All About G

So this past week was quite the adventure, a.k.a. the worst experience of my entire life.

It started out innocently enough. Sunday evening, I had a nagging pain in my coccyx. For those of you non-health-affiliates, the coccyx is the tailbone. Anyway, I had a nagging pain in my coccyx. I didn’t think much of it, because the pain felt like the pain I get when I sometimes plop hard on it, at least enough to bruise it. So I brushed it off.

Monday came and went, and it was around Tuesday that I noticed something was wrong. The pain wasn’t getting better. In fact, it was getting worse… much worse. In the shower, I decided to do my usual awesome assessment. I discovered a lump (omg TUMOR?!?!) and hurt like hell with even the lightest of touches. I began to wonder if I didn’t just bruise it and instead shattered it.

I tried a lot of different things throughout Wednesday. I couldn’t walk without a limp. Just moving hurt. Just standing there hurt. And I had no idea what it was that was causing me so much increasing pain. I tried looking in the mirror. I even tried to take a pic. Yea. Totally failed.

Wednesday night I finally decided that I needed to get it looked at because chances were that I would be in too much pain to move if I waited an extra day. And that’s how I found myself lying on my side and cursing the fact that even that hurt, in a room, in the ER.

I spent the following 20-ish minutes (at least) listening to the kid next to me and his grandmother and father. The kid wanted to go walk around and stuff, and the adults were trying to nicely convince him that he would be better off staying in bed. I wondered to myself if they were that nice to him behind closed doors.

Anyway after waiting for what felt like an eternity (with friend, Drew, who came to keep me company and whom I’m very pissed at for the time being), the doctor, Debra, came in. She asked me some questions, I answered them, and then she took a look. She hadn’t even been poking around for two seconds when she said “Yep. You have a cyst.”

So I asked her “Well, can you take it out?”

And she explained to me that she needed to drain it and that it’d be painful. I didn’t give two fucks, so I then asked “Can you take care of it?”

And so she did. (She moved me into a private room for this, btw)

My advice to you? Don’t ever get a cyst.

So, she had me strip the bottom half of my being and lie prone on the bed. There were some absorbing pads beneath me. And she was nice enough to give me a heated blanket. It was SO WARM! I want one for Christmas.

So what felt like another 30 minutes later, which was spent listening to the surgical tables being rolled over to right on the other side of the curtain, and wondering if I was going to regret what I was getting myself into (Drew, by this point, had been sent off to the waiting room by the doctor). And then, she came in with the table, with all sorts of tools and whatnot.

At that point, I was thinking to myself “… oh shit.”

So she was explaining what she was going to do, and it reassured me somewhat. It didn’t sound that bad… right?

WRONG.

I learned the cold, harsh truth when she stuck the long ass needle in (to inject some “numbing agents” underneath the cyst). And I’m assuming it wouldn’t be that painful if it wasn’t infected. I’ve given blood with longer, thicker needles, and that didn’t hurt ANYWHERE as bad. I started half-yelling (though with my face stuffed in the pillow that they so graciously gave me, it sound more like I was death-moaning), and half-assed bit down. But, I’m proud to say, my eyes didn’t water at all. Hell yea, I’m not as wimpy as I thought I was.

So according to Debra, I “have good timing” apparently. Originally, she was worried that the cyst wasn’t “fluctuant” if that word even exists… basically ready to drain. She discovered REAL fast that it was ready to drain, when, as she stuck the needle in, pus and other generally disgusting crap spurted out. I didn’t see it, but I sure as hell FELT it when it ran down my leg. IT WAS GROSS!

And that wasn’t even the worst of it. Debra then grabbed a scalpel, since the “numbing agent” was in effect, and cut a slit into the cyst. That wasn’t too painful. But when she took the “numbing agent” and stuck it INTO THE CYST, that felt amazing let me tell you.

After that, she began to squeeze the cyst to push as much of the crap as she could out. And after that, she packed the cyst with gauze. That also hurt more than anything. And I thought I couldn’t walk before? Ha! I was perfectly mobile before I got the damn thing drained.

Anyway, she gave me a shit ton of drugs to nuke my body with. Two different kinds of antibiotics (3x and 4x a day, respectively), and a painkiller (that makes me nauseous as hell). And they sent me on my way.

