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Weekend Medical Adventures
Oct. 12th, 2013 04:45 pmI started off the weekend with a visit to the ER.
Last Friday (a week from yesterday) I tripped and fell in the Mills College Children's School courtyard. I landed on my hands and knees on concrete. I didn't twist anything, I didn't get any major abrasions, I thought "hey, not bad." My knee hurt like blazes but I figured it was probably just badly bruised.
A few days later my knee was covered in purple-black clusters as expected.
Yesterday, on the kids' field trip to the pumpkin patch, I noticed that my calf was aching in a new way. The pressure from my socks -- which were not particularly tight -- was bothering me. Kids climbing on me hurt terribly.
This morning I woke up and my calf was warm and red. I figured this was a bad sign.
The kids were, coincidentally, being borrowed by Shayna for the morning. So after she collected them, I packed up and headed over to Pill Hill.
I must say, before 9 in the morning on a weekend is apparently the best time to go to the Emergency Department. I was seen right away. And they diagnosed me right away, too -- cellulitis. How I got cellulitis is a bit of a mystery as I didn't think I'd actually broken the skin when I fell, but it's possible I got a minor scrape or something.
It also seems we caught it early and the antibiotics have already made a difference visually.
The ER nurse outlined the perimeter of the cellulitis with a marker. I showed the kids in part to help explain why I have to sit on the couch all weekend and rest. They were so fascinated by the fact that someone got to draw on my skin, I let them draw on my mother leg with a medical marker.
We will not discuss why I have a medical marker handy in the house.
Last Friday (a week from yesterday) I tripped and fell in the Mills College Children's School courtyard. I landed on my hands and knees on concrete. I didn't twist anything, I didn't get any major abrasions, I thought "hey, not bad." My knee hurt like blazes but I figured it was probably just badly bruised.
A few days later my knee was covered in purple-black clusters as expected.
Yesterday, on the kids' field trip to the pumpkin patch, I noticed that my calf was aching in a new way. The pressure from my socks -- which were not particularly tight -- was bothering me. Kids climbing on me hurt terribly.
This morning I woke up and my calf was warm and red. I figured this was a bad sign.
The kids were, coincidentally, being borrowed by Shayna for the morning. So after she collected them, I packed up and headed over to Pill Hill.
I must say, before 9 in the morning on a weekend is apparently the best time to go to the Emergency Department. I was seen right away. And they diagnosed me right away, too -- cellulitis. How I got cellulitis is a bit of a mystery as I didn't think I'd actually broken the skin when I fell, but it's possible I got a minor scrape or something.
It also seems we caught it early and the antibiotics have already made a difference visually.
The ER nurse outlined the perimeter of the cellulitis with a marker. I showed the kids in part to help explain why I have to sit on the couch all weekend and rest. They were so fascinated by the fact that someone got to draw on my skin, I let them draw on my mother leg with a medical marker.
We will not discuss why I have a medical marker handy in the house.
