It's Out of Here!

I went to the internal medicine office today. My internist is away on maternity leave, so I got another doctor. Russ and I both liked her a great deal. She went over my medical history, with the various infections and cysts and the chronology for this current abscess. She did an exam and said the abscess had to be surgically opened, drained, scraped out, the wall of the abscess removed, and then saline rinsed. So she did that and left a wick to drain any further infection, then a dressing. I'm to go back on Friday for a checkup. The incision is about 1 cm in size-so not real big-but she did use forceps to open it more, and went in fairly deep to make sure she got it all.

I appreciated the fact that she was thorough, that she gave me a "play-by-play" as she did the procedure, and she didn't hurt me! Russ stood at my head and he said he watched my face to make sure I wasn't saying "I'm fine" if I was hurting. So he didn't actually watch the procedure-said it would gross him out. But the doc even checked on him to make sure he was doing okay while she was doing the procedure, so I thought that was really sweet. I'm sure she didn't want him to pass out!

Also she said that my lymph nodes in my groin are swollen from this infection. I have 3 more days of levaquin, so we will wait it out and see if this improves, since I haven't had a real fever after being on this latest antibiotic.

And she addressed the blood pressure problem I've had for the past two months. She checked it twice will I was there and it was high, and she noted how high it was when I went to urgent care, and how high it has been at home. She changed my medication and wants it rechecked when I come in on Friday. And will have me come in next week as well. She said they can't clear me for surgery until the blood pressure is under control or I could stroke out on the table.

She is hopeful that both the abscess and the hypertension will be okay so that I could have surgery in 3 weeks time.

She did say if the abscess doesn't clear it up, I'll have to have a "bigger" surgery with a surgeon, and also will have to see an infectious disease doctor. She also said with my history of infection, and with being on a low-dose chemotherapy (Methotrexate), that I should probably see an infectious disease doc anyway-he might want to do something to help prevent future infections.

She wrote on the bill that it was an incision and drainage of an abnormal wall abscess. And she prescribed 30 Vicodin to take for pain as I recover from this little surgical procedure. I thought that was sweet of her considering I had no pain medication at all after the trial of the spinal cord stimulator! I doubt I'll need 30, but they are nice to have on hand!