Since then, I’ve been getting repacked daily at the Health Center. It’s never a pleasant experience, but I noticed as the day go by, the pain is lessening. Which is good. I don’t want to have to deal with this anymore than necessary. And the folks taking care of me have been telling me that I’ve been healing really well too, which is good.

And if I get a relapse, someone shoot me.

Comments (0) Sep 19 2010

No pun intended >.>

Anyway, it’s about 7 days, give a few hours, since I sustained my concussion. My follow-up for my concussion says I still have a concussion. Dr. Getzin recommend mental and physical rest, of course, and advised me to push back my midterms thank God; I was worried about that. I had taken my Bioethics midterm last Thursday and I couldn’t finish it . He said “no exercise”, which I knew and had already been doing with frustration (I hate not playing soccer). I still get headaches, and they worsen when I have to really concentrate on something. The sunlight hurts too, and not just my head but my eyes. Sleeping does help and I should do more of that, but since I’m going home in a couple of days, and since I don’t have a life outside of the house and Nat’s place, I think sleep won’t be an issue.

… Crap. I shouldn’t have stopped typing this to pull up a song… now I can’t remember what I was gonna write. Yea, my short-term memory has improved, but it’s not back to the way it was. Um… yea. Since I don’t remember what else I was going to say, I guess I’m done with this blog post =/

Comments (0) Mar 09 2010

Probably not what you think.

So I have a concussion. I’m about to go to the ER to get it checked out. Simply because I panicked about going to sleep. Though I guess one can never be more safe than sorry. But I didn’t want to turn this into a hospital visit because I didn’t think it was that bad.

Well, here’s what happened; last night during our intramural soccer championship game (in which we won YAY!), I was playing defense on the girl who had the ball. Sam, her name, has a really powerful drive, and is one of their better scorers. So she went to take a shot, and I got in front of her. I’ve blocked shots before, hitting them off of my legs, shoulder, back, etc. It’s nothing new to me. So I turned around, hunching my shoulders to tense up my back (which was probably a good thing, because if I hadn’t, I’m pretty sure the concussion would’ve been a lot worse), and I expected the ball to hit my back. Well, instead, it hit the back of my head.

I vaguely remember taking a staggered step forward from the force of the impact, and I managed to sit down on the floor without falling. I remember there was someone on my right side, and then someone on my left (there might have been at least one more person). I could only look straight ahead; I couldn’t even turn my head to look at who was around me. Or maybe I did, but I don’t remember. I don’t know how I got back on my feet, and I don’t know whether or not I got off the court with/without assistance. But my head felt light-headed and in a daze, and I had a slight pressure-ache (the barely there headaches). I managed through last night just fine.

Today went by in a blur; I can’t remember what we talked about in Spanish, and I don’t remember what we went over in Assessment. The only thing I could tell you about AT Tech was that my injury RP was a patellar subluxation, and Jess was my clinician. I can’t really remember the other injuries nor can I remember which assignment was to whom. I even forgot something that Rose, my professor, told me, seconds after hearing her say it.

I’ve been told by nearly everyone I talk to that I should get looked at (though I didn’t think it was a big deal… did I say that already?). I figured I’d do it tomorrow. Nick, one of my coworkers, told me that sleeping with a concussion, wasn’t a good idea. And about an hour ago, my headache got slightly worse. So I panicked slightly, and called the Cayuga Medical Center for consultation. The lady told me I should go over just to play it safe, so I’m about to go right now. I don’t think it’s anything terrible, but I just want to make sure I don’t accidentally die over night. I guess it’s true that you shouldn’t take head injuries lightly. Anyway, I’ll update you all on what’s going on tomorrow.

(I find it slightly ironic that it’s been almost a year since my last visit.)

Comments (0) Mar 04 2010

Thank gawd it’s not broken. Though I’m not really good to go either. I dealt a good deal of damage to the soft tissue in my foot, so I’m to get the swelling down as best as I can, and I have a follow up appointment with Laurie (the orthopedic PA who saw me) in two weeks. It’s awesome, because Laurie was an ATC at IC, and she taught P&C so we had a nice little discussion about that good stuff, let me tell you.

The pain’s gotten better, but the bruises sure haven’t, lol. It sorta looks like death. I’ll take a pic or two and I’ll post another time.

Comments (0) Mar 31 2009

[caption id="attachment_475" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="foot comparison"][/caption]

Wonderful stuff. Wonderful.

Comments (0) Mar 30 2009