Possibly non-happy medical stuff
Dec. 24th, 2001 05:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johnpalmerOkay... so it looks like the problems with AT&T Broadband might finally be fixed-when-they-are-fixed, instead of "never fixed because no one is going to work on them."
They said "within 72 hours", and they said "the tech will call after the work is done." I'm not trusting either statement, but I can hope.
Okay... no more ranting about AT&T Broadband for a little while.
Can I rant about the infection I picked up for just a bit, though?
I did learn one thing... next time I get an infection in my mouth, I'm going to a doctor if it doesn't fix itself in 2-3 days.
There's a disadvantage to being the son of a nurse... you often feel more competent at doing some things, and maybe more comfortable doing things you shouldn't, like trying to drain an infection in your mouth.
(By "infection", I might mean "abcess"; I honestly don't know. But "a very sore, clearly inflamed spot that, if drained, will become a rapidly healing cut")
(by "drained", I mean something you don't want to know. Really.)
I don't know if it started in my mouth and migrated to my ear/sinuses, or if, as the doctor suspected, it was an ear/sinus infection (there's a reason they have "ears, nose, and throat" doctors) that migrated to a sore spot in my mouth. I do know I don't like it.
I'm going to set myself up as a big whiner here, I suppose... but I've taken *TWO* full days worth of antibiotics so far... and it's only now at the "obviously healing rapidly" stage. Usually it's after the first two doses that I'm feeling the microbes running away in horror, squeezing their protoplasm around so they have tails to tuck between their legs.
Okay... I guess I should admit that I first had symptoms of this around Wednesday of the week before last, and I ignored it until Wednesday of last week, and only started antibiotics very late Friday night (make that "early Saturday morning" for you 'normal' folks who sleep at night and work during the day). But that's only because I don't get infections!
Okay, yes, once in a while, I do.
And yes, when I feel soreness and tenderness radiating from a point that's inflamed, I know damn well that I should do something about it.
And when that infected spot seems to be the center of a pounding headache - yes, I had a pounding headache centered in my mouth - that's a good sign that the infection has a good foothold and is going to have to be forcibly evicted.
But that doesn't mean I was ignoring obvious signs of ill-health because of denial.
Okay, okay... it does. Sigh. That *WAS* pretty stupid.
And yeah, requiring more than two days of antibiotics before the infection seems to be 'on the run' is proof of that. So, next time I see a dentist, I'm insisting that my sockets from wisdom-tooth removal be carefully checked. I feel certain that this was centered around one of those sockets... and I'm wondering if the dentists have seen something before, and dismissed it as a "well, obviously it's not bothering him". Well, it was... I've gotten these infections a few times before, but they've always been kinda small, and I've drained them after a couple of days, and bang, they were gone. But I'm not taking any chances here; my teeth were hurting badly enough that I was wondering if I could get an infected/abcessed tooth without a cavity to blame for it. I've seen more than enough people with that problem to decide I can do without it for myself, thank you very much.
They said "within 72 hours", and they said "the tech will call after the work is done." I'm not trusting either statement, but I can hope.
Okay... no more ranting about AT&T Broadband for a little while.
Can I rant about the infection I picked up for just a bit, though?
I did learn one thing... next time I get an infection in my mouth, I'm going to a doctor if it doesn't fix itself in 2-3 days.
There's a disadvantage to being the son of a nurse... you often feel more competent at doing some things, and maybe more comfortable doing things you shouldn't, like trying to drain an infection in your mouth.
(By "infection", I might mean "abcess"; I honestly don't know. But "a very sore, clearly inflamed spot that, if drained, will become a rapidly healing cut")
(by "drained", I mean something you don't want to know. Really.)
I don't know if it started in my mouth and migrated to my ear/sinuses, or if, as the doctor suspected, it was an ear/sinus infection (there's a reason they have "ears, nose, and throat" doctors) that migrated to a sore spot in my mouth. I do know I don't like it.
I'm going to set myself up as a big whiner here, I suppose... but I've taken *TWO* full days worth of antibiotics so far... and it's only now at the "obviously healing rapidly" stage. Usually it's after the first two doses that I'm feeling the microbes running away in horror, squeezing their protoplasm around so they have tails to tuck between their legs.
Okay... I guess I should admit that I first had symptoms of this around Wednesday of the week before last, and I ignored it until Wednesday of last week, and only started antibiotics very late Friday night (make that "early Saturday morning" for you 'normal' folks who sleep at night and work during the day). But that's only because I don't get infections!
Okay, yes, once in a while, I do.
And yes, when I feel soreness and tenderness radiating from a point that's inflamed, I know damn well that I should do something about it.
And when that infected spot seems to be the center of a pounding headache - yes, I had a pounding headache centered in my mouth - that's a good sign that the infection has a good foothold and is going to have to be forcibly evicted.
But that doesn't mean I was ignoring obvious signs of ill-health because of denial.
Okay, okay... it does. Sigh. That *WAS* pretty stupid.
And yeah, requiring more than two days of antibiotics before the infection seems to be 'on the run' is proof of that. So, next time I see a dentist, I'm insisting that my sockets from wisdom-tooth removal be carefully checked. I feel certain that this was centered around one of those sockets... and I'm wondering if the dentists have seen something before, and dismissed it as a "well, obviously it's not bothering him". Well, it was... I've gotten these infections a few times before, but they've always been kinda small, and I've drained them after a couple of days, and bang, they were gone. But I'm not taking any chances here; my teeth were hurting badly enough that I was wondering if I could get an infected/abcessed tooth without a cavity to blame for it. I've seen more than enough people with that problem to decide I can do without it for myself, thank you very much.
