Pain can be weird. I fractured my tibia and next day I went to a concert and stood up for like 4 hours and ended up going to Dr like 4 days later as everyone was telling me if it was really fractured I'd be in immense pain.
On the other side, herniated disk in my l4/l5? Excruciatingly painful and I couldn't walk for a day, and was in crutches for a week and in PT for a couple months after that.
Yep!
There's not recognizing how bad an injury is due to a lack of pain, and there's actually recognizing it but (stupidly) trying to ignore/tough it out.
Story time!
Early on in July this year, I (stupidly) tried to outlast a
dental abscess in my jaw that I'd had for about a week, thinking it'd get better on its own (see below).
Despite people, including my father, asking if I were alright with increasing alarm and that I "looked like shit" over the course of many days, I insisted I was fine as to not worry him/them.
Well, it came to about one week in, and I woke up one day early and realized this wasn't going to go away like smaller, mouth-lining abscesses had in the past (which is why I tried to ignore it/wait it out). This fucker was in and
under my jaw, and it was starting to swell my throat a little.
After having literally four or five hours asleep across a whole week, I finally broke and asked for help (apparently, my coming down early was what tipped my father off that shit was about to go down, since I'm a lazy cunt -- not sure how to feel about this, haha).
So after a 111 call, being redirected about three/four different times to different people, and after telling the doctor on the line my tongue was swelling a little at the back, I was pretty much told to go to hospital after they arranged for a heavy dose of painkillers and strong antibiotics for pickup, after an examination.
I'll tell ya, going to a large hospital after dark and when visiting hours were done/all the businesses inside (like the coffee shops) were closed was...
surreal. It was like something out of a fucking zombie apocalypse movie, and I think we encountered only
two/three people walking around the building as we headed to the department we were told to go to.
I gave my father a laugh apparently when the doctor checked my jaw, touched the abscess, and I hit the roof with a comical "Awrgh" straight from a cartoon.
Thankfully, the codeine and antibiotics (amoxicillin) worked over the course of a few days, and I was back to normal (albeit feeling like a twat) soon enough.
Don't be like me, kids -- ask for help when you need it. Don't be a stubborn cunt.
