Leukoplakia

For the passed two weeks Ive been sick.  Not the flu, or a cold, but oral leukoplakia. Yes and its as nasty as it sounds.  Two weeks ago I started to get what I thought was a sore throat... but it wasn't in my throat, it was more in the back in my mouth.  I didn't think anything of it and figured it would go away. Boy was I wrong. I soon felt pain down around the inside of my gums and made it very painful to speak.  I had my girlfriend take a look and she immediately told me to go to the doctor to have it checked out. Which made me nervous.  When I arrived at DCA the first thing I tried to sign up for was Student Health Insurance.  Unfortunately I was one year too old to get it.  Regardless I had to get this checked out before this became something I couldn't handle.  Something I learned is some Walgreens have a walk in clinic run by nurse practitioners. As soon as the nurse looked she was baffled.  She thought it was a chemical burn of some kind.  She asked me if I had eaten anything spicy recently.  Apparently a pledge for a local fraternity had come in the week before with burns in his mouth from his brothers putting habanero peppers in his mouth.  What we came up for me was I had eaten quite a few cinnamon red hots candy. Everywhere I kept them in my mouth to suck on them is where I had a sore or burn.  The nurse said to keep an eye on it but that it should go away in a few days. I was to stay away from acidic and spicy foods.

The next morning I woke up to quite a bit of pain in my mouth.  Swallowing was painful and speaking was excruciating.  It wasn't my voice that hurt but the rubbing of my tongue against the sores on my gums.  This was grounding me from flying.  During my lessons I am to take on as many radio calls as possible.  Its frustrating to know you can physically fly the plane but cant because you cant talk, even though your instructor is sitting right there. But I also understand.

 

The nurse practitioner from the previous day had given us the name of a Ear Nose and Throat doctor if it got any worse.  I called and made the appointment.  They were able to get me in that day. The doctor was very nice.  He prescribed an antibiotic and an antiviral and told me to come back in 2 weeks.  He didn't really tell me what it was.  

Trying to find foods that I could eat proved to be a challenge.  Even some soft foods were painful. Mashed potatoes felt like sandpaper but oatmeal was OK. Jello and pudding had a sting but mac and cheese was fine.  Some liquids were difficult as well. Water had a burn to it, but sweet tea was good.  Soon I learned to have a full meal I had to douse it with a warm sauce and take very very small bites.  Jessica and I picked up a whole chicken and some sides from Boston Market.  Mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and mashed sweet potatoes.  All this with about 3 extra bowls of gravy.  I shredded the chicken into very small bites and tried to swallow without the gravy which proved to be an unwise decision.  As I tried to swallow the small cactus in my throat I took a spoonful of gravy and the prickles were gone.  The mac and cheese was good, and the mashed sweet potatoes were a no go.  Every so often I would take a bite and either brown sugar or the oats, would key the inside of my mouth.

I kept thinking about the fact that my Doctor didn't tell me what I had.  I started to go over the paper work and discovered he had written down the diagnosis but didn't really bother to explain what I had or how I got it.  Oral Leukoplakia was scribbled in almost unintelligible writing.  Google came up with a couple hits.  Normally this is found with smokers and is more common in men than women 2:1.  Basically they are white plaques on the inside of your mouth.  Some can be precancerous.  My doc did say he didn't think they were.  The next thing I Googled was what causes oral leukoplakia. I got a few hits with quite a surprising result.  Leukoplakia has been known to be caused by an allergic reaction to cinnamon.  Hmmmm...  Makes sense to me.  But before I diagnose myself with an allergy I'll ask the doc when I go into the follow up.  Until then I will avoid the stuff.

So for the passed 2 weeks Ive been nose in the books preparing for my oral exam, and hoping I don't forget how to keep the plane in the air.  I'm itching to get back up.  Staying on the ground this long is dangerous and I could start going crazy very soon.  I'm able to speak with almost no pain, and swallowing is still a bit of a chore but not nearly as bad as from the start of this.  I really hope I'll be back in the air next week.