![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Every generation got its own disease
Mar. 7th, 2020 02:41 pmSomeone was putting together a pandemic playlist on Metafilter and I suggested Fury in the Slaughterhouse's Every Generation Got Its Own Disease: "So let's shake hands with plastic gloves" --I mean, come on. It's perfect, especially since it was written during the AIDS crisis.
I got the stitches on my face removed on Tuesday, and had called the dermatologist to ask about my back incision and the fact that it didn't seem to be healing; they wanted me to come in and made an appointment for after the stitches (which suprised the hell out of me, since it's so hard to get in there). It was handy because I could walk between the two locations and they gave me enough time.
Despite falling on my face when I passed out and grinding my cheek incision into the bathmat, the nurse said everything looks good, and they said I could do a follow-up in six to eight weeks where they might be able to do some dermabrasion on it to minimize the scar a little. I don't know if I can afford it, but I'll see. Right now there are steri-strips on it so I can't really see how terrible the scar will be, just that it's very visible. My friend Keith made me laugh a lot when I said I would have a horrible Heidelberg Fencing School scar and he said, "How worthy of cocktail talk that would be. 'Herr Erich von Kreplow gave me this to remind me to keep my parrying arm up.'"
They put some steri-strips on the back wound, too, but they also took a culture and it turns out there is an "opportunistic infection" so now I'm back to taking the scary antibiotic. They seem to think that'll make the wound heal, but I'm skeptical at this point. I mean, I know I need to clear up the irritation to it, but it just seems like at this point it's never going to close, and I have to keep buying nonstick pads because it's so gross. I don't know. This has been going on now for over a month, and I'm just...really tired of it.
It was weird being on what we call Pill Hill here, where all the medical offices and hospitals are. I stopped at Starbucks on the way down and everything feels so strange. I made liberal use of the Purell stands on every floor at the buildings, but I have only one tiny 3/4 full bottle of sanitizer now and there's none to be had anywhere. There are no places to wash hands so sanitizer is the only refuge when you're out and about. I have to go places, because I live alone, but most places that have sanitizer now won't soon, and the supply chain has been seriously affected and will likely get worse. I already spend a lot of time home, but I still have to get groceries and things. Most of the health care workers were really blase about things, I noticed that it seemed to be visitors and patients who were the most jittery. Since we've had so many deaths in the county where I live, precautions make sense, but on the other hand, a lot of people could lose everything because of this. Capitalist America is a terrible place to be--landlords aren't going to be postponing rent payments when a business isn't getting enough to survive in, people not getting work hours won't be able to pay for anything and could lose housing, etc.
It is just very weird here. I could still get things like toilet paper as of last night, which a lot of places are out of, but I don't know how long that'll last. And I have to go to the store again tonight for some things I forgot last night, so I can make some meals in the crock pot and such, which would help me stay home a little more. But--you have to go out to be able to stay in. I also am naturally a coughy person--I have to try so hard not to cough when I'm out, when I normally do just because of physical activity. Plus I have to keep touching my face because the incision itches like a sonofabitch and it's right under my eye, next to my nose.
Anyways, thanks for all the comments on my last post; I still have pretty bad bruises on my knees and the goose egg on my head, and I may have to go get x-rays for my wrist, but with any luck maybe I'm on the mend...? We shall see. But I appreciate the kindness.
I got the stitches on my face removed on Tuesday, and had called the dermatologist to ask about my back incision and the fact that it didn't seem to be healing; they wanted me to come in and made an appointment for after the stitches (which suprised the hell out of me, since it's so hard to get in there). It was handy because I could walk between the two locations and they gave me enough time.
Despite falling on my face when I passed out and grinding my cheek incision into the bathmat, the nurse said everything looks good, and they said I could do a follow-up in six to eight weeks where they might be able to do some dermabrasion on it to minimize the scar a little. I don't know if I can afford it, but I'll see. Right now there are steri-strips on it so I can't really see how terrible the scar will be, just that it's very visible. My friend Keith made me laugh a lot when I said I would have a horrible Heidelberg Fencing School scar and he said, "How worthy of cocktail talk that would be. 'Herr Erich von Kreplow gave me this to remind me to keep my parrying arm up.'"
They put some steri-strips on the back wound, too, but they also took a culture and it turns out there is an "opportunistic infection" so now I'm back to taking the scary antibiotic. They seem to think that'll make the wound heal, but I'm skeptical at this point. I mean, I know I need to clear up the irritation to it, but it just seems like at this point it's never going to close, and I have to keep buying nonstick pads because it's so gross. I don't know. This has been going on now for over a month, and I'm just...really tired of it.
It was weird being on what we call Pill Hill here, where all the medical offices and hospitals are. I stopped at Starbucks on the way down and everything feels so strange. I made liberal use of the Purell stands on every floor at the buildings, but I have only one tiny 3/4 full bottle of sanitizer now and there's none to be had anywhere. There are no places to wash hands so sanitizer is the only refuge when you're out and about. I have to go places, because I live alone, but most places that have sanitizer now won't soon, and the supply chain has been seriously affected and will likely get worse. I already spend a lot of time home, but I still have to get groceries and things. Most of the health care workers were really blase about things, I noticed that it seemed to be visitors and patients who were the most jittery. Since we've had so many deaths in the county where I live, precautions make sense, but on the other hand, a lot of people could lose everything because of this. Capitalist America is a terrible place to be--landlords aren't going to be postponing rent payments when a business isn't getting enough to survive in, people not getting work hours won't be able to pay for anything and could lose housing, etc.
It is just very weird here. I could still get things like toilet paper as of last night, which a lot of places are out of, but I don't know how long that'll last. And I have to go to the store again tonight for some things I forgot last night, so I can make some meals in the crock pot and such, which would help me stay home a little more. But--you have to go out to be able to stay in. I also am naturally a coughy person--I have to try so hard not to cough when I'm out, when I normally do just because of physical activity. Plus I have to keep touching my face because the incision itches like a sonofabitch and it's right under my eye, next to my nose.
Anyways, thanks for all the comments on my last post; I still have pretty bad bruises on my knees and the goose egg on my head, and I may have to go get x-rays for my wrist, but with any luck maybe I'm on the mend...? We shall see. But I appreciate the kindness.
