Day 8 - when a pimple is big deal

Morning, all. Day +8 in our fun filled adventure in growing a new immune system. I'm definitely feeling better today - got a little more bounce in my step, temperature is down, etc. My counts are in general still going down so I haven't turned the corner yet but the antibiotic has reduced my fever and that's made me feel tons better.

So, to a discussion of the title of this post. This morning I noticed a little pimple on my leg. A little red welt that's probably 2 mm in diameter. Now, for all of you cool folks out there with a functional immune system, these kind of skin issues just come and go, no big deal. But when your ANC (a measure of your immune fighting white blood cells) is in the basement, these kinds of issues are not ok! What starts as a minor bacterial skirmish on a hair follicle in your leg can grow into some gross, nasty boil that can make you really sick. So the answer is another IV antibiotic that I'll take for the next few days. I'll get one dose in the infusion clinic and Susan will give me another dose at home. BTW, my mighty wing woman is becoming quite skilled in delivering IV antibiotic infusions. She's now an ace in setting up the drip line, bleeding air from the line, hooking things up in a sterile fashion, getting the drip rate correct, etc.

The next time you get a pimple and it goes away, score one for your mighty immune system. In another few days I should be able to man up and bitch slap any pimples that come my way, but until then, I'll be relying on modern medicine to keep my skin (and the rest of me) relatively healthy.

Yeah antibiotics! Yeah, life!