Back in March of 2015 I had a weird red spot on my elbow that I friend noticed one nightAnd thought nothing of it, thought it was dry skin. Well over the next few days it got bigger and worse, so I went to my doctor thinking it might be a rash. When I saw him he was pleased I came in and he started to run tests on me and also sent me to dermatology to get a biopsy done. A week later I found myself being admitted for what we first thought was Nocardia. Doctors believe I contracted this infection from my port and that needed to come out. So I had the port taken out and a PICCline put in and started heavy duty IV antiobiotics. I also started home health to help with IVs at home and weekly blood draws. After about three weeks, the pathology reports and new skin biopsies they did showed up and confirmed the mycobacterium infection. Again I was hospitalized to start even more antiobiotics. Mycobacterium chekonae is found in soil and is everywhere. "Normal" people don't usually get it but because of my compromised immune system I am more at risk for it. It is a rare infection that is slow growing and even more slow to heal and get rid of. We praise God that it only infected my skin and no organs. So, currently (January 2016) I am still recording home health, I am hooked up 24/7 to an IV antibiotic, once a day I do another IV antibiotic and am on two oral antibiotic AND no biologic (the big guns) for my RA bc it counteracts my antibiotics and makes the infection worse sooo life is a little tricky but I have a great team of doctors helping me and working together so we can treat both the RA and infection..... Soon we take things one day at a time and roll it with it as much as possible.
Information on infection:
more information COMING SOON.
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