It is Sunday, October, cold outside, and I am at home. Yesterday I loaded my car with tables, chairs, my folded pop-up canopy, products, booth sign, and all the other necessary gear for a market day. This morning, as I was dressing, I noticed a 3-inch diameter, red, swollen area with thickened skin on a breast. Any first grader would have said "That doesn't look good." For a few minutes, I kept going, dressing and packing like I was headed to the market. My denial was shattered when I finally realized that an infection that had popped up overnight, enlarging so quickly, demanded staying at home. Next moves: call my rheumatology doctor as soon as it's late enough, monitor my temperature, and decrease activity to a pace for quick healing with minimal upset of lupus.
All of this may seem extreme. With a normal immune system, a tiny pimple doesn't become an abscess and appear overnight in such a well-developed condition. Your immune system kicks in, sends a bunch of white blood cells and antibodies, and the infection is controlled almost before you are aware of its presence. My immunosuppressed condition limits that reaction so I have to be very careful and have infections treated promptly and aggressively. This is not the time to be hesitant about antibiotics.
This was going to be my first Sunday at the Chattanooga Public Market this season. I've got a bunch of fun, beautiful, one of a kind hats and gloves ready, and I'm going to finish putting them in my Turtlefat store. I'm still open for business, even with lupus misbehavin'.
Peace.
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