Monday, March 27, 2006

Swell



Saturday night when preparing for bed I noticed a strange swelling on the inner edge of my left shin. It did not hurt or itch, but it was swollen. The photo here is atrocious because my Canon PS A520 camera's flash has stopped functioning properly in synch with the 'shutter.' The flash goes off, but at the wrong time. However, I think that this photo indicates a bizarre deformation, which is accurate.

I wondered briefly if perhaps my muscles had bunched up during the night due to leg cramps. I had been forgetting to take my quinine before bed, and was off of creatine temporarily. However, if that had been the case I would have noticed this swelling in the shower in the morning. It must have happened during the day.

My next thought was that it was some complication of the antibiotics. My spectacular wife called the visiting nurse, who said that if I had shortness of breath, we should call 911. I didn't. My breathing felt great.

My observant wife noticed a small reddish splotch right below the swollen area. She asked if it itched or hurt. Nope. Possibly a bug bite?

I took Benadryl and went to bed. By Sunday morning the swelling was completely gone. However, by Sunday evening it had returned in a mild way, perhaps a third to a half of its former size. By Monday morning (today) it is down to about a tenth of its maximum size.

I also have mild aches in my right hip joint, and left shoulder and elbow, which I thought might be from sleeping too hard, or maybe from lack of quinine. It's nothing I've never felt before -- I recall having this kind of hip ache a few times even as a teenager, and from time to time over the years.

It would be cool if these aches were part of some super-mild, super-slow Herxheimer reaction. But that doesn't explain the swelling.

Left grip is 27 pounds (25, 25, 27), right grip is 68 pounds (65, 63, 68), inhale volume is TK mL.

|
Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com