Don't think about necrotizing fasciitis

Oh my god.
So, I'm off the IV anti-biotics, woohoo!
I don't have to go back to the hospital until thursday to make sure the oral antibiotics are doing their thing. Gave me some gauze and tape and stuff, told me to keep it clean.
Well, I haven't really gotten a look at my ear since it was all swollen. Well, it's basically back to normal size, but it certainly isn't normal.

My ear is all scabby and crusty, and there's this open wound in the back. Like I can see inside my ear lobe. It's fucking disgusting, and what's worse, it doesn't hurt. That freaks me out. Nerve damage? Is there more to come? Is this a travelling infection? Are the antibiotics doing anything, or is it just the major drainage I'm getting at the hospital that's making it feel better?

My dad had MRSA last year, and they are giving me the M that the SA is Resistant to, so, if my infection is methicillin resistant, than this round of treatment won't do much. Not until they break out that vancomycin would I get better. And from what I hear, that can be a pain in itself.

I don't want to get to know the hospital staff because I'm there so often, I want to get my ear cleaned up, so I can walk around without a big gauze ear-cone on. I want to use the phone with my right ear. I want to sleep on my right side without worrying about fucking up my ear or juicing up the pillow.

Ok, now that that's out of the way, NO MORE IV! Woo hoo! I had my first shower in days, and man, it was pretty good, except for the big hole in my ear. I didn't really want to shampoo on account of that. Still, nice to be cleanish.

And I got to Tim Horton's twice today, that was nice. I've hardly had any coffee since moving in with the lady. She doesn't normally keep instant on hand, and we have no wheels of our own for Tim's runs. I guess it makes the coffee I do drink all the more enjoyable.

**An hour or so later**

I have returned to the keyboard. I spoke with my girlfriend, she is anxious to check out my ear, despite my warnings against it. I was right hungry until I checked out my ear. Totally lost my appetite.

I don't think it's flesh-eating or MRSA necessarily, I mean, it does seem to be responding to treatment. I wonder still, if this is headset related. I've been wearing headsets for my various call centre jobs for years. Usually for around 7 hours a day, sometimes 6 days a week. That much time with a headset on can't be good for one's ears. But then again, maybe they did studies that show you can wear headsets for 25 years without any permanent damage done. I haven't done the research to know.

Whatever it is, I'll keep an eye on it, follow the doctor's instructions, and go back to the ER if it gets worse.

Hey, I just realized; I'm totally not thinking about my finances. I was pretty worried about that, but it certainly has taken a back seat, now that I've had a look at my ear. Also; I think we worked some things out, so we should be pretty good to go, if all goes well.

Doing the dishes now. Sort of soothing. I'm all focused on what I'm doing, clean this knife, dry this bowl, it's freeing in a way. Almost like meditation. I will look for this peace of mind whenever I do the dishes. Any repetitive task I guess. I wonder; could I go into a trance for work, and sort of, float through the shift, almost like sleeping? Would I want to if I could? Am i already doing that now?

I hear people outside my window. It is 1:30 on a Saturday night, it's not entirely surprising. There is a university within walking distance, and you know those students and their dangerous fun. I'm already pretty edgy from the whole ear thing...

They seem to have quieted down or moved along. Either works for me. Not in the mood to make friends.

There's things to be done here before I head to bed.
Clean-ups, and calls to make, and such.
May random find you well.
\m/

Earection, Eargina, Earouch

"Please dismantle,
all these phantom limbs.
It's the evidence,
of humans as ornaments humans as ornaments...."
-The Mars Volta

So today I went to the ER in my new city of residence for the first time. It wasn't too bad, waited about 2 hours or so before I got in to see a doctor, another hour after that and I was on my way.
The triage nurse had said, "You should see a doctor". I was a little confused, I mean, I was at the emergency room after all, didn't I already know this? Like, was there a chance I might not see a doctor still? I asked how long it would be, and she told me, "I don't know, but you should wait, because that's not going to go away on it's own". So, yeah, obviously I stuck around.

They took a look, and then moved me to a room with an adjustable table in it. They got me to lie on my side and inject my ear a few times with some anesthetic. It was weird, it felt like they had just poked my abscess, so it would leak, and then left for a while. I guess the anesthetic felt like a liquid moving down my neck. I didn't realize until I woke up not long ago that where my neck had been tense for days, was all numb. I was too focused on the ear job to notice at the time. Hopefully, they'll gimme another shot tomorrow.

So they cleaned out my ear, packed it with some mesh, a procedure I was familiar with, as members of my family have had abscesses in the past. They gave me two pills, and got me to wait a while for them to kick in before they hooked me up to IV antibiotics. The pills boost the serum level of penicillin-class drugs and slows their breakdown. Pretty much only used for bad infections.

When I woke up this morning, or I guess yesterday morning now, I had a sort of burning sensation in my ear, and there was a discolouration near the edge. I wondered what it was that causes cauliflower ear, and how did Van Gogh make out anyway? Then I sort of realized, if I don't get this looked at soon, I could be dealing with a permanent disfigurement, or worse, hearing loss.

Why do I hate the hospital so? When they said I'd need IV antibiotics for three days, at first I thought they meant I'd need to be admitted, and I was not pleased. Just yesterday, I received a verbal warning at work about my missing shifts as of late. I call in and such, and it's been because I was unable to work because I was stranded out of town, or I was too sick to work. In fairness though, I did end up stranded out of town quite a bit. But, as I told work, that shouldn't happen anymore, no travel plans in the near future.

But, I guess I'm feeling better now. My ear has been looked at, and I've got a way in tomorrow and the next day quickly, so they should have me fixed up pretty soon.

Well, I'm making some food now, and reading wikipedia while it cooks, so this is pretty much it.
Sorry for the grossness of the content, but hey, that was my day. Have a good one, may random find you well.
\m/

So I'm working my first shift at my new location.
All moved in and such.
Pretty dang good so far.

I kind of freaked out a bit the first day I came, I'm not sure if it was because I was so tired, or because I'm sick a bit, because I was all dehydrated or malnourished or what.

I had been pretty feverish for a few days, and a little vomitous too, so I hadn't been eating much. I had been coughing a lot too, which was making it hard to get much sleep. On top of all that, the night before I left, my right ear swelled up like a cartoon. It was giving me quite a headache, and I'd already been taking quite a bit of tylenol for my fever. Still is giving me a headache actually.

But yeah, I got really nervous when I came out of the grocery store and I couldn't find my girlfriend and our friend that had driven us there. I got angry because I was made to wait basically, which was ridiculous, but only in retrospect unfortunately. I guess I was also mad that I was freaking out and they were calm and laughing. This again, was ridiculous, but only now as I look back.

But besides that one incident, things have been pretty excellent. We're hanging out lots, eating well, talking all the time, getting along great. We're kinda making loose plans about the apartment and such, good fun. I was still pretty sick yesterday, I slept quite a bit, wasn't interested in heading outside much. Today, I was feeling a lot better. We walked out to get some groceries earlier. Condoms too. Better safe than sorry, so they says.

Ok, so I just broke a tooth eating a Nerds Rope candy. Probably a filling to be more accurate. Now, this was right below where I recently had three fillings, so it could be that one was too large, and wore on the tooth below it. That making the nerds just the back-breaking straw of the situation. My health has not been the best as of late admittedly. I could probably stand to drink more milk, among other things.

I sort of lost my train of thought, I'm all concerned with this tooth now. It's sharp, probably going to cut my tongue. When will I make it to the dentist I wonder. Ahh well, I'm done work now, I should go consult with the lady. May random find you well.