On Sunday, March 31, 2013, my throat started hurting, which I didn't think much about it really. I normally get strep throat this time of year, so I was assuming that is what was happening. It kinda came & went & some form of pain reliever normally helped. We went to Newport Aquarium on Monday April 1 & went and got Sparky on Tuesday, and still it hurt but nothing too serious. Then on Wednesday, it started to bother me more and I thought maybe it was a canker sore, just because of how it felt. Thursday, I could barely eat or drink because it hurt so bad. I showed some of the girls at work and they were disgusted by the look of my tonsil. Lol. They encouraged me to go show Dr. Bozic, which I did. He said it looked like a pus pocket & didn't say much else. He asked if it hurt & I said YEAH!! I told him I thought maybe it was strep throat, so he wrote me a script for an antibiotic just in case. I took 3 doses of it that night, hoping it would make me feel much better in the morning. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. It still hurt Friday and I felt like I had been hit by a truck. So, I didn't go into work and just planned on laying on the couch. I decided about 11:00 to call my doctor because it still hurt so bad. I couldn't get in to see him but after 3:00 they have an Express Clinic. So I went at 3:00. They of course, did a strep culture but it came back negative. Dr. Abnerathy, the Dr. I saw at the Express Clinic said they had been seeing sore throats and it just turned into a cold, she thought maybe that is what was going to happen with me until she looked at it. She thought maybe it was an abscess by the exam. She went to get another Dr (who I actually my normal Dr) and he said he thought it was an abscess also. Which meant, it more than likely would have to be drained. They sent me down for CT scan, which was pretty uneventful. I left & about an hour or so later, I got a call from my Dr. saying it was an abscess and to go to the ER. She said she didn't want it to get bad at 3:00 a.m. And me have to go anyway &; have to wait forever. She had called ahead to let them know I was on my way. Thankfully, my mom was coming over anyway, so when she got there, Chris and I headed to the ER. They got me hooked up to an IV and gave me morphine, a steroid and Zofran. Then they had me do a lidocaine nebulizer, which didn't seem to numb me much. By the time the Dr. came back in, I was feeling pretty good though because of the morphine. But nothing helped with the excruciating pain I felt when he drained the abscess. It hurt so bad!! I have been through some painful times, but this would rank right up there with the others. Chris said I about broke his hand by squeezing it so hard. I was so relieved when he said he was done, until he followed that up by "for now." I had been crying but that's really when the tears started. I'm not sure what changed his mind, but thankfully, he came back and said he wasn't going to do anymore. He referred me to an ENT to go see the next week. They gave me an IV antibiotic and more morphine & sent me home with a prescription for an antibiotic.
I went and saw the ENT the ER doctor recommended on Tuesday. He said there was only a 10% chance of the abscess coming back after I take my full course of antibiotics. He said we would try to avoid removing the tonsils because it is a pretty painful experience for an adult. I told him Friday night in the ER was a pretty painful experience. The ENT told me to just call him if I think the abscess starts coming back after my antibiotic.
Yesterday was the last day of my antibiotic. I feel good. Every once in awhile, especially in the morning when I yawn, but so far, so good. Let's just cross our fingers it doesn't come back, although, it would be good to have it happen this year because I met our deductible with that little visit to the ER.
