The BoilBoy Update

(Still no pictures to share, but maybe I'll have something soon...)

So Saturday morning I went into the hospital to get the abscess or cyst (or boil) drained, which involved much cutting and pain. It started with a local anesthetic being applied that involved the intern injecting material into the very sore area deeply, several times... I was squirming all over the bed while that preliminary work was happening. The actual surgery was even more painful, but at least it was quick (a few minutes in duration). After that, the wound was packed with gauze and then covered with a bandage and we were sent home. I had a prescription for percoset but didn't wait to get it filled, as past experience made me aware of just how bad it was going to feel as soon as the freezing wore off. So I requested 2 tablets at the hospital and took them before leaving.

Last night was pretty bad for sleeping as there's no position I can lie in that doesn't hurt as the medication starts to wear off. We had to be back at the hospital this morning at 8:00 am once again to have the wound checked, so we had an early alarm set for that. Naturally, that meant that we had a brief power outage overnight last night, requiring us to be up in the middle of the night - once the electricity came back on and clock displays began blinking - to reset the alarm. I love how these outages have started coming at the most inopportune moments lately.

Today's hospital visit wasn't nearly as painful as yesterday's, although the intern who did the re-packing of the wound could really stand to learn not to be quite so rough with a recent injury like that. Anyway, now we switch to Community Care clinics to get the dressing changed each day, at least until Vicki feels comfortable doing it herself. That process will continue for weeks, until it doesn't need to be bandaged anymore. Then I get to wait a few months before having the entire affected area cut out, as was done - all in one fell swoop - with the previous boil. At which point it all starts over again with a big hole and frequent re-dressings. Ain't life grand?