PSA - recognize cellulitis...

So: Friday night, I thought I had a tiny zit on my nose. This happens with a CPAP, nothing to worry about.

Saturday, it felt like the infection was spreading - it looked like it had grown a bit, and it was redder.

Sunday, it had definitely spread, I could see it climbing up and across my nose and I felt a tad feverish (I wasn't, though). And I could see the skin that was definitely infected starting to ooze a bit, like a broken blister.

I went to urgent care, and it was definitely the right call - I had cellulitis, which can spread quickly and can quickly become life-threatening. I got a shot of antibiotics and more to take (and I was warned to go straight to the drug store, and immediately fill my prescription, and start taking them immediately), so I did.

I called out sick from work on Monday. Today, I'm out sick again, and I'm still wiped out, and all from an infection that was about the size of a quarter, or maybe just a bit bigger.

The good news is that it seems like we nipped the infection in the bud. It's definitely shrinking and looking like a skin area recovering from infection. That doesn't mean I'm completely out of the woods, but it's a good sign.

I hope I don't have to tell any readers to always finish any course of antibiotics - it's especially vital with something like this that can be fast spreading, and that might already be mildly resistant to the antibiotics you're taking.

Next step: yogurt and other pro-biotics. A ten day course can wreck havoc on one's helpful bacteria.

More fun than it ought to be....

So, I was thinking of the misery of thinking of going out for yogurt and pro-biotics pills, and maybe a bit of this and that.

And then a thought came to me. Yes I work for "Amazon Web Services" but we're not called that because we provide web space to Diana Prince[1]! Gee, if only someone had used the wondrous cloud based tools to make an online shopping store that had overnight, and sometimes even same day delivery... oh, right! They had!

(That's kind of how AWS started. "Look at all these cool toys we built. I bet other people would like to use them. Well... let's find out!")

Prime Now had some grocery options - I got some Coke 0 and yogurt (and eggs). Well, the Coke comes off the shelf, but the refrigerated groceries were packed with dry ice.

Damn shame I have to wait, like, an hour to let the soda get cold... wait.

Fill the sink with cold water.
CAREFULLY break up the dry ice with a hammer. Put the dry ice in, and then the soda. The water mass is too large to get below 0 C but tap water is 50-60 degrees (ETA: 50-60 Fahrenheit - about 10C) right now; that alone is a quick way to partially chill the soda.

An added benefit I hadn't considered: the bubbling of the dry ice caused some agitation. In a sink full of water, and 6 cans of room temperature soda, I doubt agitation matters too much - but it does help ensure that there's circulation, so the warmer water near the cans is moved away.

Plus you get that whole "witch's (sink-)cauldron" effect.

The water in my sink is now about 3C - colder than my refrigerator, and water sucks heat out far better than air. This barely counts as "science!" but it's still fun.

[1] aka Wonder Woman - an Amazon, you see. Yes, terrible allusion-pun.