is in a week and from there we'll see if I need a skin graft or other reconstructive surgery. (Or as my nurse calls it, a Boob Job) <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

And then there is the effect it has had on my M...

Actually, pretty cool! I have never, in over 33 years together been in the hospital. I have visited my W while she was hospitalized. I have visited friends, some of whom have since "gone home" and have normally been the care giver of the family. Well, Tuesday, my wife learned how to change the dressings on my wound. She almost clung to me while visiting me during my stay. She actually said "I missed you a lot last night," with tears in her eyes on Friday afternoon.

And...(drum roll)...she is taking a few days off work to stay home and take care of me. I should have gotten sick last summer..(Nope, not really, no way...) <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

Anyway...I'm back!

Mark

Hey Mark,

Just read this now for the first time. Glad to hear it is on the mend!

Thanks for your thoughts! Much appreciated.

Thanks DF,

I've been trying to stay on top of your sitch, but the thread is moving so fast that I'm having trouble keeping up. Keep up the good work. I'll only post if I think of something someone else hasn't said yet.

Mark

Thanks again. I think things are going down the right track. Guess we will know in a couple of weeks.

Oh, that is good news, Mark. Don't get THAT again.

believer,

The doctor told me "It isn't necrotizing fasciitis, it's worse than that." The bacteria really goes crazy when it gets established, but it also is pretty susceptible to antibiotics. I'm currently on Bactrim and Levaquin, but had IV really broad spectrum stuff till Monday when they id'ed the bug.

Not how I wanted to spend my summer vacation, but better than some of the things it could have been.

Mark

Milk it, baby, milk it! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Glad you are going to live and are in one piece, Mark!

I heard all about the Bears game because my H is from Southern Ill and was traveling to Midland, Texas Sun afternoon and couldn't get the game on his radio! He FORCED me to watch it and call him with the score! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> Boy, was he happy! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

At one point on Sunday afternoon I looked up and counted 22 people in our room, all there to watch the game. I sure hope there weren't any sick people there that night.

Between the outcome of the game and the really good drugs I was getting I slept pretty good that night.

Mark

Glad to hear the good news with your heath Mark. Also, the good news with your wife.

Yes, go Bears.