Let Me Out! (Part 2)

December 6 2013,

** Note: This is the second part of a four part blog **
Subacute Thyroiditis (Part 1)
Let Me Out! (Part 2)
Not So Fast (Part 3)
Run - Don't Walk - (Part 4)

(Note: Portion of this blog entry may not be suitable for all audiences, including those who are squimish)

Since the last blog entry, a lot has happened. Blisters and pocket of bubbles started showing in the neck area. Finally the Saturday after Thanksgiving, at 11: 45 PM, it burst.  It was slowly oozing crap, and smelled like sickness. It was bad. We sprung into action to get to the E.R. Believe it or not, I asked myself if I should take a shower before going to the E.R. because I had not taken one earlier. Oh well, too late.

Cell phone, check.
Cell phone charger check.
Insurance card, license, credit card check.
Slippers, pajama pants check.
Roll of toilet paper and trash bag, check.

Out the door we went.

5 minutes later we were at the E.R.

I stumbled in and looked for somebody. Plastic bag and roll of toilet paper in one hand, and with the other hand I held the toilet paper underneath my neck to stop the ooze. I informed the nurse that stuff was oozing out my neck. She told me to sit. 3 minutes later, hubby showed up after parking the car. 30 seconds later I was in the E.R. bed seeing the E.R. doctor.

The E.R. doctor looked at it and kept shaking his head. He did an incision on the neck to relieve the pressure and nasty juices came out. According to hubby it was at least a fistful of stuff. This continued until I could finally swallow. He also took a lovely picture of my neck.

2:30 AM. We're going to have to send you to another hospital.

3:00 AM. They packed me up and off I went into Boston which was just 20 minutes away.

I sent hubby home because there was nothing else that he could do.

3:30 AM. The pressure around my neck had increased again and it was hard to swallow. There was a lot of buzzing in the E.R. room. The doctor took a look at the neck and left to her station. For the next 2 hours or so of pain, she was on the phone coordinating surgery. Crap. Surgery. Hubby's not here. Make sure to tell O.R. doctor to call hubby. Make sure to tell O.R. doctor to call hubby. This kept repeating over and over.

6:00 AM. Anesthesiologist.

7:30 AM. O.R.

10:00 AM. "Recovery room".

So what did they do in the O.R.? They slit my neck area and created 4 drains to drain the ooze out. They look like rubber cow utters hanging from my neck. Don't worry, it's covered with gauze. Basically I am walking around with this 5 inch ball of gauze around my neck.

Come Sunday evening, my right side of the face was even more enflamed. Told doctors, everyone scrambled. O.R. again was the question. Finally on Monday morning I got a CT scan, a few hours later, they say, no O.R. and gave me steroids through the I.V. With the steroids, the cheek area decompressed some, but the neck area is still touch and hard. In the clear with no surgery.

The key to all this is what the hell is this thing in my neck.

Sunday, took culture of the mysterious thing.
Monday, nothing growing.
Tuesday, nothing growing.
Wednesday, wait... something growing.

Hey, something growing. According to the infectious disease lady, it is something that grows by air, and is not suppose to be in the neck area, and has somehow gone from the mouth area to the neck area.

I had three questions for her:
Did I get it from someone? No.
Can I give it to others? No.
It is bad hygiene? No.

Thursday, still growing, but no news on what the hell this thing is.

The main doctor came in Thursday morning to check on me. Blah, blah, blah.... progress good... blah blah blah... sit and wait... don't know anything yet.

You know what I was dying to ask him? I wanted to ask him if I can take a shower and wash my hair. Can you believe it? The answer was yes, but just be careful with soap getting down the neck. OMG, that made my day. You don't know how great taking a shower is after not taking one for 5 days.

So now it is a waiting game. I have three different antibiotics being pumped inside me continuously since they don't know what this thing is. Once they know what it is, they can pin point which antibiotics to feed me. As of right now, my right cheek and right neck area is still enlarged, and they're trying to reduce it through the antibiotics.

You ask, so what happened to the subacute thyroiditis? That's been put on the side of the burner for now.

Quilt and Bitch