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it's time for some more whiskey
2019-May-10, Friday 12:47 pmSome days, it's bad to be tactile sensitive.
I got back from the doctor clinic a while ago. I officially have an abscess on my back. It's a big one, and it's infected. When I arrived at the clinic, I had a 99.9F/37.7C temperature with high-ish blood pressure from the painful infection. Then the doctor spent about half an hour after opening it up, torturing me to press material out of the deep wound.
I made today's appointment back on Monday morning when I first noticed that something was wrong. I didn't think it was urgent. It got significantly worse and painful over the week, though. I left work early on Thursday to go home and drink some whiskey to dull the pain. Funny, but the Dr. today told me to go home and drink some beer to de-stress after our torture session too. I'm having another whiskey now. It's medicinal, after all! :)
The physician stuffed some gauze into the wound with a tag hanging out of it and my back, sort of like a candle wick to help fluid make its way out of the abscess. I'm supposed to massage the area with a warm compress a few times a day to help nudge material around to make it easier to get it out when I return next week for another "treatment" (translation: torture session).
Ranked, I choose this order for the most painful events that I have voluntarily submitted to:
Update 2019 May 13 Monday 12:40pm:
Torture session #2 is complete. No lidocain this time, but it was still less painful overall than last time. He forced a lot more junk out of the abscess, then he re-stuffed the wound and told me to come back again on Friday. I think this whole mess would be a little less annoying if it wasn't in the middle of my back where I can't reach anything.
Saturday was really quite good for progress. Much of the pain went away, and my temperature went from 100.2F/37.9C down to my body's "normal" temperature of 98.3F/36.8C. Then the pain started creeping back up on Sunday, and I didn't get but a few hours of sleep last night.
Anyway. I haven't had whiskey since Friday, but I need another one after today's session. Time for a nap, if I can get it.
Update 2019 May 15 Wednesday 11:10pm:
It's making progress. It's not nearly as painful "at rest" as it was last week. I still have the open wound, though. Pictures (385x600 pixels only) at these links. They're not awful, but they're behind links so the squeamish don't have to look.
For most of the last week, I've had about 4 hours of sleep each night. Luckily, my sick leave was basically maxed out and going to waste, so I'm taking this whole week off. Good thing, since I'm not exactly concentrating very well now for lack of sleep. Sitting in chairs is problematic too. Trying to sit on the couch is almost comical. I contort into weird shapes so that the pressure on my skin doesn't tug "just so" and cause pain. And still I have to shift position every 15 minutes or so. Trying to sleep is a similar exercise.
I very much hope that the doctor squeezes the last junk out of it on Friday, so it can heal shut finally.
Update 2019 June 10 Monday 6:03pm:
Well, it's still not healed. The incision sealed up about 2 weeks ago, but my body made a second exit point for fluids, and it's still producing "stuff". That's a full month with a hole in my body. I'm ready for it to be over.
I got back from the doctor clinic a while ago. I officially have an abscess on my back. It's a big one, and it's infected. When I arrived at the clinic, I had a 99.9F/37.7C temperature with high-ish blood pressure from the painful infection. Then the doctor spent about half an hour after opening it up, torturing me to press material out of the deep wound.
I made today's appointment back on Monday morning when I first noticed that something was wrong. I didn't think it was urgent. It got significantly worse and painful over the week, though. I left work early on Thursday to go home and drink some whiskey to dull the pain. Funny, but the Dr. today told me to go home and drink some beer to de-stress after our torture session too. I'm having another whiskey now. It's medicinal, after all! :)
The physician stuffed some gauze into the wound with a tag hanging out of it and my back, sort of like a candle wick to help fluid make its way out of the abscess. I'm supposed to massage the area with a warm compress a few times a day to help nudge material around to make it easier to get it out when I return next week for another "treatment" (translation: torture session).
Ranked, I choose this order for the most painful events that I have voluntarily submitted to:
- First place goes to my first sinus surgery and getting the sutures taken out of my sinus cavity a few days after surgery. That... was like getting my brains and eyeballs yanked through my nose with a crochet hook. Thankfully, it was also the briefest of the pains.
- Second place goes to the electromyograms that eventually confirmed my nerve damage. Those are basically hour-long torture sessions where they electrocute you repeatedly. Each time, I had to peel the paper from my back that was supposed to be on the exam table underneath me. I sweated so much from the stress that I soaked the paper, and it stuck to my back.
- Third place is today's session. The injected lidocaine helped only the superficial stuff. It did nothing for the agonizing "pressure" from the deep pushing on inflamed, infected flesh. He injected me a second time deeper into the wound, I think, when the gauze stuffing felt like it was burning me.
Update 2019 May 13 Monday 12:40pm:
Torture session #2 is complete. No lidocain this time, but it was still less painful overall than last time. He forced a lot more junk out of the abscess, then he re-stuffed the wound and told me to come back again on Friday. I think this whole mess would be a little less annoying if it wasn't in the middle of my back where I can't reach anything.
Saturday was really quite good for progress. Much of the pain went away, and my temperature went from 100.2F/37.9C down to my body's "normal" temperature of 98.3F/36.8C. Then the pain started creeping back up on Sunday, and I didn't get but a few hours of sleep last night.
Anyway. I haven't had whiskey since Friday, but I need another one after today's session. Time for a nap, if I can get it.
Update 2019 May 15 Wednesday 11:10pm:
It's making progress. It's not nearly as painful "at rest" as it was last week. I still have the open wound, though. Pictures (385x600 pixels only) at these links. They're not awful, but they're behind links so the squeamish don't have to look.
Before the doctor, Thursday. Painful bulge.
After the doctor, Wednesday (today). Open wound, much flatter, the "wick" fell out today. I think it was white gauze on Monday? I've been doing the yucky exercises the doctor wants, so it works stuff out of the deep recesses... like the wick, apparently.
After the doctor, Wednesday (today). Open wound, much flatter, the "wick" fell out today. I think it was white gauze on Monday? I've been doing the yucky exercises the doctor wants, so it works stuff out of the deep recesses... like the wick, apparently.
For most of the last week, I've had about 4 hours of sleep each night. Luckily, my sick leave was basically maxed out and going to waste, so I'm taking this whole week off. Good thing, since I'm not exactly concentrating very well now for lack of sleep. Sitting in chairs is problematic too. Trying to sit on the couch is almost comical. I contort into weird shapes so that the pressure on my skin doesn't tug "just so" and cause pain. And still I have to shift position every 15 minutes or so. Trying to sleep is a similar exercise.
I very much hope that the doctor squeezes the last junk out of it on Friday, so it can heal shut finally.
Update 2019 June 10 Monday 6:03pm:
Well, it's still not healed. The incision sealed up about 2 weeks ago, but my body made a second exit point for fluids, and it's still producing "stuff". That's a full month with a hole in my body. I'm ready for it to be over.