Thanks for that! Didn't mean to derail the thread but it's reassuring that others experience the same thing. I'm always careful about sterility and the itching eventually settled down. Appreciate you easing my mind.
the full progress line visible in these posts is the part that actually helps people calibrate what to expect along the way - the finish line looks achievable when you can see the intermediate steps that made it real. well done and congrats on finishing what a lot of people start but don't complete