What do you think this is? *Gross picture, sorry*

[Prusik]

I'll be brief because I'm shattered.
Fever for two days starting last Monday. Two different diagnosis from doctors and a week of antibiotics as it was still spreading. Antibiotics now finished today and this picture was taken this morning. It's now spreading to the other hand since yesterday.

Any ideas?

Ps Ds is 10 months

How is baby himself?
Hope he gets it sorted ASAP.

Ds causing havoc. We've been here since lunch time not that I'm complaining about the wait in the slightest

Obviously you are in the right place and should follow the doctor's instructions regarding meds etc. What you might also like to try in addition to what they advise is to try bathing the hand in warm salt water 6-8 times a day (5 min a time if you can manage it, make some up in the basin and let him splash). Salt water bathing is amazingly helpful for a whole range of skin infections and won't do any harm even if it doesn't help.

Poor you and poor ds. It looks very nasty. Hope you get seen and sent home or admitted soon.

I'm wondering if it's a staph infection, glad you're being seen by professionals though. Good luck with everything.

That second picture looks even worse:-(
So glad your at the hospital where he will receive good treatment.
Hopefully it clears it soon. Poor poppet.

Poor baby :( that looks so sore. Have you been seen now??

Just got home. I'm sat on the driveway and ds is snoozing in his car seat..my.eyes are stinging, I'm shattered 31 weeks pregnant and haven't had a drink.since.breakfast!!!)

They've taken a swab and given us further antibiotics. If it doesn't improve or gets worse then we have an open admission into the children's ward. They wanted to see us in 48 hours but realised that would be Saturday so we've been given open.admission instead.

To be honest I feel like they dont know what it is so are trying these antibiotics to see if they work.

The two pictures were taken almost 24 hours apart so it's clear to see it's getting worse. Let's hope the antibiotics help this time

You really need to take him to AE. It's an infection. If it's spreading there is a risk of sepsis.

@Ttbb thanks, I'm guessing you haven't read the full thread but no way am I going back.to hospital tonight. I've been out since 10.30 this morning and have just got home

That looks like a complicated skin and skin structure infection (cSSSI) to me now op - antibiotics are needed and should do the job well. Poor you/him xx

Swabs will confirm the causative pathogen and then they will tailor treatment if needed. Often treatment for cSSSIs is 7-10 days in any case, so not too bad.

Op it looks like a false widow spider bite to me, if it is it can take ages to heal. I had one on the back of my neck, it took a year to heal properly. However to have it on both hands is ???

Poor little tot, I hope that they do a swab to find out what is going on and that he heals really soon.

I've just read through his discharge notes and it basically just says skin legions and evidence of cellulitis.

I'm hoping this second set of antibiotics works. I can't remember the name of them off the top of.my head

Yep, cellulitis is cSSSI. Hope the abx work ok!

Hope antibiotics work for him now that looks very painful .

Crumbs really hope the 2nd set of antibiotics work

I think the salt water is an excellent idea unless his hands are all dressed and bandaged

btw if they suggest leeches for the cellulitis they really work and they eat the dead skin - gross I know but they work and they are especially bred for it and do NOT hurt just tickle a little bit

Hope he feels better soon. Take care of yourself too.

That looks very sore,have they put a dressing on it?

They didn't even mention dressing it. We put some salt water in his bath and he went to bed early. Guess we'll see how it looks in the morning. We've been told to come back if it doesn't improve but it's hard to know how long to leave it.

I must admit, I'm starting to get worried now. I really hope it doesn't further develop into something nasty. I guess sepsis is the main concern

You must be so worried. It looks so sore! Poor little boy

OP I'm so sorry to hear this. No advice but just some reassurance you're doing the right thing to keep going back and advocating for your little boy, don't feel bad about it at all. DS1 had a mystery health condition when he wasn't much older which resulted in almost weekly trips to the GP, out of hours, a&e and the children's ward. Because they didn't know wjat was wrong they'd throw something at it and send us away but we finally got a diagnosis and he hasn't looked back.

It's exhausting and demoralizing to keep going back time after time but you're totally doing the right thing. I'd advise keeping written notes on symptoms and a timeline, as well as photos to show how it's developing - when you're stressed and overwhelmed and seeing a different doctor each time it can be easy to forget a detail which might help.

Best of luck x

You poor thing OP, so pregnant and with all this worry. Really hope he's ok, guessing the hospital checked fully for sepsis? Please let us know how he is in the morning

Best not to bandage it if it can be avoided because you need to be able to see how it's doing. Have they drawn round the affected area (outlined its ectent on the healthy skin). If not, that might be an idea so you can see if it spreads.

Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in quickly and knock back the infection. The salt water will promote healing so hopefully he'll be right as rain before long.

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