Well HERE's a freaky story...

Our new puppy gifted me with a flea bite on my right hand (my right arm being devoid of 20 lymph nodes, mind you) which within days turned into cellulitis. A couple of days later, my fake right hip started hurting. Since artificial joints are magnets for infection, I of course immediately assumed the worst. 10 days on Doxycycline cleared me of all symptoms, but within a week the hip pain/stiffness returned and I spent the next 3 weeks trying to convince my medical community that it needed to be checked out. When I finally wangled a hip aspiration, the fluid revealed - you guessed it - staph. This necessitated immediate hip revision surgery followed by 6 weeks of oral and IV antibiotics, to be followed by another oral antibiotic FOR LIFE. I breezed through the surgery but the meds are ravaging my digestive system. My poor husband has to administer my IV on a brutal schedule of 6 am, 2 pm and 10 pm daily (we're trying to think of it as a bonding experience, but are not quite convinced!)

It just goes to show that life can take a turn at any moment - who'd have thought that 16 years after a IIIC diagnosis it would be a little flea that would take me down???

You just can't make this stuff up...Julie