I had a bug bite, or something, that seemed like it was getting worse. Two days ago, I had some pain walking in the morning, and I tried to lance it that evening, but only got some watery blood… no puss.
And yesterday morning I woke up just after 8am from a dream in which I broke my ankle. And my ankle was throbbing in pain. I felt absolutely terrible. I got up to go to the bathroom and take some tylenol/advil and i could barely walk. really. i couldn’t put any weight on the bad ankle. I was a mess. When 9am hit, O called my dermatologist for me (I have an appointment on monday anyway…) and they told me my dr wasn’t in, but to just come in and one of the doctors would see me. We ended up taking a car in for an inspection.
When I got there, the doctor looked at O and me and joked “You two sure look like you’ve had a rough night.” Later, when she realized I was on IFN, and had been for a year, she apologized profusely. I told her its good to get a reality check sometimes…
She pushed on the welt/bite, and decided that there was no pustule (which I think I had already proven the night before.) Put some topical antibiotic on it. And gave me a prescription for antibiotics. I spent all of yesterday and most of today in bed with my foot elevated. I’m just now starting to feel a little bit better. I can walk around a bit without intense pain.
I think it got so bad overnight because I injected that night. That injection caused my immune system to temporarily dip even further below its already immunosuppressed state.
Lying in bed for the last two days is all too familiar. Last spring I spent 6 weeks lying in bed while recovering from my surgeries. It was a little offputting to realize I was back in the same place. Thought I knew it was only temporary.
Likewise, me telling the dermatologist that I had been on IFN for a year made me realize that, in fact, I started my interferon June 16, so in ten days, I actually will have been on the drug for a year.
once treatment is over will this sort of thing heal normally or does it take a while for the drugs to exit the system?
yes, supposedly I will come out of this pretty rapidly. apparently you either come out of it feeling like you just took off a 50lb backpack, or you take months to recover b/c you overidentified with the cancer as an identity. i think i’ll be running free, sans-50lbs. supposedly it can be only a matter of weeks before patients feel better.