Memorial Day Weekend

I hope you all are having a good Memorial Day weekend. If you read Teresa's blog, she's posted a lovely photo of the flags along Minnesota Avenue that is well work a look.

Because it is final exam time at Gustavus, I planned to grade projects on Saturday and Sunday, with a little respite on Sunday afternoon -- a visit from kids and babies for a birthday party (thanks for the nice thought). But, instead I ended up feeling feverish during the final I gave on Friday, continued with chills and fever Friday night, made a call to Dr. Aklund on Sat. morning followed by meeting him in Urgent Care, and then "landing in the hospital" (as our once-neighbor Bessie used to say, as we pictured ill people flying through the air) for the second time in two weeks to go after that pesky cellulitis again.

I was released this morning. I'm improving, but will need to do the IV antibiotics thing for several days as an outpatient. I had a reaction, presumably to the first antibiotic (Vancomycin--one I'd had last time, without a reaction), so had to switch to a different type of antibiotic (Rocephin). I have the rash-from-hell from my neck to my toes--it looks like a bad case of the measles. Note lovely skin tones in the photos below.

Lightest rash area is on my neck and upper chest.Here's the rash-from-hell part. It looks like this on my back, too. Interesting to learn that this reaction to Vancomycin is called Red Man's Syndrome.
Which politically correct diagnostician named it, I wonder?!

I get to wear the IV port gizmo for a while, which is under the gauze. For good measure, you might enjoy the remnants of the bruise I took home as a souvenir the first time I was in the hospital. It's from a five-stick attempt to find a new place for the IV to be inserted. This was one of the needle stick spots, which is also embellished with the current rashiness.

So now I get to go in as an outpatient every morning for a while to have a dose of Rocephin by IV until I'm cured. I wonder how many gallons of that stuff it takes to kill off staph infection?? I'm missing the "final final" for our methods class today, which makes me feel terrible. I have never missed one, nor have I ever missed this much work because of an illness. The methods students work very hard all semester to get prepared for their next step, which is student teaching, and it's hard not to be able to say good-bye to them. I guess sitting around and getting well isn't such a bad way to spend a weekend. I'm trying to convince myself of that.