Infected Thumb

I have an infected thumb; I look down at it and see an abscess next to the nail fold on the right side.
"Let me see," my mother says, taking my hand to inspect. "You need to go to the hospital to drain it. Your whole thumb is swelling, too." I look at it again and see that she's right; the abscess is much larger now and the thumb itself is red and swollen. Also I'm starting to feel a numbness* on that side of the arm.
The next instant a man is there, maybe a doctor. The abscess has been opened (don't know if I did it or he lanced it himself) and I work at draining it all out and keeping it clean.
My mother is still talking about going to the hospital and I wish she wouldn't. I dread the vulnerability and all the anxiety it would cause. But then I realize I have no medical insurance whatsoever, so there's no chance any hospital would take me in. The thought causes me to calm down considerably.

*I suspect I was feeling numb because I was sleeping on that arm.