Carbuncle

This is a large angry red boil, the size of a two rupee coin that suddenly surfaced on the side of my rib cage. I was told that a hair follicle got pulled out and the pore got infected. I'm not sure the doc was hinting at ideas about someone pulling out the hair follicles on my torso:-)

Well, coming to why it got infected, I surfed the net and found hygiene to be the cause and before you get any ideas that I don't bathe let me tell you that the probable reason is my obnoxious habit of lolling around on the floor for about 2 hrs after my long run on weekends - instead of having a bath first!!!

The carbuncle would not burst nor decrease in size despite medication and treatment with hot water fomentation. It just kept getting ripe and looking awful. Despite all this, I ran the Kaveri Trail Marathon with this tomato sized protrusion on my side. Finally the doc sighed and said, "You have to have it surgically nicked". I sighed too because it would mean getting poked, something that makes me break out into a cold sweat.

On the appointed day, I arrived with Bryan since Monsoon had to attend office work. The poor chap kept reassuring me that it won't hurt - imagine; it should be the other way round. But then Bryan has seen his father is a wimp when someone waves a syringe in front of him:-) I was taken to the operation theatre and made to lie down. Then they did the nastiest things, despite my sharing that I have a phobia of needles and that I have passed out several times when going for a blood test. They poked me six times around the site by way of anasthesia and each time I winced and squirmed and finally broke out into a cold sweat much to the alarm of the surgeon. He muttered, probably by way of an apology, that he didn't realize I was THAT scared!

The rest of the procedure was without pain and I could feel the doc slicing and scooping and rubbing and wondered about the nasty business. I was then shown the stuff that was extracted and it was a very unpleasant sight. The surgical wound is now painful and I have to go this morning for a new dressing. Last afternoon, when upon reaching home from the surgery, I fixed myself a drink, Bryan asked me in alarm, "won't it interfere with the anaesthetic?" and I winked and told him that alcohol is also an anaesthetic. Don't they show it in the movies when they have to extract a bullet and there is no anaesthetic? They give the guy a good long swig from a bottle of whisky:-)