God I am glad you are getting this taken care of. As I remember, we were, well not dismissive, but no one here seemed to think it was that serious.

Once this is done, I hope you can enjoy the tattoo.

Keep drinking water!

Oooh, I had a good friend who had a similar problem with a tattoo and after a few weeks, everything finally righted itself. These freak things do happen.

When this is all over though, you'll have some beautiful art to show for it! That's more than I can say for oh, ALL of the illnesses I've ever had. Feel better!

Take care, Kelly.

I was just wondering today how you were doing- ugh! So sorry to hear what you've been through! It sounds like you're through the worst of it now- hang in there, kelly.

Yeah, that sounds like NO FUN. I'm glad you're on the mend now, though. Take care of yourself.

:( I hope you feel better soon. Infections and antibiotics are Serious Stuff.

Thanks, everyone. I took the day off work and slept for most of it. I set my alarm so I could take my antibiotics, though. I feel a lot better now, and I'm thinking the side effects from the Keflex are fading since I've been off it and on the clindamycin for almost 24 hours.
The fever is broken, too. (or our digi thermometer is broken- it says I'm a steady 93 degrees).

When this is all over though, you'll have some beautiful art to show for it!

Unfortunately, nope. I'll have a scarred ruined mess on my ankle that, depending on how it heals, my artist may or may not be able to fix. :(
That's when I finally just broke down sobbing last night. A big part of why I got them was because I have so many scars on my legs from my accident, I just wanted something pretty that was my choice to have there. And now that's ruined, too.

It sounds so lame, but the piece on my arm literally changed my life. For a decade I've been living with stares and whispers, and cashiers recoiling from me because of the scars. I got the ink and all the sudden it was like the scars had vanished. People saw the tattoo, and complimented me on it, but no one gave me that pity/disgust look I'd become so used to. I had gotten so accustomed to it that I didn't even realize how often people reacted negatively until it stopped.

The new doc I saw thinks the subway is a likely candidate, as apparently he's seen a few staph cases where that was the only common factor. He agrees it couldn't be the shop, it would be worse if I got infected that long ago, and it wouldn't be so localized. I'm tattooed from just below my butt to my ankles on both legs, but the only infected part is my right ankle. He used the same two guns for all of it, and the same needles for all four buttons. There's no way it could be from there, I'd be in way worse shape if it was. (which is good, as my artist is a friend aka major crush, and he feels just awful about it.)

So sorry. Good to hear that you thought to call a friend to check on you just in case. And, so glad you didn't need that trip to the ER. Feel better soon. (((kellydamnit)))