Godzilla, Axilla, Who Cares, It is Sore!

I have a cysty boil thingy in my armpit. It is medically called a folliculitis axilla, but to me it feels like a giganticus godzilla. I cannot begin to describe the discomfort I’m still feeling after having been to the doctor last Friday. By then I’d already had this nuclear sea monster egg for four days. One consultation, two different antibiotics, and an ointment later and I was already counting the days to this month’s payday. What I didn’t bargain on is the meds being almost finished and zero relief. This has to be one of the most painful things I’ve had, aside from a Bartholin’s cyst and an appendicitis (not at the same time, thank goodness!) and Loskop that I am, I left my meds at home today.

I think I’m just a cyst magnet. I’ve had teratomas removed from my ovaries four times. If you’re squeamish, don’t Google what they are. The first one I had, had teeth and hair, and the last one removed five years ago had embryonic tissue. Ironic when you consider I’ve never been pregnant. I find them fascinating, even though they’re quite gross. Then I’ve had two Bartholins cysts too. Again, if you’re easily nauseated or one of those people that grabs towards your own dangly bits when someone gets kicked in theirs on the TV, don’t Google what they are either. Oh, and then let’s not forget about the mice in my boobs last October.

Okay, that’s enough for now. I’m going to have my lunch which is carrot, sweet potato, chickpea, and coriander soup (before you ask me for the recipe, it’s out of a tin), with some toast.

A ‘Mouse’ Squatting in my Boob

I’ve always been aware of #breastcancerawareness but after this, I am a lot more serious about it. Ladies (and gents), please check your boobs for irregularities regularly. If you don’t know how, speak to a local healthcare practitioner.

It was a normal Monday morning shower. Until it wasn’t anymore. There I was, warm water cascading down over me, yet I was ice-cold with an indescribable feeling of dread; I had felt something unusual in my right boob – a hard lump. Could it be cancer? Nah, surely not?! But maybe… no, don’t be stupid! There’s no history of breast cancer in the family…but what about on your biological father’s side? It could be cancer… you’re at that age… These are just a few of the things that milled through my head the entire day. Needless to say, I hardly slept. I kept waking up during the night poking my boob. As sure as the earth rotates on its axis the knob was still there, feeling to me to be about the size of an old one Rand coin.

Heartbreak Autopsy

Does the hurt you caused me ever sucker punch you unexpectedly?
Do you ever feel enveloped by a storm of sadness?
Do you ever wonder if I’ve wanted to die because of it?

Your broken promises are splinters of glass in my mind
“I’ll never hurt you” – the salt in my wounds

Do you ever have to stifle screams of terror at night
As the memories choke you with their icy hands
Their bony fingers squeezing the throat your lips often caressed

Silent tears flow as panic threatens to turn to hate
“I’m sorry” – the word I damn to Hell

I try to sleep to silence the voices in my head
My rest plagued by inescapable rooms
Every door I open leads to another dungeon of heartache

My bed is cold, a sanitized, steel slab
You make the Y-incision with the diamond of her engagement ring

Did she stand beside you as you cracked my ribs
To remove my still-beating heart?
Our end: your start

My First Meat-Free-Monday: Mixed Pepper Pasta

I meant to post this on Monday, 3 May, but while I was cooking, the insane need to pee immediately gripped me and as I was undoing my pants, my phone fell out of my back pocket into the toilet bowl My need to pee evaporated instantly, and all I could think of was crap, crap, CRAP!!! (no pun intended!) and then silently thanked the cleaning gods that drive me to bleach the loo every second day. At least I didn’t have to fish it out of the bowl with my hands. Needless to say, I tossed the tongs away. Next my brain said get the phone into rice straight away to give it a fighting chance at surviving the water that was slowly infiltrating its innards. Thank the Pope a colleague gifted me a bag last month. Somehow I don’t think she or I thought that an expensive bag of brown basmati rice was going to end up in a plastic Tupperware trying to dry out a phone. Why don’t the cellphone manufacturers make water resistant handsets? Because, from what I’ve heard, cellphones and toilet bowls seem to have an affinity for one another. Next I went to Elizabeth’s house, panic stricken, and tried to dry the phone with the hairdryer on a low heat, and then it went to Chante, whose sister repairs phones. My phone’s board is okay, but the screen needs to be replaced. I don’t have the money for it now, but fortunately Elizabeth has lent me a phone in the meantime. Anyhow, the intended post follows…

What’s the Worst Thing You can Step on in the Dark?

It’s not been the best week, so I’m grateful that it is Friday. Monday is the start of a new week and a new month. Historically February isn’t a good month for me; it brings with it many reminders that trigger deep bouts of sadness within me, but at least I know to expect them, right?

Anyhow, the inspiration for today’s post, comes from one of the pages I follow on Facebook. It had a post up today posing the question: What’s the worst thing you can step on in the dark?

I can think of quite a few things…

Declutter, or Hoarding WILL Happen…

I am extremely humbled; a psychotherapist friend in Bristol in the UK asked me to be a contributor for her practice’s website. My first article is available to read here. I shall write for her as required, from my own perspective as someone with depression, on various topics. It is a tremendous privilege to be part of a project like this, knowing that my stories may help others who are struggling.

As I was writing the published article, it got me thinking about other aspects of lockdown and how they’ve affected me.

I said to Eliza the other day that I am starting to hoard stuff, and it is scary. I know that hoarding is linked to certain mental illnesses, including depression.  To quote a short excerpt from an article I found online: “The term hoarding refers to a psychological disorder whereby an individual refuses to discard things that they own. The person holds a firm belief that they will eventually need these items for some reason.”

Won’t You Take Me to Advent Town?

Yes, the 1980’s hit Funky Town is now stuck in my head after typing that title. Did someone say #earworm or #brainitch.

Moving along, believe it or not, I’ve never had an Advent calendar. Until now…

Yesterday Eliza and Nathan gifted me an entire Advent Town!

Moodboard Monday: Blue

There are varied psychological interpretations as far as the colour blue is concerned, based on this article by Very Well Mind. Where are you on the spectrum?

Friday the 13^th has nothing on Monday the 16^th. Today I can do blue for #MoodboardMonday because what a day it has been already. Good grief!