My MRSA infection

I'm posting this here, so that people can choose whether or not they see pics of my actual skin infection, which is quite nasty to look at!  Being in healthcare I've seen a lot of icky things, yet I still cringe every time I see it.  Probably because of how much extreme pain it is causing.  Even posing for this picture was quite painful.  Lifting my arm above my shoulder can be excruciating, and I was pretty sore for several minutes afterwards.  I had just taken a shower though, and cleansing the area, the warm water, and moisturizing it eases the pain somewhat.

The large, deep bumps you see go all the way to the muscle, which is part of the reason why it is so painful. That is what makes the pain constant and chronic.  Actually, a few times at the beginning of an outbreak I thought I had just pulled a muscle, since the bumps hadn't surfaced yet.  The swelling, redness, and pus in the boils (I know, ew!) makes the area tender, which is what makes it painful to the touch and sensitive to anything I put on it to treat it.  Even aloe vera stings!  This is my worst side/arm.  The other arm only has a few bumps.  That side has newer outbreaks though, so it is more sensitive at times.

So there you have it, my MRSA cooties for all to see!  I also apologize for the lack of shaving, as i'm sure you can understand the obvious reasons why I have taken care of that with all this going on there!  This is also the only picture you will most likely ever see of me without a shirt.  So that makes it kind of sexy, right??  LOL