hebdo.4july(somatization,cont’d.)
…everybody’s got their own personal agenda regarding my illness & its management…i got a hold of dr.dad
late monday night
& he insisted, as part of a rant against th pharmaceutical company racketeers, that cheap old tetracycline was
all i needed to
set me right as rain. when th malaise & feverishness woke me up around six th next day, i phoned cousin tate’s
dad, tio jaime
th pharmacist, to see if he could help me w/ any of this. i ended up driving him into town by seven-thirty,
right on time to
open for business. i accepted his offer of coffee & sipped it outside in th morning light, taking deep breaths
before finally
settling into a corner chair in th waiting room to tate’s office while morning tv blasted away at th growing
number of
appointments joining me. th doctor came in from seeing hospitalized patients in th neighboring town of manati
around ten,
ten-thirty.
i got called to wait in an examination cubicle after some further waiting, & after some further waiting still,
climbed on
th paper-covered table & settled in for a short nap, cut short by tate as he burst in & proceeded to throw a
small tantrum
about not starting on th antibiotics, & about getting dr.dad involved. i had to make a choice about who i
wanted to treat me,
who i was going to listen to & make my primary care provider…
to summarize: i let myself be talked into doing a seven day cycle of augmentin after all, on th off chance
something other than
cat scratch disease might be at work…
had to come into town again thursday & saturday for further tests requiring blood samples taken on an empty
stomach.
meanwhile, fever crises grew in frequency & intensity.
saturday, july 7th, after going over th last of th test results w/dr.tate, i stopped for lunch at ‘mi casa’
restaurant. by
three-thirty, when my brother javier showed up w/ his fiancee, i was thanking th owner for some enteric coated
aspirin to
gulp down w/ coffee & dessert. i felt sick enough to move my next dose up an hour to six-thirty & motivated
to finally
locate a thermometer in th house. my temperature was up to 40C/104F.
sometime between seven-thirty & eight, javier gave me a ring: tate was w/ him, they were on their way to th
fights & a
tribute to tito trinidad in barceloneta. alarmed at th high fever, th good dottore suggested i drive myself to
my dad’s in san
juan so i might at least be under observation. i was feeling too sick, weak, & dizzy to attempt it- & was still
too proud to
admit it- i pooh-pooh’d tate’s offer to drive me & he decided to put th fear of god in me before hanging up:
‘it’s yr life- or yr
leg, who knows. anything beyond low-grade fever brings into question th cat-scratch disease diagnosis. i’ve
done what i
can.’ javier promised to call back as soon as they made it to barceloneta, & i spent two hours counting every
minute,
regretting my stupid pride th moment i hung up. around nine th fever broke- on th upside, to 104.5F/40.3C.
couldn’t raise
dr.dad, either. i made my peace then & there: ‘maybe i’ll fry here on earth so i can go straight to heaven. i’m
in yr hands.
i trust i’m somehow safe in yr hands…’
tio oscar had my dad’s fiancee’s phone number, & although th machine picked up there, too, having talked to
oscar helped
a great deal. ‘well, an abscess may have formed. you just have to have it looked at as soon as possible.’ th
one positive,
calming voice…from another sick man who had to struggle to speak up…
around ten th fever finally started to ease down. i was thankfully falling asleep around eleven-thirty when
javier finally
called.
th next day, dr.dad & his fiancee jeanette drove over to help me gather a few things- including th cat- & bring
me to der guter
doktor’s place, our dark, dust-filled suburban flying saucer of a family home…