Kickdrum Beating in My Chest Again (Alternate Version)

Chapter 131

!!!!!!!!!!Author's Note!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Everyone! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a good week! Mine was pretty normal. I hung out, taught my lessons, practiced and spent a ton of time following up with various places that I'd emailed about my Halloween Setlist to try to get more gigs. I was successful at securing a second gig, which I'm really happy about, and trying to get a few more. I'm really excited about it!

In this chapter, we deal with what's happening to Patrick. He describes how the blisters have popped open and are spewing gross, smelly, green, snot-like pus. Before we go over what happens this week, I wanted to share with you where the symptoms of the infection came from. I'll start by saying that I was well-endowed in the chest area. I was DD cup where gravity had taken it's toll. During covid, something happened to bring about a terrible irritation underneath them which I thought was from a sweat rash because nothing could ever fully dry underneath them, so I started putting anti-perspirant and deodorant under them, which worked for a while. This irritation was also very painful when it would flare up. It got to the point where I stopped wearing bras except when I had to, because it would rub underneath and hurt. Fast forward a few years. I wanted to get a breast reduction because I was having horrible back, neck and shoulder pain. My doctor submitted it to my insurance company and I was required to do a few things before they would consider approving it. The first was to meet with a plastic surgeon. Then I had to have x-rays of my spine and a mammogram. I did all of them, but two days after the mammogram, I started developing this extremely painful, raw rash that was unlike anything I'd seen. I have an incredibly high pain tolerance because of fibromyalgia, so when I say the pain was absolutely debilitating, it was like a 10 on a normal pain scale. It kept getting worse and more painful over the weekend until the rash developed tiny, pus-filled blisters. I went to the doctor on Monday and was told it wasn't a rash, that it was an infection. They gave me a pretty strong antibiotic and referred me to a dermatologist. Shortly afterward, those blisters popped and started leaking green, putrid, snot-like pus that smelled awful. I saw the dermatologist who decided that it was infected eczema, so for the next three months I was on antibiotics and steroids until it finally cleared up. My doctors downplayed my concerns about the infection because I was actually worried that I was in danger of it going septic and killing me. It didn't, but I didn't appreciate being gaslighted. So, the gross blisters that popped and are leaking the green pus that stinks came from an actual, scary, real-life experience. It all ended up working out though because my insurance company agreed to cover almost all the costs of a breast reduction, and I had my surgery in April of this past year where I was taken down to a full B cup and I couldn't be happier.

Anyways, this week we check in with Patrick in his hallucination where he describes how he's feeling and how he's going downhill very quickly. He describes his symptoms, how they feel, how he's getting sicker and weaker and is concerned that his body was failing faster than it was getting better. He wanted to fight, but his body seemed to have other ideas. He reflects on his conversation with Pete where shares how glad he was that they were able to tell each other how they felt. He's grateful that Pete is working so hard to heal him and hopes he can make it long enough for them to see each other again. Then he describes how his sense of smell was getting much stronger and it was overwhelming him to the point that he vomits violently. In real life, Spencer is taking care of him, his temperature won't come down, and he's getting much worse, and then he pukes a ton. After that, Spencer gives Sara and Dan a break and asks them to send up Andy and Joe to help get Patrick in the bathtub, which they do. In real life, Joe is with Patrick in their cell and is furious at Gabe for causing this problem in the first place. Patrick's temperature keeps climbing, so he calls for Spencer. They wrap him in a cooling blanket and leave him there for a while. Spencer questions what's happening, why he's unconscious, why he was given drugs, and why he's hallucinating. Brad and Joe do their best to answer those questions. Two hours later, Patrick's fever hasn't come down enough so they take him to sick bay. Spencer orders cooled IV saline, some blood tests, and gives him some more medication. They leave after that. Joe and Brad sit down and settle in when Patrick starts screaming in excruciating pain while his body contracts and contorts. It causes his heart rate and breathing to set off alarms and Spencer and the nurses return to catch the end of it. As always, enjoy, tell your friends and if you like it leave me kudos or a comment! Happy reading!