I figured this would be the easiest way to update everyone.
Here is the short: I have a pretty mean infection on my left foot. It has caused a lot of swelling and quite a bit of pain. So iI won't be at my computer until it has been taken care of. No blog, no Haven, no DX and no YIM.
The long: Without my computer the only access iI have to the internet is my 10 inch android tablet. It is great for viewing the internet... it sucks for interacting. Just writing up this much of a post has taken me 25 minutes.
But... I have almost nothing else to do, so i may as well share whats happened.
Thursday night I had a little pain in the top of my foot. I wasn't conserned as iI was walking around a lot in shoes that iI don't normally wear. But friday morning it still hurt. Now at this point, when iI say 'hurt' I mean mild discomfort. By friday night it not only hurt more, but was also getting red along my 4th toe (next to the pinky toe), and along the top of my foot.
Saturday morning the redness had spread further down my foot and to the nearby toes. Wherever it was red hurt when touched. and my whole foot was swollen. It was swollen enough that when i set my foot flat on the ground my toes didn't touch the floor. The pain was worse... but not to bad if i didn't move it around to much, and didnt have anything press on the red area. That meant not wearing shoes.
At this point i figured it was a sprain or strain. It would get better with RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). Just not the compression as that made it hurt more. Being a graduate nurse means I know that I should get it looked at by a doc, but having almost no money and no insurance means that it just wasnt an option. But it continued to get worse.
By Sunday, I could hardly walk on it. The swelling had gone up to my ankle, the redness had spread, and that first toe was now purple. It now hurt without any touch and when touched it hurt enough to make me cry out.
Monday got worse. Yes the pain and swelling increased. Yes the redness spread. yes I now needed a cane to get around. But none of that would have sent me to the doc. But that first toe was now turning grey. That is either a severe infection, or a problem with circulation. I had to borrow money (with no hope of paying it back any time soon) to go to a clinic.
With one look, the doc said it was an infection (cellulitis). She prescribed an antibiotic and daily foot soaks. She said if the grey area continued to spread or turned black I should head to the ER. If its not cleared up in 7 to 10 days, to come back.
She offered nothing for the pain. I'm glad and sad about that... glad because I'm already $110 in the hole and can't afford that, let alone more for pain meds. Sad because it really REALLY hurts.
To reduce the pain I have to keep the foot up, so that means no computer. And while I LOVE my tablet, it just isn't the same thing. For one thing working with images is just not possible. at least not for me. Not coming from Photoshop using a mouse (and it's 9 buttons) and a real keyboard.
It also means a lot less privacy. I'm planted on the couch with people walking by. I CAN hide the screen away easily enough, but when I'm concentrating on 'typing' I'm not keeping an eye out for people.
So that's why I won't be around for a while. I still may view som blogs and even coment on them when iI can, but no YIM, nd no DX at all. Have a good week, and iI hope to be back to normal soon.
Oh no! I hope you feel better soon! Foot injuries are the worst. I've had really bad, infected, ingrown toenails and sunburn so bad my feet were nearly spherical from swelling. I can sort of imagine the pain you're in.
ReplyDeleteTake it easy, and do whatever you need to feel better Caitlyn!
Heres to hoping you have a speedy recovery, take care hun. ~
ReplyDeleteOuch, that sucks. I hope you get better soon. Take it easy and get some rest. I hope your poorly foot feels better soon!
ReplyDeleteOk first I'm going to say something to Caitlyn. Take a nap, rest up, do what the doctor and Calvin prescribed and relax. The blog is a hobby and it and we will be here when you are readdy. Have yummy dreams.
ReplyDeleteNow for Calvin. I am more then mildly anoyed with you. ANYONE medicaly trained (like we are)recognized the signs of early infection. You should have borrowed what you needed to go to the doctor at the first sign of redness going down your foot. You know damn well that a lot of people have died from unchecked infections. And the fact that you let it go this far has me worried. You damn well beter be on a good antibiotic.
...........
Hobby or no hobby you have 229 folowers on here. And im sure that half of them only admire you for your talent and the other half think of you as a friend, (myself included). (I know its silly but thats the way it is).
PLEASE PLEASE take care of yourself.
And as long as im ranting at you. You know damn well that you could set up this blog with a paypall donation link. When you truly inpress someone they could donate a few dolars. You would never have to borrow money for the doctor again. AND you could afford insurance. I cant believe you, being medicly trained, have no insurance? Grrrr....
OK. GET BETTER. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.Put your left hand on your rigt side under your ribs and your right hand on yor left shoulder. Close your eyes and gently swqueeze. Thast your hug. You deserve more. God bless you.
Geofrey, I appreciate your concern and understand your annoyance. Yes I should have seen this as an infection. But even if I had, I still wouldn't have seen a doctor any earlier. I simply do not have the means to provide myself with 'proper' care. The people I borrow from already provide me with almost everything. So my job is to 'take' as little as I can. Does this increase my risk of turning a minor infection into a major problem? Yes. But it also lowers my risk of imposing on others needlessly, and I put their wellbeing (both health and financial) far above my own. FAR above mine.
ReplyDeleteThe same applies for insurance. I know its value and want it, but it simply is too expensive. I would tell any patient under my care the same things you have told me.
