Tuesday night I noticed it. Just a small pimple on my chest.

Wednesday I woke up and it had hardened under the skin into a welt.

Thursday it was starting to get bigger.

Friday it was hot, painful and feverish.

Over the weekend, I was popping four Advil every four hours just to keep down the pain, redness and swelling.

By Monday the advil stopped having any effect on it. The welt was twice it’s original size and twice as painful. The plane ride home was awful.

Tuesday morning I waited 2 hours for a doctor to cut the welt open, drain it and stuff medicated gauze into the abscess.

Wednesday morning I had the gauze removed and repacked.

Thursday was a blur of antibiotics and pain meds.

Today, I was supposed to go in to have the gauze removed, but I opted to stay home, and remove it myself tonight in front of the mirror. A grueling endeavor. The welt is gone, there is no more bulge from either infection or gauze. Only a small open wound that I redress with clean gauze every day.

All this, because I was an idiot and didn’t finish my antibiotics months earlier.

FINISH YOUR MEDS!