The New Times

Feeding on my flesh

I went to the doctor on friday. I told you before about the 'abcess'. The doctor found out more.

Australian doctors are strange, I went in and the nurse asked me what I was there for. How was I supposed to know, I was just told to make an appointment. I had a vague inclination it was for a redress of my 'abcess' that hadn't dissapearedd after two course of antibiotics. For the record that is not normal behaviour for an abcess, I have done a lot of research on the web.

The nurse told me to take of my shorts and lie down on the couch. She peeled off the dressing she had applied the day before. Then the wonderful Doctor Singh arrived. He wanted to have one last poke around at my left bum cheek. I consented of course. He realised there was something inside my abcess, so he poked a bit more, and gave my bum cheek a serious massage, well more like he pressed down on one are for a long time. I felt some pain, but it was the sort of pain you wanted to endure. So I stayed silent.

Then the marvellous Doctor Singh called to the nurse. He said 'come over here, look at what just came out'. Curious, I looked around myself. On the floor, about two feet from the doctors bench, to my left there was an unspecified object, about 1.5-2cm long, by 0.5-1cm wide. I have poor eyesite, at this point it looked to me like a lump of dead flesh.

The nurse promply came over with a tissue, picked it up off the floor and took it out of my sight. I asked what it was. They said 'its a maggot!' Oh. I was happy at this point because the maggot had been removed from my left bum cheek.

They called over another one of the doctors, 'take a look at this' they said, 'look what just came out of this young lady!' The nice doctor comes over and puts his hand on his shoulder and asked 'are you ok?'

'I am fine' I say, 'I am just glad its come out'. This is perfectly true. This red lump on my left bum cheek has been causing me a lot of pain ever sice we were in Easter Island, that was in January, it is now March.

They redressed the wound, the nurse said lots of things assuming I knew what she was talking about, I didn't have a clue, but nodded and smiled as is my custom and hoped that what she was saying wasn't and still isn't crucially important to my well being.

I put my shorts back on, feeling like I knew everyone in the surgery extraordinarily well for having known them for two days. Then asked if I could have another look at the thing that came out of my left bum cheek.

The marvellous Doctor Singh was holding it in a sterile jar and showing it off to his colleagues all around the surgery. I got a closer look at the thing that had come out of my left bum cheek. It was a whitish yellow colour with little black spots on its skin I later found out are hooks to attach itself to my flesh. Its head was moving and its little antennae obvously a bit confused by the sudden change of surroundings. That thing, that living, breathing, thing had been living inside me for the last 2 months at the very least!

Dr Singh's nice colleague told me I should have a skin check as soon as possible incase the beast had laid eggs inside me. Then I would have lots more large maggots popping out of my flesh.

So I'm telling you this story in quite a sterile tone. I hope you understand this is the grossest thing I have ever experienced in my entire life. I have to keep retelling the story in the hope that I will soon recover from the shock. Not kidding. At first I was happy, now I am just disgusted and amazed and very, very grateful for the marvellous Docotr Singh who persevered and didn't just prescribe more antibiotics. If he hadn't, on the off chance, thought that there was something there, the creature would still be living under my skin now.

I later looked on the internet to find out if I could see what it was. None of the doctors at the surgery had seen anything like it before. To them it was a foreign maggot. I found out it was botfly larvae. I will post a picture of it very soon.

The flies lay their eggs on mosquitos, who then inject the larvae into you judt belopw the surface of the skin when they bite you. A bit like a conspiracy against warm blooded animals. The larvae then grows there, staying at the surface so it can come up for air when necessary. So it was a botfly larvae head I have been scratching for so long. It feeds on your flesh, that is what causes the stinging sensation that is oh so painful. Now I understand. And am entirely grossed out.

Writing this is therapy. Not kidding.

posted by Lucia @ 03:57