Cauliflower Ear and Other Bacterial Nightmares

Section 7, Portal G, Row 14, Seat 5. Our tickets literally were at half-court. My buddy, Ben Wolf, was able to get us a couple of tickets for the Utah Jazz v Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday. With the exception of the time I sat on the court against the Lakers almost six years ago, these were the best seats I have ever had. Not only did he get us the best seats, he also wined and dined me on his company credit card. I had such a good time that there was a point in the evening when I was wondering when I had to put out. Thank goodness, it end fraternally.

I got home early Monday night and cooked a 1,500 calorie dinner to Erin's chagrin. A standing rule in the house is that if I am coming home late, I'm sleeping downstairs. It's a fair trade for a night of gallivanting with the boys. Because she has to go to work at 6am, there's no reason she should be subjected to my hot, bourbon breathe and the inevitable squirming in bed I would put her through. I set my alarm for work the next morning and woke up in agonizing pain. My left ear was on fire.

I was convinced that I was bitten by a spider in the middle of the night, smashed in the head by a baseball bat or was suffering from metal poisoning from all of the Goldschlager the night before. I stumbled upstairs and looked at my ear in the mirror. It was red and blue and easily swollen twice it's normal size. It felt like Andre the Giant smash-cupped my ear the night before. I showered, dressed and left for work at ARUP. About ten minutes at work, I knew there was something horribly wrong and scheduled an appointment at the Health Clinic. They were not able to see me until Wednesday. Somehow, I was able to creep through the day, go to class and even made it to my rec-league basketball game last night. I took four Benedryl and slept the sleep of the dead last night.

My appointment was for 7:40am. Through the Benedryl hangover, I was able to drive to work only to have the clinic take one look at my head and tell me that I need to go to an InstaCare immediately. After filling out the paperwork, I get into one of the examination rooms and they get to work on me. After checking my vitals, the doctor determines that I have Cellulitis. Cellulitis is a bacterial infection of the skin that is caused when there is a cut or fission on the skin that allows bacteria to get into the blood stream. They needed to start an aggressive treatment of antibiotics both orally and intervienously. My nurse put an IV into my left hand and they pumped me full of fluids for almost an hour.

Because of the severity of my infection, I need to go back to InstaCare for the next three days to get more IVs put back into my body. I feel a little bit better from the treatment but it didn't stop me from sleeping for the next 14 hours. I don't know how I got the initial infection. Erin thinks it the gym or my ear buds. I think its either a bathhouse or a doorknob. I guess we'll never know.

I am usually bad at following through on things. Exceptions to the rule will always be bacterial infections in my head. Hopefully, the treatment will work. I don't like having an IV stint in my arm but I know it's important to have medical science help cure this problem. Atleast they gave me hydrocodone. Pain pills are never any fun when you actually need them. The take away will be always address medical problems immediately. I wish I had gone to the doctor yesterday.