I woke up in the morning with a small itch on my right hand....

I woke up in the morning with a small itch on my right hand. When I looked at it I noticed it was swollen and red and hot. None of those things are correct for your hand. After further study I took it to be a spider bite, although I saw no spider.

As it grew over the next few hours, I realized my watch could not fit comfortably, and my daughter suggested that I remove my wedding ring before I had to remove my finger.

I got some antihistamine pills to see what they would do which wasn’t much except they made me very tired.

I called the doctor’s office for an appointment and was brought in immediately.

My doctor had a young substitute who was pleasant but not at all familiar with my malady, so we learned together. I believe she was way off base with a diagnosis, however, she moved me on to Urgent Care. This facility is great and they were delighted to see me and took me quickly.

I first spoke with an admission person and went to wait. I was then seen by a triage nurse and had to wait a bit, and was then seen by a doctor.

It had grown to look like a large lobster diseased hand, and I had little use of my now very hot fingers. It was a disaster and the redness was growing up my arm! I was alarmed as it began to look like my version of flesh eating disease. On top of everything else, my wife and daughter were away for a few days and I had the responsibility for walking Max, our dog, several times a day, not with my left hand! Thank God it was the left hand because as a right handed person, my left gets less use however, for texting and computing I soon realized how important it can be.

I was given antibiotics and an antibiotic drip as well, and we did the drip for three days and the meds for 10. Every day a different set of nurses would see me and a different doctor, but everyone, including me, seemed pleased. By the end of the whole experience, I was able to put my ring and my watch back on.

I was very relaxed and a friend said she saw me but didn’t want to disturb me as I was in the Urgent Care facility, asleep!