Well I’ve ha a fun time.
When last we met, I had this red patch of skin on my leg that felt and looked scalded. It was smooth, red, tender to the touch, and rather disturbing.
Because like, what the fuck happened? Where did this shit come from? And what did I do to deserve having my body fall apart like this?
Well, yesterday there was a new wrinkle.
When I woke up yesterday. the red area had eyes.
Well, two blue-gray dots that looked kinda like eyes, anyhow.
Aaaand as the day progressed, those dots kept swelling and swelling, clearly inflating like some kind of Cronenbergian water balloon.
So I started contemplating a trip to the frggin ER. Never fun, sometimes necessary.
Originally I was going to wait till today but around midnight last night, I noticed that it was swelling up really fast. I was afraid the thing was going to pop, and I know from my experience with a carbuncle on the back of my neck many years ago that when something like that pops, it can push a ton of toxic infected goop into your bloodstream and kill you in a horribly painful and disgusting way.
Dunno if that was in the cards this time, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
So I got Julian to drive me to the ER. Thus began the Epic of Waiting.
Got there around 1 am.
Was seen by a doctor (Doctor Fong, which totally sounds like a Seventies porno) at around 6 am.
Five fucking hours.
But, you see, they only have one doctor on duty between 2 am and 6 am, because apparently the lives of people who get hurt between those hours aren’t worth shit.
And they were really slammed last night.
I was okay until around 4:30 am. I dozed in bed. I wasn’t very comfortable. My back was killing me because that’s when whatever mechanism turns my low intestines being gassy into excruciating back pain via muscular tension chose that time to kick in.
Because really,. why inflict only one kind of misery on me?
Around 4:30 am, however, my brain got bored with just coping passively with my situation so it started to panic.
I grew increasingly agitated by and angry with the lack of progress, and I sort of convinced myself that if the thing popped I would die, and that therefore these PEOPLE were going to NEGLECT me until it KILLED me….
Let’s just say a lot of issues got triggered.
Man, it sucks to be crazy.
Eventually the doctor arrived, and did what I knew he would do, which was to lance the swollen bit so it could drain.
That was a relief.
A nurse then put an absorbent dressing on it as it was still draining, and gave me some IV antibiotics, and I will be doing the daily trip for more until I get better.
Just like way back when I had that massive infection on my leg.
At least this one isn’t nearly that bad.
After they let me go, I took a cab home.
More after the break.
I hunger to hunger
Right now, my appetite is gone, daddio.
As in, Splitsville. population me. The best that I can say is that it at least isn’t negative appetite – the thought of food or eating doesn’t disgust me.
And I can make myself eat, but only in very small amounts.
It’s a strange sensation. Like my digestive tract has turned to wood. There is a weirdly solid feeling to it, and it makes me feel artificially full.
Luckily, if I go long enough without eating, a tiny bit of appetite shows up and I can get more than a few nibbles of food in.
Otherwise I would be in trouble. Diabetics, even out of control ones like me, should not go without eating. It can destabilize things completely.
Ironically, it might be my chronically high blood sugar that is easing me through this period by providing a sort of blood sugar buffer.
Probably not. But it’s an amusing thought.
I wonder if the loss of appetite is a side effect of the IV antibiotic they gave me at the ER. They told me it’ name but it was like syllable stew, I don’t retain it.
Maybe, but I doubt it. My appetite has been fading away slowly over the last week or so. My current state is just a continuation of that trend.
It’s funny – I have had IBS for so long that I barely register lack of appetite as a symptom unless it gets this bad.
My gut does weird shit all the time.
I try not to reward it with attention.
Don’t stiff me
I am also experiencing body wide muscle stiffness.
Boy, the hits just keep on coming, don’t they?
This seems to happen to me now and then. It often creeps up on me. I don’t know anything is wrong until it’s time to stand up and suddenly I’m the Tin Man in desperate need of an oilcan.
This is quite possibly a serious problem. But I have so many.
Too many. If I was to go to Doctor Chao and tell him all my symptoms, he would completely overwhelmed. Heck, I bet WebMD would crash given my list.
All my medical pigeons are coming home to roost at the same time and quite frankly it’s hard not to conclude that they will take me out soon, either individually or as a group.
I wish I could just go to the hospital and surrender myself to their tender mercies. Tell them to test for everything because I am not a reliable witness to my symptoms.
“Mister Bertrand! Why didn’t you tell us your spleen was on fire!?!”
“Oh right…. that…. ”
The stiffness feels like something inflammatory. Why it only happens some of the time is a mystery. It could well be a food allergy.
Next time I notice it has started, I will have to think about what I ate recently. That can get complicated given all the various trail mixes I eat.
But what the fuck. Stiffness sucks.
I leave making a crude and obvious joke about that as an exercise for the student.
I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.