As to adding a donation button... I refuse to ask for money from friends, and I refuse to ask for money from people that enjoy my caps. I won't even get into the possible legal issues of profiting from other peoples images. It doesn't matter how i've altered them, the original photos are not mine. I make the caps for my own enjoyment and share them with no thought of money.
Lastly... thank you for the hug and thank you for the concern.
I see your point. And your rite about the donation button too...
DeleteYou have phenominal skill at this. Have you considered a part time job at web design? You would do well at it and it would pay for your needs. I know you would rather start your nursing practice now, but you need to retake that test first. SO you need to do something between now and then.
Worry about that stuff later. Jest get better for now.
I did some web design in the past, but my last real web project was back in 2002. My design skills would be part of getting a job, but I would still need quite a bit of training. I mention this because any employment I would seek, would hopefully only last a month or two. I have my test rescheduled for late June, and assuming I pass, I hope to be employed and working by the end of summer.
DeleteSo I would be asking a company tohire and train me for just a few months of productive employment. Sure I could lie or at least not mention my 'short time' status, but that goes against my work ethic.
And even if I could live with that, I sadly live in an area that has a small digital footprint. There really aren't any web design or ANY design jobs. I've looked :(
Thanks for the compliment though. On another note, i'm cautiously optimistic about this infection. I've been on the antibiotics for 2 days now and this evening is the first in a while that the pain in my foot is bearable. It still hurts, it still is swollen, its still red (but less red and a smaller area of red), and it still has some pus... but it feels better.
Im glad your improving.
DeleteThat sounds absolutely awful. I hope you feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteGet well soon we will all miss you
ReplyDeleteGet well soon we will all miss you
ReplyDeleteCaitlyn, please take care of yourself! We will certainly miss you while you're away - but we want you to be with us for a long time to come! Lots of love...
ReplyDeleteRest up and get better Caitlyn. We'll be here when you get back and we'll have a party DX style ;). Hugs and kisses .... and lots of love
ReplyDeleteSheri
Get well soon, Caitlyn. We will miss you, but certainly understand why you need to take a little hiatus.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Please take care of yourself, we'll all miss you and your wonderful ways.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you need massage?
Love you
Kylie
Hey everybody. Thank you again for all your well wishes. I am continuing to improve, but like any recovery it is moving slowly and I find myself impatient with its progress. The pain is now easily managable, and even completely absent at times. The swelling is still here, but my foot is now more or less foot shaped again.
ReplyDeleteOddly the swelling is th worst on the bottom of my foot now. I still walk (limp) on the outside of my foot to avoid some pain, but even if I wanted to walk on the bottom of my foot, I couldn't.
Sadly yesterday I took my improvement as a good sign and sat down at the computer. I paid some bills, I responded to some long emails, I chatted on YIM, and I logged into DX. All in all I spent an enjoyable 2 or 3 hours at my computer. But those hours were paid with my foot swelling up enough that the pain came back and lasted the rest of the day. Thats why I am making this comment from my couch on my tablet. I'll be spending most of my day here again. If I do venture over to my computer today it will be limited to between 45 minutes to an hour.
Again, thank you for all of your concern and well wishes. It really does make my day to see that!
Ouh I was away these days from Internet and stuff and now I see this, how bad for you I think this has turned out to be :$ Take care hun, I hope you recover nicely and go back on (forgive me the expression!) your feet :)
ReplyDeleteHugs and Kisses Alectra
Just a quick update. I'm continuing to do better, but am not 'fully' healed yet. In fact I think I'm still quite far from that. The worst part of the day (regarding my foot) is the morning. It seems that lying down all night really reduces the swelling. But that means when I swing my foot over the bed and let it hang for a bit, I feel the blood coming back.
ReplyDeleteYou know that feeling of 'pins and needles' when a part of your body 'falls asleep' and then wakes up? Well picture that but have it hurt. A lot. That's my morning. I had to abandon using my regular alarm clock because it's just to far away (I'm using my phone's alarm to wake up for now). Getting out of bed now takes about 10 minutes. All of it dedicated to letting my foot 'wake up' as slowly as possible. And even with that precaution, I still limp badly for the first few hours of the day.
But even in that portion of my day there is imporovement. It hurts less each day. The foot is still swollen, but it now has a more generalized foot shape as opposed to the sausage it looked like before. The redness isn't fully going away... but it is changing color. It looks like the last part of the redness isn't the infection itself, but just the underlying damage, and that is now healing. It's gone to a mix of red/brown and yellow/purple. Like a bruise healing.
I still leak enough pus and blood to soak up a medical 4x4 sponge (thank god for hospital clinicals and 'forgetting' that I had a bunch of those in my pocket on the last day!) and I have to change that twice a day. Even if it didn't soak it I would still be changing it a couple times a day as I have to soak and fully wash my foot.
The skin on the worst affected toes and top of my foot is slowly peeling away. It's not a thick layer of skin.. more like when a sunburn peels. There is no pain with it coming away which makes me suspect that it was just stretched to much with the swelling (it was REALLY swollen there for awhile).
Best of all, right now I think I'll be able to sit at my computer more often. I don't have to keep my foot 'up' for it to feel o.k. So hopefully I'll be able to make a cap and play at DX today!
YAY!
I'm really glad to hear you're feeling better, but please keep taking it easy! I'd hate for your foot to get little worse because you spent too much time on the computer.
Delete<3 Kyra