More on the "Abscess, Cellulitis, autoimmune complications, does our water contain something making us sick, Biologicals, stomach upsets, RA, Lupus and when do it EVER END???!

Thanks Denise Tekell and Yes Nancy Hershelman Gipson this "thing" that began as a lump on my thigh has turned into yet another one of my difficult situations, that sometimes even the doctors are not sure the "why", when or how of it all. What makes it worse is that I have not really said much to the doctors that is, about the "lump" on the other thigh... I cannot fathom how I would have "two" abscesses, in almost the same location, yet one on each thigh... unless as I had suspected, it has something to do with my biologic Orencia injections. I take them at just about where these lumps originated. So, some where I have this gut feeling, those needles from that batch of Orencia, were contaminated... I "thought" originally that this one that now has turned into an abscess... I had gotten a very tiny sliver of wood in it. I had a very small kind of gray looking spot come up, that kind of appeared to be like what you see after something such as a splinter gets in to your skin... it seemed to be a tiny bit of trying to get infected... I kept working with it, keeping it clean, and finally I thought got out a very, very tiny almost little sticker out of it. At that time, there was just a very little bit of stuff that was a bit yellow that also came out with it. But, I cleaned it up put Neosporin on it, covered it with a band aid, and in a couple of days, it seemed to close over and be well. It was about 7 days or so before this other "lump" began to form, and it was actually a bit above where that sticker was... not really right on that area. I did not give it much mind, until I noticed not only did the lump get "sore" it was getting larger. By the time I finally decided it needed to be seen about... it was just a lump, no redness or anything visible on the outside of the skin, just the lump that was then about the size of a silver dollar or maybe a bit larger. I went into my PCP, he took one look at it, and knowing my health issues, said it was cellulitis, and he immediately started me on TWO different antibiotics... I found out one for staph and one for strep... which would be the way to do it, especially with my immune system so compromised. ell, I took those for 7 days, and even though it got smaller, it left almost harder, so I called him, and he put me on a 2nd round of the same antibiotics... well 7 days later, the lump did not shrink anymore, plus it began to be sore, to the touch, so I went in that time, he said, of course my immune system still was not able to fight it off enough, so he did one more rounds of the same antibiotics, and said if there was no improvement, he wanted a surgeon to remove that lump and have it tested to see exactly what we were dealing with. Well, I went through hell and back trying to find a surgeon fairly close that took my insurance. I finally did, but he could not see me for like 10 days, and by now the lump began to show OUTER problems, with redness on it, even more sore, and seemed to be almost "swollen" around the lump.. So, that was a week ago last Friday... again I called me PCP told him that now it was showing outward signs of infection, and told him the surgeon would not be able to see him for another week, and I was very concerned... so he put me on one more round of antibiotics until last Friday, when I went to the surgeon. He came in took one look at it, and said it was an "abscess" that needed to be "cut open" to drain, and sure enough, after I almost fainted from the pain of the damned Lidocaine injections to just deaden it, which they hurt and stung like HELL!! Then even with the deadening, I could feel it when he was putting Q-tips inside of that opening to clean out all he could get out... he then proceeded to tell me he was going to "pack" it, and I needed to remove the packing the next day, and at least twice daily remove the bandages, clean it with Q-tips dipped in peroxide and he said I could just put a large band aid on it... on heck no... it is still so sore, I don't dare NOT cover it was gauze pads and medical paper tape... I can have pain with it, just walking, much less if I were to accidentally hit it etc... Of course you saw the photo's I took those yesterday.... and today it almost looks "worse" to be than better... but I really am not sure, so I've been doing exactly as he told me... and it still has a huge hole in there, that is as wide as the top portion of my little finger, and is at least that deep... and the length is almost1 1/2 inches or more... enough that I can get 3 Q-tips or 4 in it at once, and I still almost feel as if I am hitting "bone" at the bottom... I see him Wednesday... to hopefully find out "what" was in it, and maybe why... but also figure out if this other one is the same thing, or something entirely different... Needless to say, between that stupid thing, my Tazz, my Pug has been sick to her stomach, I've had to cut her down to eating a bit of white rice, a bit of yogurt, and drink....and I got sick before going to church yesterday morning and have no cue why... I "felt" fine, I thought, got dressed, did my makeup, had my hair looking okay, and just about 10 minutes before I walked out of the house, it was like my stomach "flipped" 2 or 3 times... and I was running for the bathroom, sick to my stomach, almost got my dress messed up and wound up taking meds for my stomach and staying at home yesterday... in fact I needed to run out quickly, grab some more gauze pads for my leg, and get a "coke" which settles my stomach, and I thought again I was fine, but about the time I was pulling onto my street to get to my house, I almost did not make it.... I ran in and again was sick to my stomach... just insane ... and my Mom has been having the same issues off and on now for weeks too... I've even changed over to bottled purified water for now, thinking it is a bacteria in the water... it can happen this time of year, and in fact there must be something going on with our water... because there was an article in our local paper Saturday, about they were going to do some "testing" and it may have a "bleach type of smell" and for those who put it into medical devices, may want to use bottled water for a few days, like dialysis machines and so forth.... So, now my RA etc is acting up, due to fearing to even attempt to take my Biologic - plus my Rheumy is trying to get me switched over to Xeljanz, so I would not be able to take it and the Orencia... it is just a living hellish nightmare, all ofit....