I have a few from over the years.....
About 22 years ago I got (dr assumed) bitten by a horse fly on the side of my calf. Sharp pain when getting dressed one morning, looked sore so slapped a large plaster over it and went off to work in a hospital. Developed a blister at the site that, after a week, I showed to GP and he shone a torch against it, declared it not infected as fluid looked clear and said to leave alone and it would eventually be reabsorbed by my body. Carried on covering with simple dressing. That night the dressing obviously shifted and burst the blister; by morning the area was red and sore so put a better dressing on but it got progressively more painful and, when I checked it a couple of hours later, there was a definite red border bigger than the 5cm x 5cm dressing. Got one of the Drs at work to look at it - he took the dressing off and there was a massive infected crater where the blister had been and growing area of redness round it (you could almost see it growing). He sent me to A&E who got tissue viability nurse down to deal with it and I had to be referred for diabetic tests as they decided it was very unusual to end up as it had (tests all negative). Took about 3 months to heal properly and, at one point, they were discussing surgery to cut the area out and doing skin grafts but I avoided it in the end. Still have an inch long scar on my leg from it.
Had a bartholin cyst that developed over the course of a night shift. Due to medication for an unrelated condition I couldn’t go to walk in centres so went off to A&E 3pm on a Sunday afternoon with a lump the size of a grape; expected to be given antibiotics and sent home - A&E Dr asked gynae for their opinion as, by the time they looked at it, it was the size of a small apricot and still growing. Got admitted overnight for surgery the following day. Next morning Dr reviewed me (without actually examining the problem she just read my notes) declared all I needed was to continue the antibiotics and sent me home. Discharge letter claimed I’d been on 4 days of antibiotics and had a ‘small area of redness remaining from infected hair follicle’ (no idea where she got her information from!). Anyway, couldn’t sit down, couldn’t comfortably stand up and even lying down was excruciatingly painful. Not knowing what to do I rang the ward at 10pm and spoke to a nurse who was horrified they’d discharged me without dealing with the problem; she advised I take whatever pain killer I could and go back to A&E the following morning. I was admitted again by which time the cyst was the size of an egg and bulging; I couldn’t wear knickers or trousers so had travelled in by bus in a skirt and commando 😱 that hour on the bus was agony!! Surgery scheduled for next day and, just before going to theatre, used the toilet where it started oozing foul smelling green pus. They drained it and, instead of packing it, stitched the edges open and dressed it so it would heal upwards.
Last one. For a few months I had what felt like a blocked pore on the edge of my labia. Was about the size of a grain of rice but not painful so I left it. One day while wiping in the toilet it felt different and kind of sharp; gave it a squeeze and out popped a flat lump of I don’t know what with the texture of stone, about the size of an apple pip. Left a hole that closed up over the next couple of days and never come back.