Hello everybody!

Well, Christmas is almost here.  I have suffered some setbacks the last couple of weeks.  My pregnancy is fine but my physical health was not very good.

I started feeling sick about 2 weeks ago but just thought I was fighting off some of the many viruses that go around this time of year.  My finger started swelling up last Saturday.  I mistakenly assumed it was Paronychia.  I have gotten this once before since having diabetes.  I thought it was coming up again.  This simply is a fungus type disease in the cuticle or finger.  It is very common in diabetics because it is hard for diabetics to fight fungus for some reason.  I just figured I would call my doctor on Monday and get some antibiotics.  By Sunday afternoon, I quickly realized I was dealing with something quite different.  My whole hand was swollen and I had pain radiating up my arm.  My arm pretty much felt like a big bruise.  I was also feeling like I was getting the flu.  I called the doctor on call and he thought it might be Herpetic Whitlow but said that I must come in on Monday and have it looked at.  Overnight the swelling just got worse and I barely got any sleep from the pain.  My arm was useless on Monday.  I couldn’t move my arm.  I felt like I had been hit by a truck.  I went to the doctor and found out I had Cat Scratch Disease or fever.  Now I thought this was always a made up disease until now.  Apparently, I had a little cut on my hand and my cat licked it.  My cat was caring the Bartonella bacteria that causes cat scratch disease.  Due to the fact that I am pregnant, I have a very low immune system so my body couldn’t fight the germ like it normally would.  The bacteria makes the place of infection irritated and swollen then the really bad part happens.  The infection travels to the lymph nodes and causes them to get infected too.  This is why I felt like I was getting the flu.  You have to take an antibiotic to get over it and it can take up to 2 months to completely feel better.  I started the treatment and within 3 days I started noticing improvement.  My hand is no longer swollen.  My finger still has the infected area on it but it gets smaller every day.  My lymph nodes seem to be the longest to recover.  I still have soreness like a bruise in my arm and hand but thankfully I am able to use my hand and arm again.  I have to take short breaks every now and then because it gets tired quickly.  I would have never thought that a lick from a cat could have caused all this.  As far as the baby is concerned, there aren’t any harmful affects to it.  The medicine I had to take was a type B medicine so that was good.  The baby was protected by the increased immune system that it is borrowing from me.  If anything, I have provided the antibodies to the baby so that it can fight it better should it ever come into contact with this bacteria after it is born.

On the pregnancy front, all is going well.  I have a little gymnast or soccer player in me because I am suffering some pretty serious kicks now.  At least I know it is an active baby.  I have my next appointment on January 5^th.  My sugars were a little off during the infection but are returning to normal now.  I think everything is progressing well.