The Beginning - Part 2

I'm a professional procrastinator, I admit it.  Through my entire life, I've had to force myself to do things that I would much rather put off.

I woke up the next morning thinking of every excuse, that I could come up with, for not going to the doctor.  "They're not going to find anything", "It will be a waste of time and money", "How am I going to pay for this anyway?"

But, that still small voice inside my head kept telling me to go.

I showed up at the clinic, 20 minutes early as requested.  I went through the battery of Covid questions, answering "no" to all of them.  I had my temperature taken by the woman who was obviously exhausted by asking the same series of questions countless times that day.  She held the gun to my head and pulled the trigger.  98.5, she wrote on the sticker and stuck it to my chest.  The look on her face made me wonder if she was dreaming about the time when someone might answer "yes" to just one of her questions, breaking the endless cycle of "no's".

I was directed to waiting area 1B, where I sat patiently waiting to hear my name.  "Joseph?"  I was greeted by a very lovely young nurse named Tyran, who escorted me to an exam room and asked me to describe the problem I am having.  

Where would I start?  I hadn't thought about how to put into words the crazy stuff that was going on.  I began with, "Well, if I didn't know better - and I'm not convinced that I do - I would swear that I have a growing colony of worms crawling in my left lower eyelid and left upper lip."  She typed that into her laptop, as if she had heard it 100 times before.  "Oh, yes" I added, "there is also pressure under my left eye."

She asked the usual questions of when it first started, did it coincide with any other issues, and how do I feel otherwise?

She took my vitals and said Colleen would be in shortly.

With a knock on the door, Colleen came in and introduced herself.  Colleen is also a Nurse Practitioner, which prompted me to ask, "What do I call you?"  (We call doctors, Doctor, and nurses, Nurse) She said that I should call her Colleen.  

"So, you have worms?", she asked with a huge amount of sarcasm.  "Not the intestinal variety" I began my reply, "at least that I know of, but more the kind that, maybe a fly plants under your skin while the larvae grow to adulthood, then they hatch and fly away."  So, you have maggots?" she retorted.  "You're going to get some mileage out of this one, aren't you?"  I asked.  "After the day I've had, you bet I am." she replied.

I began again, "Listen, I don't normally go to a doctor, and by that I mean, I don't ever go to the doctor.  So, for me to be here means that this is going to be something really crazy that you may have never seen before."  "Like worms?" she asked.  "I've seen worms before."

Putting all humor aside, with a serious tone she asked, "Tell me the whole story, from the beginning." 

I told her of the bump on my cheek and the upper respiratory issue, both of which disappeared just before these symptoms started.  I gave her every bit of information that I could, that pertained to this issue - at least enough to get started.

She ordered some tests, and sent me on my way.  Little did I know that, behind the scenes, Colleen was calling other doctors, and trying to get ahead of the problem.  She has been an amazing advocate for me.

I reached out to my older brother, Marty - PhD Neuro Biochemist.  Between the two of us, we researched the symptoms to the hilt.  Everything pointed towards something putting pressure on the Infraorbital Nerve, under the left eye.  Colleen ordered an MRI, and just as predicted, the MRI showed something there.

I was referred to a neuro surgeon for a consult.  He agreed with our diagnosis, but the question still remained, "What is it?"  

Cancer was not at the top of the list.  He suspected nerve damage from a prior infection, or possibly a localized schwannoma.  Since the lack of insurance was still looming in my mind, I agreed when he suggested a 90 day, wait-and-see approach.

That may very well have been a huge mistake on my part.

Nothing changed in the first 30 days.  Between days 31 and 45, some sensory was beginning to return, which I mistakenly took for a good sign.  Between days 46 and 60, I developed what could have been an ear infection in my left ear.  I saw Colleen who checked my ear, nose and throat.  All looked clear.  She prescribed an antibiotic just to be sure.  

That's when things took a turn for the worst.  Between days 61 and 75, I began to have sensory issues on the entire left side of my face.  I researched the symptoms.  Something was moving and growing fast.  So many nerves were involved. Colleen ordered another MRI.  

The MRI showed just as we had expected.  All three branches of the Trigeminal nerve were now involved, along with the Facial nerve.  The Facial nerve travels through the Auditory Canal, through the middle ear, and on to the face - hence, the ear ache.

I was sent to Marshfield Medical Center for a biopsy.   The biopsy came back Squamous Cell Carcinoma.