![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
My Head Wound Burst (No April Foolin')
Apr. 1st, 2026 11:18 amSpring Family Visit Travelog #6
Seeing a doctor · Wed 1 Apr 2026. 1pm.
The wound I have from surgery on the back of my head 30 days ago has been healing on-pace for the most part. Well, until last night. Last night as I was laying down for bed I noticed a small lump near the last remaining stitches was sore and felt swollen. It was the first time since immediately after the surgery it felt like that. "Hmm, I'll text the doctor in the morning and aim to see her early next week," I thought. ...Early next week because we're visiting family 2500 miles away this week.
This morning the situation changed. I awoke after a night of tossing and turning (which may have been purely coincidental) and found that the swollen lump had burst. There was a crusty mess of pus, probably dried sebum, near the stitches on the back of my head. "Early next week I'll see my doctor" became "I'm going to urgent care today."
Fortunately there are plenty of urgent care clinics near Harrisburg. The area seems to be a medical Mecca for central Pennsylvania. Unfortunately my time at the clinic was spent mostly on 1) waiting, 2) negotiating payment, and 3) providing medical history. The PA who finally saw me spent all of about 5 seconds looking at the wound and saying, "Yup! It burst." 🤣
Well, the good news was that the incision area and the stitches are all fine. That wound is all closed up. What burst was some kind of growth, like an abscess. It didn't look infected, the doc said, though she gave me a prescription for an antibiotic for a week to be sure and said to come back if it gets worse.
Meanwhile, I had texted the dermatologist who performed the surgery back in California. Without needing to see me she sent in a prescription for an antibiotic, too. The same one. 🤣 I explained what happened on a phone call to her assistant 30 minutes later, and we made an appointment with her for Monday morning, when I'm back in town. Hopefully today's events have just been a fire drill— a fire drill with a scrip for antibiotics. I'll know more when I see the specialist on Monday.
Seeing a doctor · Wed 1 Apr 2026. 1pm.
The wound I have from surgery on the back of my head 30 days ago has been healing on-pace for the most part. Well, until last night. Last night as I was laying down for bed I noticed a small lump near the last remaining stitches was sore and felt swollen. It was the first time since immediately after the surgery it felt like that. "Hmm, I'll text the doctor in the morning and aim to see her early next week," I thought. ...Early next week because we're visiting family 2500 miles away this week.
This morning the situation changed. I awoke after a night of tossing and turning (which may have been purely coincidental) and found that the swollen lump had burst. There was a crusty mess of pus, probably dried sebum, near the stitches on the back of my head. "Early next week I'll see my doctor" became "I'm going to urgent care today."
Fortunately there are plenty of urgent care clinics near Harrisburg. The area seems to be a medical Mecca for central Pennsylvania. Unfortunately my time at the clinic was spent mostly on 1) waiting, 2) negotiating payment, and 3) providing medical history. The PA who finally saw me spent all of about 5 seconds looking at the wound and saying, "Yup! It burst." 🤣
Well, the good news was that the incision area and the stitches are all fine. That wound is all closed up. What burst was some kind of growth, like an abscess. It didn't look infected, the doc said, though she gave me a prescription for an antibiotic for a week to be sure and said to come back if it gets worse.
Meanwhile, I had texted the dermatologist who performed the surgery back in California. Without needing to see me she sent in a prescription for an antibiotic, too. The same one. 🤣 I explained what happened on a phone call to her assistant 30 minutes later, and we made an appointment with her for Monday morning, when I'm back in town. Hopefully today's events have just been a fire drill— a fire drill with a scrip for antibiotics. I'll know more when I see the specialist on Monday.
