For those who haven’t read the whole saga— I am in St. Luke’s Hospital Bethlehem/Fountain Hill because a 3-pound black kitten I am fostering managing to bite me while the teenager and I were giving her eye meds.

One of her teeth punctured my left index finger above the middle knuckle and I developed cellulitis that was spreading into my hand.

Thanks to a maceration dressing (again read the last few blog posts for details) and IV antibiotics every four hours, it seems to be calming.

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Last night was not easy. Something was going on— I don’t know if it was the tropical storm or something happening with the other patients (this is the cancer floor)—and they didn’t even do basic checks on me for almost six hours.

The entire staff kept running to the other end of the floor and when the PCA did come down to this end, she apologized and ran back out again.

I was on IV meds for that time and when they came in it was business only. No chit chat.

And my needs right now are far from life threatening.

But around 7, I started to get really hot. I took my sweatshirt off and saw what I thought was the beginning of a rash.

And then I started to freak. Because I thought about the course of the day. My eyes were dry, burning and itchy most of the day. My skin had been itchy on probably 65% of my body.

I was taking an IV antibiotic from the penicillin family every 4 hours and I know I have issues with penicillin.

Was I having a reaction?

The nurse increased my fluids just in case. I have similar symptoms today.

As if that scare wasn’t enough, my dressing fell of my finger. But the nurse rewrapped it.

So I had my last bag of antibiotics at 4 am. They have no meds in the system for me today. My only meal ordered was breakfast.

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It all relies on what the specialist says.

The residents turned up at 6 am. It was time for the big reveal.

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The residents, “the babies” as my favorite nurse calls them, took photos to share with the doctor supervising my care. I haven’t met him.

It looks like I will be going home today.

The nurses are all amazed at how quickly “that contraption” worked. The maceration dressing works on the same concept as a hyperbaric chamber, just a lot more low tech.

Certainly much less invasive than surgery.