The Gout, The Ivy, The Staph and a New Chicken Tractor.

This has been a rough couple of weeks for me. It started out with the gout in my right foot, two weeks ago. That is something that I never expected. That is, after all, an old person's disease and I am only 38. I toughed it out though. I was a man about it. I didn't cry once. OK, maybe once. Or twice. But no more than three times, for sure! If you have ever had the gout then you know what I'm saying when I say that it is like walking on shards of glass. This lasted a full week during which I continued to work, at the end of the week, I started to notice things improving. So, that Saturday, I set in to put on the new roof to the barn. There was a little pain, but I got it done and all was well.

We had picked blackberries that Friday (the day before the roof project) and I got into some Poison Ivy. Guess where. On my right knee! The cool thing about this, though, was that it was located in a spot that had no nerve endings, due to surgery a long time ago, and I couldn't feel the itch. So, I just ignored it. Heck, this was a breeze. No worries, mate-as they say in Australia.

What happened next was another surprise. The rash from the Poison Ivy developed open sores. I sware I wasn't itching it! (My wife didn't believe me either.) Anyway, a secondary infection developed. By the end of the second week (remember, I said I had a rough two weeks), either Thursday or Friday, pain had settled into the calf muscle on the (you guessed it) right leg! Now this was bad pain. The likes of which I had not felt since the afore mentioned knee surgery. But, I didn't cry. (Who am I kidding? I cried.) My manhood was being tested. The leg swelled to, at least, double the size it should be. It got to the point that I could not walk on it. I even pulled out the old crutches and tried to use them. Do you know how hard it is to get around on a farm with crutches? I put them down. I'm a man, I can handle this! What's a little pain? Suck it up! Saturday morning came with flu-like symptoms and worse pain in the leg. I told my wife to take me to the ER. I know, I'm a big baby, I admit it.

It turned out to be a good thing we went, though. (Although, I hate to see the bill!) We paid $160, that increased the pain. They looked at it, cleaned it up a bit-which increased the pain, and put a bandage around it. The doctor came in, finally, looked at it, told me I had a staph infection (or Strep) and said that I get to have a big shot in my butt! Guess which side I got the shot on. That's right! The right side! So, the nurse came in and re-dressed the wound, which caused more pain, then another nurse came in to give me the big shot of antibiotics in the butt. My wife described the needle to me, after I had white-knuckled the bed rail, and said it was "this long" (spread your thumb and index finger apart about two inches) and then put it in all the way to the hilt. I know, I could feel it. The nurse (a male) was kind, though, and said that there is a numbing solution in it that will sting quite badly. It did. He said that it was OK to cry. I didn't (truly, this time).

So, they prescribed a round of antibiotics that would cover both Staph and Strep. The flu-like symptoms were simply from my body reacting to the invader and was taken care of with aspirin. I had a fever, too, and that subsided not too long after. My wife is concocting all the home remedies she can come up with, some taste awful, others are not so bad. I have been eating garlic, which is a natural antibiotic, and I love garlic. No one else can stand to be near me now, though. I have been drinking water with colloidal silver in it, that's not so bad. Last night, we put fresh Aloe on the wound (another natural antibiotic), that wasn't so bad either. She gave me a drink with grapefruit seed extract and Echenacia in it. That was bad. I never liked grapefruit and the seed extract isn't any better. So, for two weeks, I have been wanting to finish the new chicken tractor that sits 90% complete. For two weeks all I have done is think about it. Maybe I can work on it a bit tomorrow. AARGH!

To wind this story up, I did nothing but sleep on Saturday, stayed home from church yesterday and called in to work today. I am so bored. But hey, I get to blog a little, right? The swelling is starting to subside and the pain is all but gone. Needless to say, my right leg and I are not getting along, right now. I have thought about severing ties, but I am kind of, attached. I guess I'm with this leg, for better or for worse. I'm sure it feels the same.

(Thanks to all of you who read this blog. Your presence here is the reason I keep it going. Thanks for coming and, please, keep coming. I hope you enjoy it and your comments are always welcome. In fact, please leave your comments. That gives me a gauge to go by. Thanks again. God bless.)