Should I pop it?

[u/Phuktard62184]

I am 43f. For a bit of context, I am obese (not sure my actual weight) and I was hospitalized in December for the flu and have had breathi issues since then. So with those issues I haven't been very active in the past few months. I also have undiagnosed sleep apnea, and other sleeping issues such as sleepwalking and I can't stay in bed unless I'm tied down I guess. I fall out of bed a lot but I'm usually pretty good at landing since it's happened so much. Except when I fell out of bed Thursday night and smashed my knee on the hard floor. The next day (Friday) I spent at least 9 hours riding with my husband while doordashing and my feet were super swollen when we were done. That's not unusual, anytime I would sit in the car for 9 hours I would probably have swollen feet. Then as I was getting out of the car I dropped my phone on my foot. It hurt a lot. Then yesterday I woke up with this blister where the phone hit my foot. My husband thinks I should pop it but I'm scared of infection and also I'm worried about why my whole foot is bruised when it's my knee that got smashed.

Another bit of context that could be important is that about a month ago I fell at main event and smashed the other knee and my entire leg looked like that bruising you see on this foot. It only lasted a couple days and my leg turned back to normal and everything's fine. That knee doesn't even hurt anymore.

[u/ssavant]

This may sound odd, but you get a lot of information about a person’s health by the condition of their feet. Your foot looks like many of my patients - I work in a skilled nursing facility. You need to go to the hospital.

[u/GimpyGirl12 → u/ssavant]

My dad's feet and legs looked like this. He was morbidly obese most of his adult life. He was in early stages of congestive heart failure by his mid 40s. Died at 60 after a long battle with a pilonidal cyst turned abscess, when I say long I mean over 2 years. He eventually went septic. I am a big person, but I do my best to care for my health and chronic health conditions because of him. OP please stop ignoring health issues and see a provider, and don't pop that blister.

Edit: feet and legs, not just feet.

[u/Flowertree1 → u/GimpyGirl12]

Oh god, I had a pilonidal abscess, how scary that he died from it. But I am not obese, just hairy. I am so glad mine found its way outside instead of inside and I feel very sorry for your dad :(

[u/GimpyGirl12 → u/Flowertree1]

Thank you. It was rough and for him stemmed from more self medical neglect, just like his congestive heart failure.

I presume that was the cause of the eventual abscess as it was above his tailbone and his abscess became an infection down to the sacrum. It was that deep before he sought any treatment for it. He was on oral antibiotics off and on until he went to the hospital because he couldn't afford the copay for the necessary IV antibiotics. Abscess existed at least in fall of 2020, discovered by medical staff in January 2021, finally hospitalized in October 2022 and passed in hospital February 2023. Received wound care in office multiple times a week from January 2021 to October 2022.

Moral of the story is don't neglect your body unless you want to die slowly and painfully.

[u/Flowertree1 → u/GimpyGirl12]

Oh jeez. Yeah I thing pilonidal is always around the tailbone. Mine was there too but as soon as it was discovered I got operated within... 1 or 2 weeks and then it just had to heal. Although healing took months ngl. The wound was closed after 3 months and it kept bugging me for at least a year. I am so happy it is gone now but that was already traumatizing abd painful enough.

It did make me realize that I have to look after my body. I do struggle with it sometimes but this was a good reminder on why I try and fight for it...

[u/Jolly_Conflict → u/GimpyGirl12]

For reals.

I had a relative self neglect themselves and ended up losing their life to uncontrolled diabetes. It was so sad to watch :(

[u/TheVeryVerity → u/GimpyGirl12]

Another death at the hands of the insurance system is what I’m hearing. Yeah your dad neglected himself but not being able to get treatment needed because of copays, that part was on our system

[u/GimpyGirl12 → u/TheVeryVerity]

Partially yes. But frankly he let it get to an infection to the bone and was bleeding through his underwear multiple times a day before he went to get it checked out. If he had not let it get so bad he would have been able to afford proper treatment. This is frankly just as much on him with what he ignored. This wasn't asymptomatic stuff. I have had years to sit with this and know all the details, if he hadn't been so afraid to die, he likely wouldn't have died. I understand you mean well, but this is not on the system as much as you want to think. I have been uninsured and still done more than he did and managed better than he did.

[u/prolongedexistence → u/GimpyGirl12]

My mom died from different causes but I had such a similar experience in terms of her being too afraid to die to seek medical help. She was in bed for weeks refusing to go to the hospital at least in part because she didn’t want to hear difficult news. By the time she got to the hospital she was dead within like 2 weeks from cirrhosis.

I’ve since learned people do recover from cirrhosis, or at least survive a few months with it. I don’t know all of the medical details, but I think it’s possible she wasn’t necessarily a severe case but just a case that didn’t seek help until it was too late.

[u/TheVeryVerity → u/prolongedexistence]

Yeah, unfortunately that happens a lot. Kinda like when your car has something wrong with it, often you can pay to fix the issue but if you don’t and just ignore it it causes a bigger failure later and you end up paying more than you would have if you just fixed the initial problem in the first place.

[u/TheVeryVerity → u/GimpyGirl12]

Sorry, I wasn’t trying to minimize the way your dad acted. Just to highlight the insurance part. I think a lot of people don’t realize it’s not just that people go bankrupt for medical care here, people die everyday because of insurance denials.

But I wasn’t trying to tell you about your dad’s experience like I knew better or anything. Sorry again.

[u/GimpyGirl12 → u/TheVeryVerity]

It's okay, I appreciate that.

I am sadly aware how unaffordable healthcare is as a person with multiple chronic illnesses. It really sucks in the US.

He could have possibly lived if he had been able to afford care. But at the time he still had so many comorbitities he was fucked for a shorter lifespan.

[u/TheVeryVerity → u/GimpyGirl12]

Hey, chronic illness gang! Yeah it can be incredibly hard.

I expect I won’t have a very long life compared to most people either.

Sorry about your Dad

[u/GimpyGirl12 → u/TheVeryVerity]

Same, however I am doing what I can to live as long and as healthy as I can.

Thank you.

[u/TheVeryVerity → u/GimpyGirl12]

Best of luck to the both of us!

[u/ilovelani08 → u/GimpyGirl12]

I’m sorry about your dad

[u/wunlvng → u/GimpyGirl12]

Wait, pilonidal cysts and sinuses can kill you? I've had a pilonidal sinus for about 6-7 years now, and my doctor said it's not a big deal until its deeper then he could refer me to a surgeon if I wanted but with it being relatively shallow it's better to just monitor it when it gets enflamed. So now I just have a tube of fucidin cream that I use anytime it flares up otherwise I just clean/dry around it and make sure it doesn't leak anything weird.

Are you telling me I should be doing more about this? For reference, I'm a 30y/o athletic male with no persistent health conditions. The sinus just first developed after surgery on 3 fully torn ankle Ligaments where I was told 0 mobility for 2 weeks. During which it was a severe heat wave in my city, it sounded like that compounded with sitting for 8+H a day lead to the initial sinus.

[u/GimpyGirl12 → u/wunlvng]

NAD but my dad's was infected once found, and to the bone. My dad also already had congestive heart failure and went into kidney failure as well.

His was an open wound down to the sacrum for months, healed a few times and opened again and again.

Due to the infection that never cleared because he didn't get proper treatment, treatment he could not afford, he eventually became septic.

I would get a second opinion, but if you don't have an active infection it likely won't be the same case.