3:30 pm
Wednesday 9-17-03HISTORY OF JOE PORTMAN SAND WORM INFECTION
3:30 pm
Wednesday 9-17-03
The picture above shows my thumb at left stretching the skin on the side of my foot, right. The trail of my pet sand worm eating his way across my foot is plain to see. He is just under my skin. The worm started on the top of my foot, circled two toes,. then went down the center bottom of my foot, then up the side as shown in the pic. All this travel took about 1 month. This pic was taken 24 hrs after taking one 100mg MEBENDAZOLE tablet, which is supposed to kill the worm. He must be excreting a powerful marinator that makes the skin itch as far as an inch away from the trail. The itch that accompanies his travel is about 10 times worse than any nettle or poison ivy itch ! He is still traveling and itching me at this time.....I am hoping that by tomorrow he will at least slow down. Applying an athlete foot "over the counter" ointment helps reduce but not eliminate the itch.
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3:30 pm
Thursday 9-18-03
The above pic taken 48 hrs after taking one 100 mg MEBENDOZALE tablet. The sand worm must be feeling bad right now, as his resultant itching has greatly subsided....by at least 90%. I have not administered athlete foot ointment since early morning. It was needing ointment every two hours.
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Took this blow-up photo directly off my computer screen. Found it with a Google image search. I can't confirm that it is indeed a sand worm like mine, but it was all that I could find on the internet.
Other inet info: there are 56 kinds of animal/insect types that infect humans. They are called Helminths as a group. The specific name of mine is Loa Loa.
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8:00 am Friday 9-19-03
Woke up with very little itching....inflamation is more pink than red. The worm has stopped traveling, at least for now. I can't wait for the finish of this project !!!
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Saturday 9-20-03
I was awakened at 5 am by another attack....he seemed to have moved a fourth of an inch. (lost this pic) I saturated a Bandaid with Absorbine Jr and put it on him for 6 hours. He has not itched me since. I hope I have killed the rotten critter !!!
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7:30 pm
Sunday 9-21-0
Awoke this morning without an itch. The inflamation seems to have subsided somewhat. Will put aloevera from a fresh cut leaf on it tonight to speed up healing.
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9:00 pm Monday 9-22-03
Awoke this morning with no itch. Most of the inflamation is gone. The dark spot is where the dead worm resides as he is being dissolved and carried away. R.I.P. !!! It will probably take another week fort the skin to completely heal up.
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8:00 am Wednesday 9-24-03
Awoke with a slight itch, probably just the healing going on. I will wait a few days before the next pic, hoping to show progress. I am pretty sure my critter is dead.
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6:40 am....9-30-03
Awoke with a terrible itch and discovered the worm had awakened and traveled at least 1/2". I took the 2nd worm tablet, but by evening could not stand nor remedy the itch. I took my hot soldering iron and cauterized the end of the red line trail.....OUCH !!! Of course, the itch was replaced with the burn pain, but in an hour there was no pain and no itch. I hope I have killed it. There is a blotch back up the trail which is inflamed but not itching. I decided not to burn it.
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8:00 am 10-6-03
After a week of no itching, I awoke to a great itch, finding that the blotch had a new trail leading across the bottom of my foot, about 1" long. I again took the soldering iron and cauterized the end of the trail....OUCH again !!! The burn pain is gone along with the itch. Again, I am hoping......
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9:00 pm 10-7-03
The somewhat dimmed red line can be seen just above the ink line I made. The circle at the end is where the burned area is slightly inflamed. So far, so good. I will now just wait a week to see if another worm emerges from somewhere. Still hoping for the best.
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8:00 pm 10-8-03
I did not have to wait a week. He made another trail about an inch long today, which I discovered after the itching began again. I have begun to realize that he travels up and down the new trail, and has not been at the trail end when I burned it. So today I burned not only the trail end, but several places along it where I thought he might be. At present I am not uncomfortable at all. I will now wait to see if he emerges again in the next few days.
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10-12-03
The wait is over....he traveled about 1/4", then made a big red spot by circling around. I got out the soldering iron and burned 5 spots in the circle. Again, I hope I have finished him. I will wait and see. I am comfortable and hopeful. If he shows up again, I will try to kill him with a large menthol patch, hoping he will die before he can eat his way out from under it. All of the trails from his previous travels are healed, except for the last week.
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Wednesday 10-22-03
He came back on 10-14-03, but I have waited until today to take this poor picture. He's at the red spot, upper right. I went to the doctor on 10-20-03 and he gave me a prescription for the same medicine, (MEBENDAZOLE), but at a higher dosage. I expect now, hopefully, to get rid of my pest.
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9:30 pm Sat 10-25-03
I have taken 5 tablets and am out of them.Two days ago he stopped itching and has remained in the same spot on the side of my foot. The blotch is now a light pink and there are no new trails anywhere. I think he is done for. When the blotch is totally gone, then I'll be sure he's dead. I will then take the last picture and close this chapter.
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Friday 5:30 pm 10-31-03
For the last 2 days, the blotch was completely gone. I did not fill my refill, thinking I am OK. Then on the morn of the 29th, he woke me with a terrible itch..........he is back with a vengeance. I immediately placed my refill, waiting period is 48 hrs. Today, 10-31, I picked it up and took the first of only 4. I have itched all day and am waiting for the medicine to slow him down again.
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On 11-3, I took the last tablet........my foot looked clear. However, on 11-5, I awoke to the same terrible itch. I emailed my good doctor and he emailed a prescription in to the pharmacy with his PDA.....this time a different stronger med.
I took all six Albendazole tablets in 3 days, now there is no itch and the red is dimming. Hope this is really the end.....11-8-03
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It has been over a week and there is no sign of my friend, Houdini !!!
My ordeal is really over !!!