Photo Opportunity

I missed a real good photo opportunity today.  Recently, in view of my pain problem, I have been (under medical supervision) self-injecting pain medications.  I don't mean cooking MS-Contins like a 'phine-freak, I mean intravenously injecting hypodermic tablets (the sort that dissolve with zero residue, or perhaps with a layer of residue lying still at the bottom of the glass) and ampoules.  All under medical supervision, of course.

However, to spare myself the all-too-frequent trips to the chemist for syringes and needles, I started to re-use old needles a few times before finally consigning them to the sharps bin.  This was OK until one day I became very, very sick, hardly being able to get out of bed.  I shivered like mad, too---had a fever of about 104.  Of course, I took Panadeine to drive the fever down, and finally was able to get outside.  When I instinctively looked at my arm, I saw a huge, swollen lump the size of an egg.  I figured I blew a vein, no biggie.

Well, what I saw today was a big, red lump, with minor bruising, and a bit of a boil (like an acne pimple) on top.  Feeling curious, I lanced the small boil, expecting nothing to come out of this wound.  I was wrong.  When I applied even minor pressure to the boil, enough pus came leaking out to fill a shot glass.  I should have taken a picture.  Wow.  Just wow.