bugs bites and infection

Today we had an appointment with Jacob's rheumatologist and Orthopedic. It was good timing because we had another issue come up over the weekend. About a week ago Jacob had got about 7 mosquito bites around his knee. They were really itchy throughout the week. By about Friday they started to look infected. Was this because of his immune supression? I decided to hold off on the his Methotrexate because they were starting to look really bad. By Saturday and Sunday the area around a couple of the bites got very red and hot. His entire knee seemed to be swollen. The rheumatologist thinks it is a staph infection. She put him on a antibiotic and wants me to watch it closely. He is not to get any of his meds until this clears. We want his immune system to fight off this infection. She wants to see him back on Thursday. Jacob is in a lot of pain tonight and was actually saying he feels like it is his arthritis. His knee is stiff. He was begging me to give him his shot. Being 10, he cannot understand why I am not giving him the medicine to help his arthritis. I am hoping we can restart the meds soon. Without them we are risking a flare.

We saw the orthopedic today for the 6 month follow-up of the scoliosis. Jacob had his back xrayed again. The curvature of his spine has increased by about 3 degrees the doctor said. He still thinks it is in a "acceptable" range. I have to say, when I saw the xray it looked like a HUGE curve!! We are to return in 6 months to rexray the spine. He is also going to xray his legs to check the leg length discrepancy also.

This picture I just took yesterday of his knees. You can see the bites. The redness is difficult to see at this angle. The left knee is the swollen one. You can't see any definition of his left knee cap.