Ow. And also some derivative corporate crap. (updated)

I think I have an infected parotid gland. Right where I have that scar from the tumor being removed, there's a spot that feels swollen and tender. When I eat it swells up even more, and I can feel the skin get tight against it. It's kind of below my jaw and also a little in front of my ear. I've been having jaw pain for a week or so, which I thought was mostly from stress (and a lot of it was), but this didn't help either.

Yes, Mom, I have an appointment. Although the earliest the UW's otolaryngology clinic could see me is Nov 3, so I'm thinking of looking elsewhere. The question is: do I go to a general internal doctor and then possibly have to get referred back? Or do I try to find an ENT doc somewhere else? Decisions, decisions... Maybe I'll keep the appointment I have an make another one sooner with a general internal doctor. Then if I need a referral I'll just use the appointment I already have at UW. That might be a good plan.

Update: I called Patrick's doctor's office, and his GP is going to see me on Tuesday morning of next week. In the meantime, his receptionist called UW and shamed them into seeing me earlier ("You ARE their patient, and they OUGHT to be taking care of you!"), so I have an appointment tomorrow at 1pm for my neck infection or whatever it is. It's like a miracle! Thank goodness. I'm keeping the GP appointment on Tuesday because I really need to do something about this anxiety. It's ridiculous. And I want to talk to him about that weird sudden weight gain that I can't seem to get rid of. Hopefully he can figure out what's wrong with me. I get exercise, I eat like a saint, and I've still got these 15 lbs stuck on me that appeared practically overnight, it seemed like. Sigh. We will see.

At first I was panicked, thinking the tumor had come back and I hadn't noticed. But tumors don't swell up, go back down, and then swell up again. And this directly corresponds with when I eat (good job Patrick for noticing this). So I'm thinking it's not a tumor. Yay!

I was worried I wouldn't be able to sleep last night with all the stress of the day, and indeed I wasn't tired when I got into bed last night to try falling asleep, so I took one 5mg Ambien and tied Patrick and I together with a scarf at the wrist... You never know! This was after I had him hide the keys. I wanted to sleep, but I didn't want to sleepwalk and wind up in Burien or jail.

It worked just fine though. I had no weird side effects and it knocked me out. It was a nice restful sleep, too, so I actually feel pretty good today. Hooray! I will remember this for possible future use. Some nights I just can't sleep worth a damn, and then I always feel horrible the next day. This might solve that occasional problem.

In other news, I listened to samples off of the album Evanescence released yesterday. Normally I like their stuff for the most part, probably because Amy Lee's voice happens to have about the same range as mine, making her pieces really easy to sing to, but I can't really recommend this. Everything sounded pretty much the same, and I didn't notice any songs that really stood out, with the exception of one bonus track called Secret Door. That was neat, but one good song does not an album make. The first track on the album had some sort of weird rhythm that was vaguely off-putting. I think I'm going to pass on this one.

Just say no.