I woke up today knowing I would need to call off work and head to the urgent care to get looked at so when my alarm for work went off I picked up my phone and informed my boss what was happening.
Before I could even pick up the phone I knew something way worse was happening. I could hardly breathe; my stupid tonsil got so large it was blocking my airwaves. I tried to calm it down by taking a very hot bath so my neck could be under the water. This is very affective for throat issues which happen to me 3 times a year. This was the worst of it, this was a matter for the ER not urgent care.
Back story: I have had bad tonsils for as far back as I can remember. They were never removed because doctors use to say they would only take them out if you had certain amount of flare ups a year and I was just under the mark. As I grew so did they. Somewhere around ’05 I was hospitalized for the tonsils over night. Until this morning that was worst of it. At the time I asked the doctor to remove them and he said as a grown up you have years and years of scars from the infections so I would be out of commission for a month. As a person with a shitty job I couldn’t do that and I have continued to deal.
…So, my wife, the kiddo and myself all get in the car and go. When we show up at the ER there was one person in front of us at 9am. After they were helped we were…kinda. They didn’t have any beds available so they put us in the hallway. That is understandable but we stayed in this hallway for 5 hours and they never got us a real room. I don’t know what goes on in the background of hospitals and I don’t think there was malice but come on, 5 hours. I have 6 year old with us, she needs the room with a tv not a hallway.
Anyway… once they bring us to the hallway they explain they want to do a cat scan to check if I have a cyst. So we do that and then wait a bunch of hours for the outcome. The entire time I just want some water but they can’t give it to me in case I have to go to surgery. I was given an ice chip here and there by the hero nurses who understood. Finally a little after 2 they tell me they’ll taking me to the ICU because the doctor from the INT won’t be around until 5 but they want my breathing checked on. I felt like I was breathing fine but the computers said otherwise. At this point we have been told I’m spending the night so my wife and kid decide to get a overnight bag for everyone. About 20 minutes after that the doctor comes in at 3ish and tells me it’s a cyst and it needs drained. So he shot me, shot me again, used a scalpel to slice my tonsil and then a sucker to get all the junk out. It felt awful and I am so happy I had it done. Within minutes I was feeling better. When I updated my parents and siblings of my wonderful new year I shed a few tears while typing it because I just felt so much better.
I’m currently in the hospital now waiting for the morning to come so I can be discharged. Well, it’s 6 minutes until midnight and that’s when I have the Midnight Steroid IV so that’s what I’m waiting for…and my 4am blood pressure check. <—this paragraph was interrupted by my 11:55 blood pressure and temp check.
This has been a weird start to the year but hey, this start is having me fix a lifelong problem so I’m in.