diseased

I went in to see Dr. Gordon Trenholme, an infectious disease specialist, at Rush today. He brought in a fellow to see me as soon as he learned that I have leishmaniasis.

I recounted my story to both of them. They looked at my ugly open sore briefly. For the curious, it's gotten bigger, deeper, and developed an icky smell yesterday. The fellow examined me and took two pictures; she pulled a digicam right out of her lab coat pocket. I either have Leishmania Viannia panamensis or L.(V.) braziliensis. The latter is more likely. Since I don't have other sores on my body by this late stage, it is unlikely that I will develop others. That's good news. There is a risk that it will spread to mucousal tissue, but the doctor didn't seem too concerned. The next step is to get a skin biopsy so he can send one sample to his lab and one to the CDC. The CDC will find out which species I have and send treatment. Dr. Trenholme mentioned that the medication would be free courtesy of the CDC. Treatment for L.(V.) braziliensis is administered through an IV; the doc called it a parental. It is a 20 day treatment where I think I'll have to have the IV strapped to my arm. Side effects have shown to be severe, but the doc said that the drug is usually used to treat people who are unhealthy and malnourished. Wikipedia mentioned that there is an oral drug being tested now and the USDA has just given it orphan drug status. Maybe I'll get to be a test subject.

Dr. Trenholme and I are going to a dermatologist for a skin biopsy tomorrow; he said he needed a few things looked at too, "two birds with one stone." Testing and speciation should take about a week. Apparently, Dr. Trenholme treated a guy a couple of months ago. He claimed that it is hard to find an infectious disease doctor to treat leishmaniasis and that I was lucky to find him. I thought it was easy to find him, he and Rush are on the internet.

So anyway, prognosis seems good. It's not contagious (as long as you don't lick my ugly sore) and doesn't look like it's spreading. The doc estimated about a grand in expenses. I'm not insured, but Rush gives an automatic 50% discount to those paying out of pocket.

Several poor decisions have allowed this gross sore to get to an advanced stage. I was hoping I would heal myself and that maybe inurance would come through. I should have kept my old insurance. I should have seen someone in Peru. I should seen someone earlier while I was home. My fault completely. I was trying not to freak out about the possible consequences. Now that I've seen Dr. Trenholme and action is being taken, I feel more comforted.