Luke's Rash [gross]

NOTE: If you're squeamish, just stop reading now.  This post is not for you.

The Luke had surgery on his right arm to reduce wrist pain due to tendon overuse.  The Luke had a soft cast-like bundle wrapped around said surgical site.  So far, this is a perfectly normal occurrence.

The day after the surgery, The Luke felt some itching under the cast.  No problem, all wounds itch as they heal.

Then the rash started.

Above the cast site, little red dots started showing up.  They itched, but not too badly.  The Luke was not terribly concerned.  The area under the cast was itching more too, but again, concern level was low.

Sunday rolled around.  The beginnings of some angry red skin is poking out from beneath the cast site, but The Luke is not worried, it would go away soon.

Then came Monday, and there were some red dots on The Luke's left arm, far from the surgical site on the right arm.  The itching under the cast was bad enough to make The Luke even more irritable to his coworkers than usual, and thinking clearly was a bit difficult.  So The Luke decided to see how it went for another day.  Because The Luke is stubborn. 

Then the next morning there is a rash around The Luke's right eye, even more on the left arm, the right hand's knuckles, the legs over the knees, and a bit on the torso.  And the area under the cast was effectively on fire with itching.  So The Luke is finally convinced it is time to go see the nurse.

The nurse takes the cast off and immediately starts going into the "dear god why didn't you call on Saturday, I was on call, how can you stand this?", yadda yadda yadda.  So The Luke attempted to take some pictures with his phone, one handed.  Not great results, but this is what you get.

The actual surgical site is rash-free; it was completely covered with steri-strips and a sterile pad.  The rest of the skin under the cast is pretty well a mess of red bumps covered in yellow blisters.

Here you can see some of the little red bumps that first showed there was a problem on the upper arm.

This one best shows the blistering.  Jenni says they're vesicles, but I keep calling them blisters anyway.

A closeup of the back of The Luke's right hand.

An attempt to get the top of the arm.

Another attempt to get the top of the arm.

So The Luke is instructed to air the arm out every night for a few hours, covered in steroid cream.  Pretty much immobile, since the arm had to stay perfectly still while the brace was off.  Much boredom and TV watching ensued.

Sunday rolls around, and things have improved significantly.  The itching is down to the point where the steroid cream is no longer needed, and much of the skin is peeling off and reforming.

These are even worse pics, but let's face it, you have an untrained photographer with a phone's camera using only the left hand in poor lighting.  With a perpetual hand tremor.  Be glad you get  anything.

The dark area on the bottom of the photo is pretty well hard as rock.  It's starting to peel away as you can see from the right side.  You can't see it, but there's still ooze seeping out from under the steri-strips beyond the top of the photo.
 

The back of the arm isn't too bad.

The bumps on the hand have decreased quite a bit too.

The stitches come out on Wednesday.  We'll see how it goes then.