You know last week, how I said that life is a thing that happens? Well. This week it certainly happened. Life happened allllll over the place. How dare it. Below is a summed up version of how life came into my diligent missionary life and happened:
On Thursday, I woke up with a swollen ear canal and ear pain. I thought, "meh, no big deal" and went on my merry way. Well, as we went on, the pain increased so I told our Nurse, Sister Crippen. We both thought "meh, no big deal" so I went to the Urgent Care to grab some antibiotics and be on my way back to my work. The Nurse Practitioner at the Urgent Care saw me, checked me out, and wrote me a script for antibiotic drops and a Z pack (oral antibiotic) and said that if I took it now, I would feel much better by the end of the night. Au contraire, mon fraire. (spelling?). I followed the directions, went on my merry way, and for some odd reason, the pain increased and started to move into my jaw. When I woke up the next morning, I was worse. Much worse. I couldn't chew or open my mouth and the ear canal had started to swell some more. Talked with the nurse, and she decided to send me to another Urgent Care, but a different one to be reevaluated. We drove into Riverside, saw a PA, who stated that the person I saw yesterday had given me the completely wrong Antibiotics and that the one's he prescribed would fix it in no time. So, he prescribed Bactrim and more antibiotic drops. Again, I went on my merry way and took my pills like a good patient. :) On Saturday, I woke up and the pain had worsened. The canal had swollen shut, my jaw was useless, I couldn't eat, the base of my tongue and throat had begun to hurt as well, and the pain was well.... insane. We'll just say that. XD Sister Mullen, the mission president's wife, told us that we needed to go to the ER. Sooooo we went to the ER in Riverside, which was a very... odd ER. Nonetheless, I saw another PA who didn't really look at me or touch me because he didn't want to hurt me (semi grateful for that) said that allll the antibiotics were wrong and prescribed different ones and sent me on my not so merry way. After the ER, I told Sister Mullen the drugs that were prescribed, and she told Missionary Medical (the doctors over who monitor the missionaries) who decided to go a little crazy and wanted to know why Intravenous antibiotics were not given due to risk of respiratory stuff and other words I can't pronounce. So a doctor in Irvine was called, who drove down to Riverside and take me to the ER once again and get a second opinion. I was kinda just done with everything at this point, and didn't want to cause a scene or be a difficult patient, but went with everyone back to the ER. I was reevaluated and a different PA thought we were in there for a sore throat and said that I didn't have Strep.... Yeah, I knew that. XD But the Irvine Doctor asked that we see an attending physician and I was put forward to see one, who actually took a ton of notes and did a full exam and everything that you're supposed to do. He concluded that it was likely Otitis Externa that had slowly started to affect the surrounding soft tissue and apparently affected a certain nerve in my face that controls the jaw. He gave me different antibiotics, pain killers, etc and the Irvine doctor was satisfied so I finally got to go home and pass out. :) I'm so grateful for the many many many people who care so much for me. It was a bit of a traumatizing experience, but I know that the Lord was guiding the Irvine Doctor, the mission nurse, Sister Mullen, and the physician I saw at the end. I've been on 2 oral antibiotics and 1 drop antibiotic and my ear is beginning to improve. The swelling is going down and the pain is at a manageable level. :) The jaw, however, has not improved and I can't really eat, so I get to drink delicious smoothies :) I love smoothies. <3 Even though I was physically and emotionally just done after the first ER trip, I'm SO grateful that my leaders followed the Spirit and made me go again. If I hadn't, I would likely have worsened again due to the incorrect prescriptions. I've gotta learn to be less hard headed and just listen to the Spirit. Heavenly Father is really looking out for me, and I couldn't be more grateful. <3
What happens when you're on every antibiotic known to man
Zone lunch from last week (couldn't remember if I sent this or not)
Breakfast with the Hermanas. :) Hermana Brown made us all french toast from homemade bread! #FrenchToastIsLove #FrenchToastIsLife
#SoCalInlandEmpire #ImMelting
No comments:
Post a Comment