Medical Trip

About two weeks ago I had a small bump behind my ear. To me, it felt and looked like a boil was starting, so I didn’t think much of it. I've had a few before. I spent 4 days away from home as I was doing some research to the east. It bothered me a little, but I was able to still do my work without it slowing me down too much. The day that I came back the spot had grown in size, bigger than a quarter. We kept a very close eye on it here, and it looked like it was a huge boil that wasn’t going to drain itself. My supervisor said that it would be in my best interest to go to the capital city and have it lanced by a doctor.

So what does that mean? 12 hour drive to see the doc. The doctor tells me that it’s a cyst that got infected. The doctor drains it and tells me that she needs to see me again in about 5 days to check if the cyst can be and/or needs to be removed. So I had to stay in Dakar for a little bit longer than I thought. Since I was there, I went to the dentist and was able to do some other things that I could only do in Dakar. I spent the next five days just hanging out and relaxing.
I go back to the doctor 5 days later and the doctor tells me that it is healing nicely. She then tells me that the way that this it’s healing it could have been a boil or a cyst. The doctor tells me all the things that I need to look out for and tells me that I can go back home. So I take another 12 hr drive.

After almost a week of being away, it sure felt nice to come back and to see my friends again. But that also means getting back to work….I don’t think I’ve ever been so eager to get back to work before.