Reply #120: In the fall of 1991, I got laid off ...

[meegbear]

I figured I'd try to make the best of it, by saving money by going on a diet. I grew up obese and while I was no longer like that, I still had fat on my body.

About 3 weeks in, I started feeling a lump on the upper left of my back. The lump started getting bigger and bigger until it was about the size of an egg. It would leak a bit and I figured since I have no insurance, I would let it drain itself out.

Well it didn't and laying down or sitting back hurt, so I made an appointment to see a doctor at my local hospital. He looked it, feeling it and asked calmly "How long have you had this?" "About a month." His face turned stone cold and he yelled "Nurse, book me an operating room for tomorrow morning." The next day, we went in, he numbed the area up and put a tube in. The sides leaked and I could feel gunk, for lack of a better word, running down my back. And God did it SMELL! He then checked the area and said it's deeper than I thought, so he took a scapel and removed more tissue. He wanted to test me for diabetes, but I said no, I never had it and it doesn't run in my family.

He said he would prescribe some high-end antibiotics and something for the pain. I blurted "Percoset" and he said "OK" and I got it (had fun with those ;-)).

I had it happen again on another area on my back, and my regular doctor took care of it. Where the original one was, I call "the hole in my back". If you run your fingers across the area, you can feel a small depression about the size of a penny. That's it.