What a Canker - Part 2

So what I thought was a canker sore, actually ended up being something different! My sore had persevered for over two weeks, and it would alternate getting all puffy and red, and then white and shrively. I thought it best to visit Dr. Gururaja.

He gave me some antibiotics which were a spin off of good ol' Amoxicillin, and they were the size of your pointer finger from the tip to the first joint. Seriously. I was full after taking this pill.

Dr. Gururaja told me that the antibiotics should make this thing go away pretty quick, but he told me to come back the following week to make sure everything was kosher. As I took my horse pills, I noticed a little improvement, but not much. Then halfway through the week, I noticed that the dosage instructions were to take 1 pill TWICE A DAY. Oops. So I went back to the Dr. having not completed my medication, and still having this chunk of mleccchhh in my mouth. He said to finish the meds taking the appropriate dosage, but then he said that he was going to refer me to an ENT (Ear-Nose-Throat specialist), because he thought that I actually had a MUCOCELE!

Wikipedia said that a mucocele is a swelling of connective tissue due to a ruptured salivary gland duct usually caused by local trauma. I betcha biting my lip counts as trauma. Basically, I cut a saliva vein, and the mucous collected underneath the skin of my lower lip and just kept collecting and collecting. Every so often it would drain out but then it would just fill back up again.

Dr. Gururaja said that mucoceles weren't dangerous or contagious (my wife was very worried about this), but that they can keep on getting infected (YES then can!), so it's best to have them removed if they don't go away on their own (which they do some of the time). So I'd have to go to the ENT and have them snip it right out of my mouth. Sounds like fun...

It all ended up being a MOO-Point (you know, like a Cow's opinion: who cares?) since by the time I received Dr. Gururaja's referal in the mail, my trusty mucocele did indeed heal up on its own.

Just thought some of you might have needed closure on this whole episode...