neck-melodrama update

Earlier this evening, I looked up "home antibiotics" and found several lists of supposedly natural antibiotics. Among them were honey, garlic, oregano, thyme, and apple-cider vinegar (which also quickly reduces one's blood sugar). So I made a gooey potion out of the first four ingredients—honey, fresh garlic, and dried herbs—and simply spooned the horrid mess into my mouth while keeping my nostrils shut. The aftertaste, once I began breathing again, was pretty terrible. As for the vinegar: I have a bottle of double-strength apple-cider vinegar, so I diluted that with water to make about a 40% solution, then I downed two shots of the stuff.

Result: about an hour after downing the natural "remedies"... I feel distinctly better. The mental fog has lifted, and I'm back to typing quickly, with many fewer errors. I've also sprayed my pillowcase with antibacterial Febreze; I'll probably boil the pillowcase in the morning and maybe think about putting the rest of my pillows through a wash cycle, just to be sure. If I'm dealing with an infection, then the pillowcase is probably the culprit because I'm a guy, which means I don't wash my bed linens as often as any sane woman would like me to.

We're not out of the woods yet. I've palpated the massive lump on the back of my neck, and it's still both huge and sensitive, like a third testicle. But I trust that, with another few blasts of my vile potion, I may well be on the way to recovery without having to spend fifty bucks (or however much it'd cost) at the skin clinic. So I'm no longer planning to visit the skin clinic; instead, I'll keep dosing to see whether the swelling goes down, and all returns to the status quo ante. If it does so within about a week, then I'll have been vindicated.

MORNING UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: I'm off to the skin clinic in the building where I work. I expect to be told I have a fairly massive infection, and the specialists will either drain it via lancing/squeezing or lancing/suction. I foresee a prescription for antibiotics in my future as well. The pain last night kept me from sleeping, and when I got out of bed around 8 a.m., I could tell the problem had worsened during the night. So, while I still have my mental faculties, I'm heading off to see the experts. Here's hoping they really are experts. I freely admit that I have trust issues.