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Fresh Mud

A blog about living with FSH muscular dystrophy. Questions?

Post 26 of 44

Cellulitis take 3

Thursday 23rd December, 2021

I started feeling rough around 10pm on Tuesday the 14th so I asked a carer to take my temperature; it was 37.1°C. Around 1:30am, someone came in and took my temperature while I was asleep, waking me up in the process. About half an hour later, Debbie and Diane came in to do a lateral flow test; they said they were “being cautious because you haven’t had your booster,” to which I replied that I had. Once that was done, I went back to sleep only to be woken again, this time by the nurse with some paracetamol; she asked me if I really had had my booster, and I reiterated that I had it in October. (The communication in this place is a joke.)

I couldn’t sleep so I messaged Vicki, a nurse friend who works nights, and she informed me that lateral flow tests are only for people who have no symptoms; I pointed this out to the nurse on duty and she asked Debbie to do a PCR test as well. (Both the lateral flow and PCR tests were negative.)

In the morning, David took my temperature and we discovered it had climbed to 38.8°C; throughout the day it hovered around the high 37/low 38 mark. On Thursday morning, it reached 40.3° and there was redness all the way up my left leg, literally from my toes to my bum, a sure sign of cellulitis.

The GP suggested we call rapid response and have them give me intravenous antibiotics; they arrived at around 5pm and inserted a cannula into my left hand, and gave me a dose of antibiotics once a day for five days, removing the cannula on Monday the 20th. By then the redness had receded to just below the knee, and is gone almost completely by today. My foot is still quite swollen however, so I am still laid up in bed unable to get into my wheelchair.

Getting cellulitis at any time is frustrating, but getting it at Christmas is extra frustrating as it prevents me from going out and seeing my family.