Nobody Nose...

... the agony I have been in for the past four days with my nose. It started Sunday, with a painful bump on the inside of my nose that I assumed was some sort of unfortunate pimple. When I got sick the next day and had a 102.6 fever, it never occurred to me that my fever could be connected to my nose.My fever broke Monday night, and after a restless evening, I slept until noon on Tuesday. By the time I tried to call my doctor for my appointment, they were all booked up for the day.

My nose continued to be in agony, so I increased my neti pot usage. Its allergy season, so it didn't seem *so* bizarre to me. On Wednesday morning, the left side of my nose was all red and swollen. And horribly, horribly painful. Still, I wasn't sick in any other way, so off to work I went. I stared to feel bad again by the afternoon, so I left early.

Last night, I could barely sleep I was in so much pain lying down. The pain stretched all the way from my forehead down to my teeth along the left side of my face. Very, very odd. I took four advil. Then one unisom. Didn't help. Finally, sitting upright, I got some sleep. And when I woke in the morning, the swelling had spread outward from my nose up towards my eye. I was quickly turning into the Elephant Man. No makeup would cover this up. This, I knew, Was. Not. Right.

My doctor took one look in my nose today, and then said, well, its definitely infected, and that he would be back in a few minutes. 45 minutes later, he was sending me to an ENT because he was concerned it was an abscess. Turns out its not exactly an abscess - its instead something called facial cellulitis - and its not the most uncommon thing in the world. But left untreated, if it does reach your eye, it can cause a loss of sight in that eye, and if it reaches your brain, it can cause meningitis. The ENT decided not to drain my bump - something that sounded all sorts of awful - but to wait 24 hours first. Apparently the drugs can often make enough of a difference that the draining isn't necessary.

So I'm loaded up with antibiotics, steroids, and some nice painkillers. Miraculously, I am already doing much, much better. My forehead and teeth no longer scream in agony. My nose and the bump beside my nose still hurt when I touch them, but its not a constant pain. I'm hopeful that I won't have to do the nasty drain thing tomorrow.

We're supposed to be off to Horseshoe Bay tomorrow for the weekend (so of course someone must be sick in the family - its an unwritten rule of some sort).The ENT said I can still go, although it might not be the fun, relaxing weekend I was hoping for if I have to go through the whole draining process - and have some sort of tissue stuck up my nose for 24 hours - but at least I can still go and put on a happy face. It might not be a pretty face, but it will be a happy one.