While going through the first round of chemo to kill cancer that was robbing me of my resources I had ongoing low-grade fevers. That’s something typical of AML. The team was having a hard time finding the source of the fever.
Every time I spiked a fever they would do a chest X-ray, take a blood culture from my pic line, and also out of my arm. Which really was a big deal for me. I’m a hard stick and they would have to poke me a few times to get blood. This happened around the clock about 4 times daily.
I think the blood draws were causing a lot of my stress and anxiety. I would cringe each time they would take my blood for the culture. All of the constant pokings were driving me crazy.
Over a course of a few days, I developed a horrible painful rash on my face. They felt it was a reaction to the chemo which makes a lot of sense considering they were pumping my body with poison. They asked for a consult from dermatology to make sure that is what it was so they could treat it.
The dermatologist took a few samples of the rash to find out what it was exactly. The results came back as a fungal infection that I picked up somewhere in the hospital. They then started me on medication to kill the fungal infection. It took a while to heal but it hasn’t been back and no more fevers.
It was kind of funny in a way they were looking everywhere for the source of my fevers and it was literally all over my face. Once they started treating fungal infections the fevers stopped. What a relief.
It was a hard thing to deal with. I felt like a freak which isn’t true but when you have all of the bumps all over your face it’s hard not to feel different or embarrassed.
I was very glad when the infection cleared.
Have you had any issues or infections of the face? I would love to hear your story.
Thank you for following along with my journey to health.
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