It all comes round again...

Doc called. My actual doctor. Not a nurse or a secretary or an appointment person, my actual doctor. Some points were regained from yesterday's fiasco.

“So I have the results of your CAT scan...on a scale of 1-10, one being no sinus infection and 10 being really bad, where were you, and were are you now?”

And I said, “Well I was 9 or 10, but now it’s more like 5 or 6.”

And he was like, “OK, well first of all, I’d like to go ahead and refill your antiobiotic since it seems to be clearing this up at least a little.”

Of course I’m wondering why he hasn’t said what was on the scan. Was I just being paranoid and I'm one of those annoying patients who acts like a hypochondriac? Is this all in my head? Am I about to be totally embarrassed? So I say, “So what showed up on the scan? Was it not definitive?”

“Oh no, it was very definitive, you have infection everywhere.”

(I know—lovely, huh?)

So here's a mini lesson on sinus infections that you probably don't want, but I'm giving it to you anyway.

This is what a normal CT scan would look like:

(Big gray circles are the eyes, darken areas are the sinuses)

This is a CT of infected sinuses:


Here you can see that the darkened areas are smaller because the infection is inflamed and disgusting. Apparently this is what I'm dealing with. He is going to send me a report of my scan, so if there's anything fun in there, I'll post it after I get it.

A lot of times just part of your sinuses will be infected, but because I never like to do anything half-assed, I went for the whole shebang. So I am going to be referred to a specialist where they'll probably shove a hose up my nose and spray it all out (OK, not exactly like that, but you get the picture).

So at least now I know I’m not going crazy and that it is an infection, just a really bad one. So he’s referring me to a specialist, so I’m waiting for them to call me. My guess is that I’ll have to go get flushed out next week.

This would all be much more pleasant if my doctor looked like this:



Oh yeah...Dr. Carter can flush me out anytime.