Blood and guts have never really bothered me, Erin. In college, classmates and I were fascinated by videos of athletes becoming injured. I have watched many surgeries in person and been just as mesmerized by all that is done and never sickened by what I saw. But when it comes to skin problems or parasites, I get quite disgusted. One exception is wounds; I dealt with many bedsores as a nurse and though they are terrible wounds, they never bothered me much. But when you have something crawling with bugs (yes I've cared for a patient in the hospital in the States with a maggot-full wound), or erupting on the skin, or worse yet caused by microscopic bugs, I have a real hard time. Therefore I am not one to watch the show Monsters inside Me, though I usually like all things medical. The show is about infections or ailments caused by parasites.
Overseas, in the area in which we are living, we have experienced some of these parasites; amebic dysentery and giardia to be specific. But Cutaneous Larva Migrans is a new one.
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John's Hand
The trail left by a worm.
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Over a month ago now, John was bit by a red ant on his hand. This is never a good thing for him as it leaves a red bump for at least a week and he typically swells up. But this time we managed it well with immediate application of Benadryl. The swelling and discomfort turned out to be minimal. The red bump remained, continued to itch excessively, and then began to grow. We've all had some bites that I've suspected were something other than mosquitos, but they never grew. He continued to apply Benadryl cream. I tried lancing it with a needle a couple times (which kind of grossed me out as I didn't entirely know what I was poking). John tried oral Benadryl and the application of ice as well. Nothing seemed to stop the continued growth of what was now an obvious line. We eventually determined, thanks to the internet and the book "Where There's No Doctor," that John had a worm. This totally grosses me out. We figured he came in contact with the worm as he worked outside after getting the ant bite, which opened his skin, making it more susceptible to the entrance of the worm.
We obtained a list of multiple oral medications he could take to kill it, but unfortunately we couldn't find any pharmacy here in Barat that had even just one in stock. One pharmacist did tell us the medication was expensive and rarely if ever used, therefore rarely stocked. Thankfully we had success at a pharmacy in the city an hour away where we go for immigration visits. John has taken the one time dose and we now await the resolution of his long red tunnel made by the worm....yuck!
