Anyway, the left side of my throat started to get sore on Tuesday evening, but was really sore and pretty swollen on Wednesday night. On Thursday afternoon, I started choking on the little hangy-downy thingy (aka the uvula) in the back of my throat because it was so swollen. By Thursday evening, my whole throat was much more swollen than I had ever seen it and it was getting really hard to swallow. I even made a comment to one of my friends about being legitimately worried that my airway was going to close up during the night. I'm so intuitive! About 4 hours after I made that comment, I woke up in extreme pain and was having trouble breathing. I was afraid that, if I went back to sleep, my airway would close completely off within a couple of hours.
At that point, I started acting dumb. I tried to take some pictures of my throat to e-mail to my mom, to ask her if I needed to go to urgent care or the ER. The pictures didn't really turn out, so I gave up and called her. She told me to go to the ER, so I grabbed the dogs and jumped in the car. I drove myself, which was probably not the best choice, but hindsight's always 20/20, right? Anyway, I made it to the Emergency Room and called one of my friends from work to meet me there. After about 15 or 20 minutes, the doctor looked at me and said that he knew exactly what was going on. At this point, I realized that it wasn't my Behcet's acting up, but something else. The doctor told me that it was a peritonsillar abscess. After working at the vet clinic, the word "abscess," when used to refer to something in my throat, kinda grossed me out! At least they knew what it was though.
Next, they hooked me up to an IV and gave me some pain meds. These were not just any pain meds...they were THE pain meds. If you're ever in the hospital, you want Dilaudid. Don't forget that. It's also called Hydromorphone. It is both an opiate and a narcotic and is 8x stronger than morphine and 3x stronger than heroine on a per milligram basis. It can cross the blood-brain barrier so it is very fast-acting. Anyway, they gave me probably 1 ml, and it hit me in less than 5 seconds! I felt it on the outside of my hips first, then my shoulders, then my head. It was insane. I've been on lots of pretty hard-core pain meds, but that stuff definitely takes home the gold metal. Wow! The bad news is, that even after a second dose of dilaudid, I was still in a decent amount of pain.
The doctor decided to drain the abscess. Ouch! I always forget how bad injected Lidocaine stings! Ahhhhh! I also had an audience at this point. Several nurses. I'm always such a spectacle when I'm ill... Anyway, he drained 2+ mls of yellow, bloody pus out of the abscess. So gross! The funny part was that the doctor was trying to hide the syringe of gunk from me! I was trying so hard to see, too! I'm assuming that most people don't want to see... Maybe I'm really odd. Anyway, after 2 liters of fluids, 2 doses of dilaudid, 40 mg of prednisone, and something like 4 and a half hours, I was well enough to be released. The doctor kept me there for so long because, apparently peritonsillar abscesses can be/are often life-threatening. When I asked him, he said that it's very possible that my throat would have closed up and that it was really good that I came in when I did. He even gave me his cell phone number before I left, in case I have any more problems or can't get in to see an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist early next week. He was a pretty cool guy. This might be a little stretch, but I'm pretty sure he saved my little life, too.
Anyway, it's about 36 hours later now, and I'm happy to say that I'm feeling MUCH, MUCH better. While I still feel decently crappy, I can actually swallow without my whole body tensing up and tears rolling down my face! I'm on some antibiotics for a week and am breathing quite well at this point in time.
I posted one of the photos I was gonna email to my mom below. You'll have to use your imagination here a bit. The black vertical line is where the center of my throat is supposed to be. As you can see, the left side of my throat, (which is actually on the right side of the photo) is swollen just past that vertical line, so over halfway across my throat. The red horizontal lines indicate the area that was actually open and allowing air in. Not much. I now understand why it was getting hard to breathe. Scary!
Oh yeah, and my finger is in my mouth, holding my tongue down in case you're wondering what's going on there!
4 comments:
What a mess! You have had some gross looking throats in your lifetime! I never would have figured out what was going on by the picture, other than your entire throat looks swollen & inflamed. Can't really tell that the swelling extended forward into your soft palate or that it was swollen behind it, too. Glad you called! Case in point: Where health matters are concerned, best play it safe. If it turns out to be nothing, you can survive a little embarrassment in the ER. Where as surviving an occluded airway gets a bit tricky!! I am soooooo relieved that you are ok! Have to say, however, that I'm not totally at ease. Take care! I love you! Mom
Wow that is SO scary. You have had the worst luck with health lately it seems. I hope you feel better.
Claire
Last summer my college-aged daughter developed a bad peritonsilar absess as a complication of mono. After being diagnosed in the ER, she was sent to have it drained by ENT specialists.
Funny, SHE doesn't have Behcet's Disease, but I do, her mother, and I sometimes get lymph node swelling with my throat ulcers.
My sympathies on both counts.
"Name," who are you? Where are you? I find a lot of comfort in knowing there are other people out there with Behcet's who understand what it's like. I hope all is well and thanks for the support!
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