#308 - the human body is so gross

i'm sick of this. i guess i've been lucky to have been pretty healthy so far in life, and have avoided major accidents or whatever, so when these weird medical things happen to me i have a hard time taking them in stride. just 11 months ago i got shingles, which was the worst medical thing to happen to me since i had chicken pox as a kid (or maybe when i got slammed in the face by a surfboard, i had bleeding sinuses, but that one was kinda cool). shingles sucked. a lot. and now, almost one year later i've got this gross infected cyst in the exact same spot as the shingles. it's probably my fault. after the shingles was over i noticed that weird lump, but it didn't hurt or anything, it was just there. so i figured it was just some scar tissue or whatever. i suppose i could have gone to the doctor right then and have him take a look at it (or take it out), but i thought it was kind of lame going to a doctor and saying, "here's a weird bump, what should i do?" although, in retrospect, i think that's probably exactly the type of thing you SHOULD see the doctor for huh?

anyway, fast-forward to last wednesday, that bump started to hurt, which was annoying, and i started to think about finally asking the doctor about it. well, i hardly had time to think that over because within the next two days that fricken' thing swelled up, turned red (that's what she said), and started to hurt like a bastard. yesterday i couldn't even stand up straight. it was like someone had sewn a marble under my skin and every twist of my torso made the skin stretch and hurt. gross. now all i can think of is all that bacteria and gross stuff swirling there under my skin and it completely grosses me out.

so i've quarantined myself indoors this weekend (as to not upset it, the cyst) because when i called the doctor's office on friday morning they told me i'd have to wait until monday to come in. which i figured was probably just procedure on friday morning, but now (on sunday morning) i think it's a load of crap. couldn't they have just squeezed me in for a quick lancing? i mean, don't doctors keep some time open for emergencies. well, i guess this isn't really an "emergency," but shouldn't you NOT wait to take care of medical procedures? but i may be over-reacting. perhaps you need to wait for a lance-able time to take care of an infected cyst... except how would the doctor's office know when they set up my appointment without seeing it? i wonder, if it had gone to the hospital or something would they have done it? hmm... i guess i don't know much about how the medical business works, but hell, as long as my doctor just gets rid of that thing by tomorrow i'll be happy.

anyway, this post was gross, but educational. i had no idea how common infected cysts were, and had i known i might have decided to go to the doctor much sooner, rather than stick to positive thinking and telling myself it'll get better on it's own. so if you or anyone you know has some weird bump, just go get it checked out and save yourself the trouble. i really should've gone to the doctor when i first noticed the non-infected cyst after the shingles was over. but it's too late for that, it's made its' presence known... and now i just want to get the damn thing outta me!

(that's what she said)