Self Diagnosis and Treatment

A little over a year ago, on January 11, 2010 to be exact, I finally admitted our valiant attempts at treating the raging cuticle infection on Aaron's right thumb weren't working. After weeks of trying to help him overcome the infection by first lancing the pus filled sac on his cuticle with a safety pin, followed by a questionable attempt at pulling at the mushroomy mass with a tweezer while he was sleeping, and later soaking the finger in warm Epsom salts, and covering it with triple antibiotic ointment and a bandaid, the infection had become so painful that Aaron was having trouble even holding a fork.

Dr. Kramarczuk's prescription was simple. Soak the infected finger in bleach water; 1 capful diluted into 1 gallon, or in a salt solution. Continue to apply topical antibiotic ointment covered with a bandaid or a silver bandage covered with Coban, during the day, allowing the sore to remain open at night. Finally, he prescribed 250mg of cephalexin in a tolerable 5 mL suspension 3 times a day for 10 days. Within days, the infection in Aaron's thumb succumbed to the treatment and he was, again, able to eat and play the Wii without constant pain...whew!
Daddy and Aaron, January 2010

We were a bit disappointed when Aaron's opposite thumb presented with the same infection earlier this month. Apparently having learned nothing from our previous experience with this infection, we naively lanced the pus filled cuticle with a safety pin one night during the boys' bedtime routine (Adam has a weakness for picking that is second only to my own obsession). Not surprisingly, this did not help clear the infection, but instead appeared to exacerbate it. We again tried the warm Epsom salt soak...and the magic triple antibiotic ointment and bandaid routine, but the infection was not getting better...and instead, to our horror, appeared to be spreading up his finger.

In a panic, we contemplated an emergency run to the minute clinic or urgent care before our scheduled Parent's Night Out date, but instead opted for an alternative, more shady solution. I remembered that Adam was prescribed the same antibiotic for a mysterious eye infection he contracted on September 20, 2010 as Aaron had been for his previous cuticle infection. A check of Aaron's previous prescription confirmed the dose was also the same, so we decided to re-purpose Adam's leftover antibiotics for Aaron's cuticle infection.

Aaron tried repeatedly to swallow the small pills with no success. We finally opted to separate the pills, freeing the contents for suspension into orange juice. We have enough antibiotic for 11 days, which should be enough to combat the infection and avoid antibiotic resistance.

Aside from the bad taste of the homemade oral suspension of cephalosporin, Aaron is no longer complaining about the pain in his finger, and thankfully, his thumb is already looking better.