October 20, 2008

So how did I spend my birthday?

Well, in one way I got the greatest gift ever.

For three weeks, I've been observing (and agonizing over because the pain has been great) a lesion that I've had on my chest. An ugly, ugly lesion. The first week was painful as everything was still below the surface and just pressing heavily on my heart. Weeks two and three were awful because the lesion had formed and... well... I'll spare you the gory details. And they are gory. I took no pictures of this ugly thing.

At Rick's urging, I finally gave in and went to the doctor. Since it was NOT clearing up, I began to fear the worst. And, of course, they only had an opening ON MY BIRTHDAY! Goodbye birthday lunch with Rick. Hello painful appointment with my doctor.

So, here I sit. Bandaged beyond belief. And sliced up beyond belief, so that a culture could be taken.

And the result? Not cancerous. Only MRSA. Meaning:

MRSA infection is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria — often called "staph." MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It's a strain of staph that's resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it. MRSA can be fatal.

I am not paying any attention to that last sentence.

Also: Older adults and people with weakened immune systems are at most risk of MRSA.

Well, I don't have a weakened immune system... So I must be an older adult. Gee, happy birthday, you old person, you.

Either way, it wasn't cancer. And that was a very nice gift.
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