This story is based on my real life story, I am not a Dr., and if you have similar symptoms, you need to seek medical help, because in no way does my situation replace medical advice! Please know I go into some description, so this story is not for the light-hearted! You know how when you just don’t feel well but you don’t have a choice except to persevere on whatever it is you are doing? I had flown across the country from the East Coast to the West Coast for work, and I could not wait for my trip, however, as the clock ticked on, during each passing day, I did not feel well, and before I knew it, feeling just ok, quickly declined to really bad. I was having headaches, nausea and the headaches were migraine in nature, but the problem was, I was nowhere near home, rather I was across our nation far away from my Dr.’s! I had felt very cold, very hot, and lightly dizzy, really just off my game, but I was working and nothing could stop my project, so I trudged on and worked. Here’s my hot mess of a life, lavishly lived out loud!
I was on my way to see the screening of Into The Woods with Meryl Streep in attendance and I could suddenly not even hold my head up. The pain, the migraine, and the nausea that accompanied it were just beyond anything I had experienced. I was hot, sweating, and then cold and I was so out of sorts. The movie began, I became entranced and after the Q&A I knew the ride back to the hotel would be a resting period, so I just pushed through, after all, Meryl Streep, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, etc. were sitting a few rows behind me!
The next day, was sensational, and again, not feeling well, I drank a bunch of water to try and flush the ‘bug’ out of my system. I took tylenol, and yet the pain was persistent. My flight was a Red Eye, so the day would be long from start to finish. By the time I headed to LAX, I could hardly hold my head up, and I honestly don’t remember getting to the airport as I felt so horrid. Luckily, my girlfriend pushed me through the TSA and then she grabbed her flight and I headed to mine. I kept feeling very warm and very cold, and I knew something was just not right. The plane was stacked with people, over-booked, people asked to give up their seats for Flight Money in exchange or to encourage some off of the plane. As luck would have it, I was stuck against a window, and 2 people that passed out on a flight and I could not get out of my seat. The heat was blaring, and I felt squashed, stuck and just paced my breathing. I was not having a panic attack, but I was not feeling well and I felt STUCK. We hit a bit of turbulence, and that did wonders for my already sick stomach. Coffee was served to wake the snoring zombies up and finally, these people moved and I ran for the bathroom!
Feeling like I could tolerate the last 15 minutes of the flight, I sat down, a bit refreshed and then, we got stuck on the runway and no one would move so I could get off the plane to make my connecting flight. The Flight Attendants asked people to let us off(those with connections) but as usual, in true public fashion, no one listened. I reached my gate and they just had closed it, with no mercy on one sick looking person. I was stuck in ATLANTA, so close to Pittsburgh, but no there yet. Finally getting a connecting flight arranged I had hours to wait and wait I did. The more I sat, the worse I felt and once we got to Pittsburgh I think my bag rolled me off the plane, because my legs had no strength. My husabnd met me at baggage claim, grabbed my bags and we headed home. I told him my head hurt badly, and I showed him this thing on my head that had appeared, it felt like the size of a 50 cent piece and it was somewhere between my ear and the crown of my head. He told me not to worry, call the Dr. and rest once we got home. I showered, he gave me ice, acetaminophen and some meds for my nausea, and I slept. When I woke up, I felt something in my head, it was a squishing and suddenly an oozing and I screamed for help. M
My husband tended to whatever was going on in my head. I guess whatever was on my head, now known to me as a larger cyst, had just erupted and might have been infected. This is the source of all the pain, sickness, etc. My husband cleaned my head up with some rubbing alcohol and again ice and I fell asleep, so grossed out and upset, I could just not take much more. (remember I had jet lag, had been on 4 flights in 3 days, and the last day of travel was 27+ hours at the airport and flights!- surely not a picnic)
Once the next day rolled around, he took me to the Dr. I felt so sick, I did not even feel like talking.The Dr. took one look at it and said to my husband, “we need to cut it open and remove the cyst, and then place antibiotics in!” My husband authorized it, as I just was beyond making decisions and so upset I could not think. Suddenly it kicked in, Needles were going into my head numbing it and OMG did it hurt. My skull was getting pinched, I could not see anything, I felt everything and then, it stopped, as I went numb. Next he lanced the cyst, excised it and put it in a jar to get checked(standard operating procedure). I guess it was the size of a few pastinas(pasta, I know gross to compare to, but my husband said that is what it looked like, I refused to look, grossed out beyond!). Then the next item was putting in the steroid/antibiotic and OUCH did this hurt, it stung. What I did not know is that it would continue to sting on and off over the next few days.
We got to the parking lot and I have to tell you, I could hardly walk(not from all that, but I had myself in such a state of upset). I was nauseaus from all of this, and worried that what if… that cyst came back with bad results. The whole thing took the sail out of my wind for a good week, and I just kind of gradually worked back to me. It was not the procedure that did this, but the whole sickness and what must have been infected and in this cyst.
The lavishness of my story, is a good outcome, no bad news from the cyst itself, but we were told that some people get these recurrent and there is no rhyme or reason as to why some get them and others don’t. Don’t attempt to excise your own cyst, it can get even more infected and do not pick at them. Seek medical help. I did not know it was on my head, and mine exploded, but the Dr. told us a few horror stories(maybe he is required to psyche us out!)
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