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As some who avoids using antibiotics I recently had an incident that showed me what they can do.

A couple of months ago on a Saturday night, I had to drive myself to the VA across town for the emergency room, with a 103 fever that by midnight, I realized wasn’t going away, and plus the swelling was getting scary.

I hope they get a grip on all this abuse.

I refused to let them check me in for the night but they did put me on an intravenous antibiotic feed, I don’t recall ever experiencing that, and it was magic, within an hour I was a different man, I was really impressed by modern medicine, and the two weeks of antibiotics afterward really fixed up whatever it was, unless the short 103 fever of a week ago was related.

In 2003, I cut the pinky side of my left hand open on a rusty nail while getting out of my car. I cut an artery, had it stitched and week later, infection. I was in hospital 5 days with it including surgery. I almost lost part or all of my hand, but I got away with some nerve damage only and perhaps I might have a little arthritis, not sure. It was strep that infected me. Along with the surgery, I was connected to anti-biotics, a then new one, for 24 hours straight for the first day or two and then for half an hour every six hours. When I was hooked all the time, lugging that dang IV tree was a pain. I could have been out in 3 days but the county infectious doctor kept me in until I was cleared. I just sat around watching Civil War documentaries, listening to Rush and Art Bell and watching the Columbia investigation (I went in hospital the day after the space shuttle Columbia cracked up).

BTW, my car insurance medical covered it since it involved the car (getting out). I thanked God since at the time I thought the guy I was working for took care of our medical insurance but he did not, but that's another story.

BTW, I think they need to cut back on anti-biotic use and go with other means such as sulfa like my mother's oncologist did with her infection.