Hi, catra121:

I had my work injury on February 10. I took my oral antibiotics (amoxicilline with acide clavulanique): two 500 mg tablets three times daily for eight days, that is, until February 18. Now, I do not have any antibiotics anymore. In French Polynesia and in France, pharmacies do not sell antibiotic creams. In the U.S., when I had an infection, even one that was not as bad as the present one, I would get a prescription for oral antibiotics to take for at least three months. My U.S. primary care physician is really different from my French primary care physician, here, in French Polynesia.

Guess what happened after I took all my antibiotics and I had none left?! The very severe pain in my RSD knee, with its infected scraped knee wound, came back with a vengeance, a big vengeance. I feel so desperate and angry so often that I want to hit my wound, as if telling it: "You want a good reason to hurt?! I will give you a good reason to hurt!!"

Quote: "How does your employer not have a bathroom for its employees to use (ALL employees)?"

I guess he had a bathroom built only for his male employees because they are the ones that get dirty most often, especially when cleaning and repairing cars and motorcycles. All mechanics in this garage are male. My employer must think female employees, who are mostly receptionists, secretaries, archivists..., do not get very dirty like the mechanics, so these female employees do not, to the employer, need a bathroom. No female employee dares complaining, for fear of losing her job.

Quote: "What do you do if you have to use the restroom?"

Female employees have a restroom, only one restroom, which is almost always occupied, including by male employees. These male employees should use their own restrooms. I guess male employees do not like their restrooms not having doors (the female employees' restroom has a door that can be locked). The female employees' restroom is so small and tight that there is not enough space to move around inside without bumping into anything (toilet seat, water faucet...). Owww! A body part with RSD or the infected scraped knee wound bumping into something, especially something that hard! I can easily imagine the intense pain caused by this, as this type of "accident" already happened to me so many times I lost count. I also lost count of how many times I cried after such "accidents" (because of the intense pain these "accidents" caused.)

Quote: "Is there an office you could use?"

I have an office, which I share with a coworker. The garage's rules do not allow employees to do dressings in their office, especially when there is a coworker that could be bothered or disgusted by my doing a dressing or when another employee (or the employer) could walk into the office to ask me for a car's records. They would most certainly not appreciate my doing my "disgusting" (to them) dressings in their plain sight.

Quote: "Do you drive a car to work?"

I am not legally allowed to drive because I have a seizure disorder. Someone usually drops me off at my workplace or I take the public transportation (bus).

Quote: "Or a store next door or something with a restroom where you could go on your break?"

There are stores next door to the garage, but they would not allow me to use their restroom, even if it happened to be large enough, despite my special circumstances.

My lunch break is from 12 to 12:30 in the afternoon. There are no other breaks. We take our breaks in our office (no dressings allowed to be done here) or in the lunch room (no dressings allowed to be done here either).

Quote: "I definitely think you need to be cleaning it out more regularly that you are or it won't heal."

Even if it is very difficult for me, I am starting to accept the fact that my infected scraped knee wound will never heal. If it kills me one way or another, I made a testament so my American police officer boyfriend will get the custody of my two-year-old baby boy. At least, even if he does not have me anymore, he will live with someone he loves and who loves him dearly.

Quote: "At a minumum... I would change it first thing when you get up, at lunch break, when you get home from work, and before you go to bed. Those might not all be equally spaced exactly...but it will be close. Especially if you cannot leave it open for long stretches of time... the dressing needs to be removed and the wound cleaned multiple times a day."

I get up at 5 AM so I can be ready to leave for work at 5:30 AM. If I wake up at 4 AM or at 4:30 AM, maybe I will have enough time to do this early morning dressing. As for lunch break between 12 and 12:30 in the afternoon, I still have to find a place to be able to do a dressing at my workplace. I will try doing a dressing between my bath time at 5 PM and my dinner time at 7 PM. There is no problem for me doing a dressing before I go to sleep at midnight. When I do not work on Saturdays and Sundays, it is easier for me to find the time and place to do all my dressings.

Quote: "Once the wound scabs over...you would likely still be able to tell if it was infected because it would either leak pus around the edges or you would get a boil or some visual sign of the pus building up under the skin. I think this would be bad...which is why it is all the more important that you clean the wound several times a day."

If I see a scab over my wound without my wound having healed, I will watch out for what you mentioned, so I can go to the Emergency Room if this happens. I just have to hope that the Emergency Room doctors do not kick me out, saying: "This is not a medical emergency. Go to your primary care physician! It is not our problem if he refuses to treat you. It is betwwen you and him!" I am sure there are Emergency Room doctors who would be capable of saying such mean, horrible things, even if I threaten to sue them. Maybe I should buy a cell phone and call the cops if the doctors refuse to treat me at the Emergency Room.

Quote: "Lancing it doesn't HAVE to be done by a doctor but that's what I would suggest (just safer and more sterile). It can be done with a needle, scalpel, or a razor blade. I shudder to even think of it."

The only problem is that if I do not find a doctor in French Polynesia to treat my infection, I certainly will not find one to do the lancing either. I wish there would be labs in the U.S., where I could send some pus for them to analyze and tell me then what kind of infection(s) I have. Of course, I would pay for the necessary material for the lancing and I would pay for the analyses and results. Maybe my nurse neighbor would be willing to do the lancing. Otherwise, if I have to do the lancing myself, people around me at the time of the lancing would hear a bloodcurdling scream.

Soaking my wound in the evening, before I do the dressing before bed, would not be a problem.

Quote: "...leaving it open to the air as much as possible in the evening."

Do you mean I would have to sleep without a dressing? In this case, would the pus not leak on my pajamas and bed and, worse, would the pain not be soo intense if my wound happened to rub against the bed sheets, without a dressing to protect it?

Quote: "Anything that can save you additional pain is a good thing."

You are so very right. If doctors could just think like you, we would be living in a dream world. Unfortunately, we know how doctors think when it comes to pain. "It is just pain." "The pain is not as bad as you say." "The pain is in your mind." Etc... This is a sample of the sentences I already heard from doctors.

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer. I am so afraid to bother and annoy you with my questions and fears. Thank you for your kind words.