Ehhh....what's up Doc?

Well, in case anyone has been wondering, it's been a very busy and interesting month for me. I got back from Brazil and immediately began the medical ball rolling. I had a rather enormous lump on the left side of my neck (as you can see) that had started causing me pain and a lot of discomfort. By the time I got state-side, the left side of my face was puffy and swollen; my jawline was almost indistinguishable from my neck due to the inflammation. I quickly got an appointment with my family physician in Hagerstown, Md and she referred me to an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) specialist named Dr. A. Chris Manilla. He was awful. When I was trying to explain what the specialist in Brazil told me, he interrupted and rudely interjected, "Well, I'm a specialist too, ya know." Yeah, buddy, I know. And real professional too. Then, I asked him about the timeline for my surgery. He said, "If you think you're gonna be scheduled for surgery in the next week or so, you're crazy. We're looking at at least a month." He then asked me what I do. When I told him I was a Ph.D. student at a rather prestigious Southeastern university he said, "Why would you do this here, then? They have one of the best programs in the country for this. You'd be crazy to do it here. It's just me and it's just Hagerstown." Not the best vote of confidence for your skills or your facilities, my friend. I'm sure the rest of the medical staff where he works would be interested to know his thoughts on the hospital there. In any case, I did follow his advice and had the surgery done at my home university. They scheduled me immediately for surgery (this past Monday). I was treated wonderfully by all the doctors, nurses and staff here. VUMC is a fantastic medical facility. I would recommend them to anyone for anything. (Recently voted "Best of the Best" by Newsweek!). Dr. Wendell Yarbrough was the one to actually do my surgery and he was wonderful! Very patient, answered all my questions, was extremely friendly and did an excellent job; I have no complaints whatsoever.

Basically, I had a cyst removed from my neck which was about the size of a medium egg. It was a congenital, branchial cleft cyst. This means that, as an embryo, I developed with the end of a branchial tube in my neck left open (cleft). This allows bacteria to enter and infect the area, which forms the cyst (a collection of fluid), and needs to be removed. Only about 2-3% of the population has this occur and recurrence is rare (thank goodness). The surgery doesn't take very long, about 2 hours, but the area around the neck is very sensitive and delicate (lots of arteries, nerves, etc). Luckily, my situation wasn't terribly complicated and so my recovery has been rather easy. Right now, I'm hooked up to a drainage tube (as seen below). I go in tomorrow to have it removed. After that, I will have a small scar under my jawline which should fade with time and proper care. All in all, things were very easy and I'm happy to have it all over with. I'm still hopped up on pain-killers and a virtual cocktail of other medications but, I'm feeling okay. It's a bit like getting kicked in the neck....really hard. My parents came down to care for me and my boyfriend is here too so, that helps a lot. I look forward to the start of classes and getting back to normal life again.....whew....