Tazo-Don't

Now that I have vented a bit I should update a little. My leg is doing well. A good amount of the swelling has gone away. There is still some but not as bad as it was (thankfully because being able to feel my skin slowly stretch is a truly disgusting experience). There is still enough that I will discuss it with my infectious disease specialist at my next appointment. There is some concern that after so much damage/many surgeries there is circulation damage. The spots that had opened up a few weeks ago at the peek of swelling are healing. For a while they were leaking tea coloured fluid which is concerning, exp. given that I have also been experiencing some of my pre surgery pain. A good chunk of my right shin has not regained feeling. This was expected as this was the third incision made in the same spot. Also, given that, in order close the incision, the old scar had to be cut away, the skin is fairly tight and my shin is really bumpy. I hope that this gets better as I move farther and farther from surgery. The muscles are still extremely tight. I think that I almost have full range of motion in my ankle, but I can feel the muscles moving/flexing over my shin. Going down stairs is still pretty uncomfortable.This is probably because while in surgery the muscles had to be moved out of the way. Amazing that eight weeks later I am still feeling the side effects of that.

The antibiotics have not been going very well. I have had at least one headache everyday for the last week, often more. The IV Tazocin makes me very dizzy and nauseous. I often just end up laying in bed for a hours at a time. It seems to be the worst at night, esp. because I have been experiencing really bad insomnia. Because I am often so nauseous I haven't been eating a lot. Between last night 11pm and today 7pm today (that's 20hours) I ate about 6 small chocolate flavored cracker things and that was it. There was no inclination to eat. None at all. Just past 7pm I did eat a small bite of lasagna and a small bowl of chips, but I am really not interested in food. Take last night for example, my brother brought me a bowl of Ringos, but just the smell of them made me want to vomit. I have pretty much have zero stamina. Everything is such an effort these days. I don't want to sound dramatic, but I feel even worse than I did last spring right before I was diagnosed, which is really saying something because last spring I was a zombie. The antibiotics have some sort of cumulative effect. The longer you take them, esp. without missing a dose, the better they are supposed to work. However, the antibiotics can "just stop working" after a while. I have been on the oral Septra since last August so who know at this point. I won't have any answers until my next scans are done. My stomach has been on the fritz again, but I know that telling you this is making people scream "TMI! TMI," so I won't go further into that.

FYI -Tazocin is a strong antibiotics used for serious infections. It also has some really serious side effects. The chances of getting one of those serious side effects increases the longer you are on it. From what I have been told, most people take Tazocin for 2-3 weeks. I am at 8 weeks and feel like crap, so I am at the point where I want off this drug. I also just learned that one of the main ingredients Piperacillin decreases the effectiveness of Doxycycline, the oral antibiotic I was on right after surgery, so I am very happy to be back on the Septra. As for the Tazocin, I want off that ****.