Little freaked out. It’s probably nothing

[loki_of_sassgaard]

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve lived in a constant state of kind of sick, and occasionally seriously ill.  There was one winter when I was dying of an upper respitory infection that wouldn’t quit, but I still wanted to go trick or treating, so mum dressed me up like a vampire, because we wouldn’t have to deal with makeup.  I think the only makeup we did was to paint on the Dracula widow’s peak.  There are pictures of this somewhere, and I’d almost like to find them.

Growing up with this kind of shit will fuck with a person.  It’s the sort of thing that made me give the finger to Swine Flu and just stay in bed during that ordeal.  I’m sick.  That’s just my default state.  So I’m a little more sick than usual?  That’s no big deal.  But when your baseline is already at half the optimum level, it makes it difficult to tell if you’re REALLY sick or not sometimes.

I did tell Robin Hood last month, while I was dying of not!plague, that if the lymph nodes under my arms started to swell up, I’d make an appointment.  They never did; at least, not that I noticed then.  Now, though?  Oh god.  The one under my left arm is so big and so hard that just putting my arm down hurts and makes my hand go a bit numb. That ain’t right.  The ones in my neck are a bit stiff as well, though nowhere near where they were last month.  Can’t find any of the supraclavicle ones, or the ones in the stomach or in the groin.  (A perk of growing up always sick: you know how to find these things.)  The ones in my neck are rarely gone completely.  But the underarm ones have always been a bit alarming.  They’re the ones that take care of infection in your arm.  Or they’re a warning for some pretty nasty cancers.  Which, you know.  It probably isn’t, but watching someone right now slowly be torn apart by stomach cancer is sort of setting me on edge.  So, I’ve made an appointment, but the earliest I can get in is the 23rd.  When the dude asked what my concern was, and I told him, he very quickly offered to put me on the list to take over the spot of any cancellations in the clinic.  So.  You know.  Probably nothing, and probably just a standard thing, but the timing of that conversation sort of put me on edge a little more.  Especially since there’s no cause for any infection anywhere right now.  Unless it really is the plague, and I’m not just not showing any of the physical signs of my body rotting to bits?  Pretty sure it doesn’t move that slowly, though.  Still.  Going to the doctor to see what’s up.

Crossposted from WordPress. http://ift.tt/1Ujnahp

Comments

[amalthia]

Ouch, I hope the doctors are able to help you out. This sounds painful. :(

[loki_of_sassgaard]

Thanks. :)

It's cold, but I've been going around without a shirt today, just because the sleeves under my arm were actually painful. Augh.

[wedic]

I would definitely second you getting that checked out ASAP. 12 days is a pretty rubbish appointment time though.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah. Hopefully I can get in sooner, but I live out in the sticks now and this clinic is the only one around for about 50 miles. :/

[(Anonymous)]

whoops, I'm not logged in on this machine.

[wedic]

Eh, I figured it was probably you!

50 miles?! What do people who are, like, elderly or disabled do if they need a doctor? Or do they just have to live somewhere else?

[loki_of_sassgaard]

My grandparents live just up the road, and they drive the 50 miles into Portland. My insurance won't let me do that, even if I did have a car to get to Portland.

[wedic]

Here you have to live in a certain radius of the practice because if you're ill enough the GP goes to visit you.

I digress - I really hope it goes okay for you.

[loki_of_sassgaard]

Here, you have to be in your "network" or you pay out the ass. I don't think anybody still does housecalls here.

[wedic]

I do two calls a day most days, though I think sometimes we're actually a bit soft and some of these people could come to the surgery if their family brought them.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, the nice thing about where I'm at though, is I can walk to the clinic if I need to, and probably throw a rock and be able to hit the hospital.

[wedic]

Oh sorry, I thought you meant there was no clinic for fifty miles.

[loki_of_sassgaard]

Yeah, no. There is one. But it's tiny and serves a huge area, which is why I can't get in until the 23rd. I'm not really counting on any cancellations between now and then, either.

[wedic]

Meh, well fingers crossed for you.