The woman at the front counter of the Urgent Care hands me the required paperwork to sign, and says "Here are your prescriptions. Do you have any other questions?" Prescriptions? The list had two items on it and a stack of papers that looked like instructions and a small bag. The only question I really had was how the hell did It get to this point?
Cephalexin - 500mg capsules, take 2 two times daily.
Mupirocin - Ointment, use 3 times daily.
Great. Just great. This is my luck.
(I do not believe in luck though)
What started as a minor discomfort became a major concern very quickly. Depending on your build and frame, weight, and level of activity this may be familiar. Chafing is what happens when parts of your body get wet and rub together. It can happen in a lot of places on your body but for me it only happens on my inner thighs and legs really.
If you have had chafing bad, like after a day at a theme park or water park and walked miles, then you may know exactly the feeling and definition to a T. It sucks and can go from bad to worse very quickly.
How did this start?
In short, I have been hiking and working a lot. Long hours of physical labor being in wet, humid conditions and not being able to dry out make for a bad time. Over course of weeks I had been working 10+ hour days, and then hiking when I could. Where I live the humidity is miserable and assists in this being much worse than it needs to be. In other words. I spend most of my day being wet and Im not drying out.
After hikes its typical to do a tick check. There have been lots of baby ticks or seedling ticks which has made it clear you have to be more aware of where they may attach. Checking all the normal spots they like, ankles, belt line, groin area, arm pits, anywhere tight I concentrated on the small guys that sometimes look like moles.
Checking next to my legs where they sometimes will chafe I had 3 little blood blisters that looked EXACTLY like seedling ticks. I grabbed my tweezers and attempted to pick them off after my shower. It was apparent that these were not ticks after a few attempts but I did manage to open the blisters up thinking maybe they got embedded already. This was dumb mistakes #1 and #2.
The tweezers were not sterilized. And opening them up essentially was the beginning of this whole fiasco.
My legs hurt and I knew I needed to bandage my inner leg regardless of the little tiny blood blisters I messed with, so I stupidly made mistake #3 and #4. I am on the hairy side and I didn't want the bandage to pull my sensitive hair down there. So I shaved the area. But not thinking I just grabbed my girlfriends razor and swiped the area to clean it up. See where this is going?
Never use someone elses hygiene items and never shave an area that is already irritated.
***
It is important to note I am no stranger to chafing. I wear performance underwear all year round. In theory this should help a lot but if its wet for too long, no matter what bacteria is going to be a problem in your areas where rubbing occurs.
In a matter of a few days it was clear these three little spots were worse. Even with triple antibiotic and changing bandages. Work and hiking was taking its toll as well, so at this point all extra activities stopped. The area was now looking visibly infected with whitish colors forming where the scabs should be and it was draining a bit when I changed the bandages. No good. After a day or two I scheduled my appointment for the urgent care. Where the story started.
The reason I mention this and spend the time to tell this story is because its pretty simple. Something as minor as chafing can become a major problem in a survival situation. When doctors are not available an infection can be deadly over time if your body cannot deal with it. This minor teeny tiny micro cuts became infected, inflamed and painful, and if I was bugging out my mobility and morale would be suffering hugely.
Without getting antibiotics it would be hard to heal too. It has now been over 2 weeks and I am just now getting healed to the point where I am alright enough to hope that its nearly gone. I still have to baby it and dry it out. Using alcohol, then putting ointment on it, and using hot compresses daily has helped a lot.
Luckily I was able to get as a gift from a friend Mexican antibiotic ointment, and meds to stock for a tough situation where I may not have a choice but to take them if the need arises. Fish mox is another route for US bound people since you cannot get Amoxicillin as its meant to be used legally for treating fish that have bacterial problems. We cant get antibiotics over the counter to stock up on, so fish mox is how we have to do it due to regulations. There is risk of allergic reactions to these things so do your homework and make sure you don't have allergies to them before having to take them. Or your situation could definitely become worse very quick.
Proper fitting, quick drying clothes
Proper hygiene
Prevention measures for worsening rubbing during activity (wraps, bandaids, vaseline)
Drying periods
Medicated NON TALC based powders
The way they treated my issues were the same as they would treat any abscess. Antibacterial meds and ointment. But what they worried about was location could make it worse (next to groin) and they worried about staph and MRSA. Which takes a long time to heal and it has much more serious medicines to deal with. Not to mention draining and other worries. Like spreading to blood and other parts of the body.
Chafing isn't normally life threatening but in a bug out or survival situation its the worst. Know how to deal with it before hand. If your mobility and morale are tanked your outlook could be grim.
I learned my lesson. I do not plan on doing this again. Hopefully someone will benefit from this story and they have the tools to prevent it before it happens.
