When you send your mutant sistahs a picture of swelling due to unknown origin- you know you will get a response. That response will be get yer arse to the ER ya stubborn git. I will pull the compromised...
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| The "chipcheek". |
You will be stubborn and point out all the reasons that you should NOT go to the ER- infection, viruses, jokes about a corona with a side of lyme disease. Then they will mutiny and call in the closest mutant visiting to physically take over. Especially since closest mutant is here on vacation and stopped by just to make us dinner. I will swear. They will swear. I will submit because I know it comes from a place of love and these things can turn ugly very fast, especially with a compromised immune system.
So you use your energy to get dressed with your shitty trishia socks and let your friends take you to Acute Care on a BEAUTIFUL Sunday afternoon to check on a swollen cheek that hurts like hell but is localized. We consult a professional who agrees that the infection does appear to in fact localized but some redness is starting and I was to head to the ER first thing if it got worse, if not into clinic first thing in the morning.
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| For those who take special care, it makes a difference. |
The night was long, the pain still local but the fluid started moving into the gum. Damn. damn damn. Phil sets the alarm- I tell him I'm fine at 3am, because at 3am- an ER visit would essentially just be waiting for clinic to open. We head into clinic and I get chased around with pain meds(thankfully) and a ticket to ENT. ENT has a very good doc who sees the painful lump, appreciates it and the long medical history that is mine. Another attending comes in to not so gently appreciate the lump- he declares if he was a betting man- there was tooth and root involvement and we could extract that and the abscess today. Its not the tooth. Its the cheek. A baby doc comes in and harshly pushes against the abscess. I cry. I generally don't but damn. "is it something I said?" WTF baby girl doc- you just sent pain from 7 to 10- it was something you DID. We get sent to oral surgery, for an oral surgeon to decide if ct, mri, or xray will tell "us" what we need to know. After a quick xray, we see there is no tooth involvement - just a nasty painful abscess. Back to ENT.
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| Ewww. |
Betting doc is less present. I'm morphined up and just want it all to stop. Nice doc is very apologetic, abscess needs to be drained and a drain left in to prevent further build up. Yep, familiar with this concept. The procedure sucked, but was a necessary evil. In between clinics- I'd bop into onc for more pain meds. good pain meds. yet borderline not good enough. ouch. We make an appointment for follow up. Which causes more stress than it should- but with docs who cause pain unnecessarily- it is tough to be brave. I'd decided I'd give him a piece of my mine and in front of baby doc too. A stage IV cancer patient is not looking for a fix to anything other than the immediate problem, which is often pain. One of the things we learn soon and often in medical land- is advocating for the right treatment on multiple levels. It is time consuming and exhausting. on multiple levels.
Be Brave from Snarky Cancer.
As it turns out, I did not get to see not-nice docs, so instead I praised good doc effusively. Because it matters. I know there are times where they have to fight the fight too and the patient sometimes gets lost. And its tough with pain to turn the swollen cheek. Yet it needs to be done. And then I delivered special shirts to my special caretakers, even though breathing is a little tougher again after the stress and my ankles were swollen and I was a teensy bit emotional. And For that we say: CANCERING is NOT fun. Do NOT recommend. After a quick 21st Anniversary/Valentine's Date at SPa Tripler- we came home and rested.
