Normally, the end of high school is the best thing for a teenager. No more homework, getting up early, and having to deal with boring teachers. But for me, my graduation was not as glorious.
I graduated back in 2019, and I was excited as ever. I was going to have a year of no school, since I took a gap year to go to college. I was in the process of moving in with my girlfriend, and I had brought my cat with me. She already had two other cats, and they weren't the happiest, but they dealt.
Just about a week before graduation day, one of her cats, a big, fluffy orange tabby was grumpy due to my cat trying to bother him, so I picked him up and started hugging him (which normally calms him down). For some reason, he wanted the opposite and before I knew it, he batted at my face and scratched my head near my hairline. Nothing too major, but I'm allergic to cats, and so I just did what I normally did and washed out the wound before it could swell up. I thought nothing more of it.
The next night, I had noticed what seemed like a whitehead right by my right eye while I was in the shower. It was really tender, so I popped it and went on my way, again, thinking nothing of it.
As the night went on, it started swelling up a little bit. A little strange, but I must have irritated it more.
The next morning, I woke up to go to work, but I couldn't open my right eye at all. It was swollen shut. I texted my boss (who is my girlfriend's grandma) and told her what was going on, so we agreed I shouldn't come into work.
I waited a little while to see if the swelling would go down, but it just kept getting worse. I ended up calling my mom to have her pick me up and take me to the doctor.
We thought maybe a spider had bit me and when I popped it, it just spread the saliva in my skin rather than pushing it out, so we weren't worried.
The doctor had asked if I was dizzy, lightheaded, or had a fever of 101 or more in the last day. I hadn't, and the doctor had said that if I did, I would have cellulitis, a bacterial infection under the skin, and that I would have to go to the ER immediately. They had explained that it could go sepsis and I could possibly lose that half of my face or worse. We were relieved that I didn't have that.
They gave me an antibiotics shot and let me go on my way.
The swelling had immediately started going down, and everything was good! My mom had asked if I stay with her until we know it's gone, and I agreed. Instead of swelling on my eye, I ended up developing this small, hard bump right beneath my eye. Later on that night, it got worse.
It was around 10:00 pm when I started feeling dizzy and lightheaded. We checked my temperature, and it was 101.4. We tried some Ibuprofen to see if that would help, and my fever got worse after half an hour, so we booked it to the ER.
The doctor there had told us that all it needed was to be lanced. So she had lanced it super easy and drained it out. She said it should be fine now, but if not, to come straight back if the swelling comes back. We were there for only about an hour in total. I went back home and went to sleep.
When I woke up, my eye was swollen shut again. This was only a couple days before my graduation day, so we were worried I may not be able to walk across the stage. So we went back to the ER and basically spent the day there. They administered me IV antibiotics and gave me oral antibiotics to take.
Every time I took a shower, it would leak and get better and better every day. My graduation day came, and I got to walk the stage. My eye hasn't swollen up since that, but I still have a small scar from when they lanced it.
I never knew that being scratched by one of the most docile cats I've ever met would cause something so big. He hasn't scratched me since that day.
About the Creator
Danny
I'm a 19 year old art student at the American Academy of Art College. I love writing my own fictional stories, but I may write out some of my past experiences that may inspire you or provide some entertainment.
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