Side-Effect Sally

So I should probably tell you how I'm doing health wise. 

Since my last post, the abscess drained. It wasn't as bad as I imagined. It wasn't lovely! But it wasn't the ending scene of a horror movie either. I'm actually thankful we were able to speak with the doctor the day before it started oozing so I was slightly prepared. Had it just started bleeding, I would have had a complete and total meltdown and the house might have resembled the prom scene from Carrie.  

I immediately started my steroids and the antibiotics and now I have all the fun stuff that comes with those! I'm hungry ALL OF THE TIME!!!! Seriously. Ravenously hungry. I'd coat the dog in Nutella if it weren't for all his hair hungry. I know it's the Prednisone and I'm trying my best to not snack but it's so hard. And I want all things sweet, which is bad because Prednisone will do wonky things to your blood sugars and I don't want to end this adventure with a Diabetes diagnosis. So I'm having to physically remove temptations from the house. The struggle is REAL. And I have grown dangerously attached to the Iced Caramel Mocha's from McDondald's. SO YUMMY!!!!! BUT SO BAD!! 

The steroids will also mess with your calcium so I've added that to my daily routine, only I have to be careful when I take it during the day so it doesn't mess with my other pills. 

The steroids will also mess with your emotions. I blame all my moods on it now. HOLLA!! When I'm hungry - HULK HUNGRY!! When I'm mad - HULK MAD!! When I was hurting and things were oozing and I was crying over my sink - HULK SAAAAD!! But I'm functioning. And we're taking it day by day. Alice now says "HULK HUNGY!!" It's the cutest! 

I feel puffy and bloated and gross. And my face is starting to breakout. Again, all normal side effects. And since I'm Side-Effect Sally, I get THEM ALL!! Even the obscure ones that are in tiny print at the bottom of the medicine information - yep, those are mine! Steroids compromise your immune system and can result in various forms of yeast infections, ALL of which SUCK and no amount of yogurt consumed will keep me from getting. I now get to swish with Nystatin every 4 hours. Lame. In hopes of not encouraging yeast issues, I have to avoid sweets, caffeine, and alcohol. So double lame.   

When I start new meds, I have to monitor my blood levels closely. I'm a fragile Coumadin taker. It takes a lot to get me therapeutic and not much at all to completely screw it up. So with the addition of the steroids and the antibiotics, things have been a bit dicey. I have a machine that I can check my INR from home. The strips are crazy expensive but on my normal schedule (every 6 - 8 weeks) it saves me the copays of going in. 

For me, therapeutic is 1.9 - 3. I checked it a few weeks ago and it was 8. Actually, it read "> 8" only I didn't realize it didn't go higher than that so there's no telling what it was. I didn't have any of the usual signs of being dangerously high! I didn't have any bruising. My one glass of wine wasn't making me completely loopy. I was having massive palpitations but that could have been the steroids. Regardless, I had to go off the blood thinners, eat my weight in Kale, and recheck every day. I don't usually get to eat Kale, I have to avoid foods high in Vitamin K. I'm not missing much. 

And let me tell you, going from an extremely high INR to a normal INR hurts. It's the weirdest sensation ever. It's like I can feel my blood thickening. My damaged leg hurts, I get horrible headaches, it's crazy! 

We got everything leveled out but it happened again this week. So now we've adjusted my Coumadin and will continue to monitor it as I keep with the treatment plan. 

As far as how I feel, I feel fine! After the oozing, the pain immediately went away. Things have healed well and while there is still some discoloration, the pain is mostly gone. I can sleep on my side again!! HALLELUJAH! I have a heated hand massager that I use to attempt to break up the scar tissue some. Occasionally I will hit something the wrong way and be reminded that things are still healing but for the most part, I'm feeling MUCH better.

I'm not sleeping real well though. Again, something common with the drug. So that's making the days harder and my patience lower but I'm trying!

With steroids, you have to taper them down, you can't just quit. I went from 60 mg to 40 mg this week which makes me hopeful. My hope is that I went through the worst of it already and now we're just healing. I'm hoping the healing goes by a little faster. 

I have another follow up in a few weeks. I'm hoping by then she'll let me start working out again, I think the inactivity is also contributing to my lack of sleep. 

So overall, I'm doing good! 

I'm no longer on the antibiotics and that's nice.

I'm self conscious about how I look so I'll probably be in less pictures in the next few months. I'm frustrated with all of the side effects I'm dealing with and I'm ready to be done with it all. 

But mainly I'm glad the pain is mostly gone and there's an end in sight. 

Here's hoping it keeps going that way.

Until next time.....