Rolling Stones, pt 2

Last Thursday I wrote about waking up on Wednesday with pain in my left flank. I was certain that this pain was the result of a kidney stone, and after having a CT scan my doctor confirmed my suspicions. I got the all clear to come home after my doctor's appointment that afternoon, but my doctor said that if I experienced fever, chills, vomiting, etc. that I would need to be admitted to the hospital. I went home and by Wednesday evening the pain I'd experienced all day had all but gone away, so I thought maybe I'd dodged a bullet.

I didn't sleep very well Wednesday night. I couldn't get comfortable and kept waking up. I had chills and slept covered with a blanket and had my mom turn my fan off. Even still, I felt cold, even though I knew that I was quite warm; a sensation that I think most people have experienced at one time or another. To make a long story short, I wasn't quite my normal self the next two days. I actually didn't feel too badly, but I had a fever that would come and go and I was definitely more tired than usual. (To give you an idea of how sleepy I was, on Thursday evening I was so tired that I kept falling asleep mid-sentence, or while my sister was brushing my teeth.)

My mom was on high alert since she knows how quickly I become septic and she kept asking me if I was "going down." (That's the term we use to refer to what happens to me when I start becoming septic. I get extremely tired and lethargic, I repeat myself and have a change in mental status.) Fortunately, I didn't get septic this time, but I have several times in the past so my mom and I are very familiar with the signs/symptoms of sepsis.

When my mom got me back to bed on Friday she said I felt very warm and was flushed, so she took my temperature and sure enough it was 101°. I actually felt just fine, but after discussing things, my mom and I decided that it would be best to call my urologist's secretary since it was 4:30 PM on Friday and we wanted to catch my doctor before he left for the day to see what he wanted us to do. My mom told my doctor that I was feeling just fine, but that I had an on and off fever (something that is abnormal  for me). My doctor decided that it would be better to err on the side of caution and have me come to the hospital. That way I could get started on IV antibiotics to kill any infection that might be brewing in my body, and the next day he wanted to put a stent put in my left kidney.

[I'll tell you what a stent is, because unless you or someone you know has had one, or you are in the medical profession, you probably don't know what one is. A stent is a thin, flexible  tube that runs from your kidney through your ureter to your bladder, ensuring that your kidneys will drain. This way I don't have to worry about my kidney becoming blocked which would result in urinary sepsis (a serious condition that's life-threatening if it isn't treated with the proper antibiotics quickly enough).]

Heading to the hospital was not on my weekend agenda, but I mentally shrugged my shoulders in a "what can you do?" gesture. I don't look forward to having my life disrupted with something like a hospital stay, but I just choose to have a positive, cheerful attitude and make the best of it.

By the time my mom had gotten both of us ready and we had made the 45 minute drive to the hospital it was past 8:30 PM. I'll close this post now so it doesn't get any longer and will continue this saga very soon!