infections

Although it feels like hundreds of years, it was probably a couple of weeks ago I noticed mild discomfort on one side of my abdomen. I’ve felt this before and it’s turned out to be that “men of a certain age” thing known as a prostate infection. After I got the first one in 2008, the doctor at the medical clinic reassured me there would be more to come.

He was correct. He’s probably old enough to be getting them himself now.

I ignored it for a few days, because it was very mild and I wasn’t sure if it was just my body being weird or whatever. This was dumb. I then made a doctor appointment and went in last Wednesday. The doctor poked my abdomen. It was unpleasant. He agreed it might be an infection and gave me some blood work to get done at a local lab.

This reminded me that the last two times I went to a local lab to get blood taken (the area is filled with them, since I live next to a hospital), the person conducting the procedure was apparently green and had difficulty finding a vein. In the second instance, the person (different each time) actually left the needle in my arm while seeking help from more experienced staff. This is like stabbing someone and leaving the knife in. I can’t properly describe how extremely unpleasant it felt.

Anyway, I delayed on getting the blood work done for a day because I got up and had breakfast. My doctor later told me I didn’t need to fast for these tests. Oops.

We now move to Friday of last week. I still need to get the blood work done, and I vow I’ll do it, very soon! Probably. I go for a walk on the river trail. On the way back, my entire body starts to ache.

I later develop a huge pressure headache, a fever, and that slight pain in the abdomen increases.

The weekend is a fugue of pain and delirium. Come Monday–yesterday–the pain in the abdomen, which I’d mostly only noticed if I was laying down, is now ever-present regardless of position, and much, much worse. I feel like there is nothing I can do to help make myself feel more comfortable. I want to leave my body, for a little while, and hop back in when it’s better.

My doctor agrees to prescribe antibiotics, even before the test results. By mid-evening, having taken the first pill, I am at least experiencing a placebo effect of feeling very slightly better, though the pain is still there. I am also very, very tired.

Today, the good news is my sleep score, which fell to a low of 31 when I felt hot enough (not in a sexy way) to set the bed on fire, rose to a mediocre, but much better 69. I feel a little more human. I am hoping I’m not allergic to the antibiotics, but if they work, I may still accept the trade-off.

Kids, the lesson here is: When you feel that weird little pain, get it checked right away. Don’t be macho and dumb and negligent like me! I can only imagine how much worse it would have gotten if the medication had come even just a few days later.

Anyway, that was yesterday. And I never liked the song much, either, so there.

Also, I already had a tag for INFECTIONS, which shows you how often this has happened.

As you might guess, I never actually had kidney infection on my bucket list. That would be nutty, unless it was an opposite-universe bucket list where every item was something terrible, like “get stung by a swarm of bees” or “get trapped in a landslide” or “be hit by a blimp.” But if I had put kidney infection on my bucket list, I could scratch it off, because I do, right now, have a kidney infection.

In what is shaping up to be my Year of Personal Health Hell™ I experienced the early symptoms on Wednesday (three days ago as I type this). In the morning I suffered an episode of shivering/feeling cold that lasted about ten minutes. Later I felt very warm, but that, too, subsided.

I had been recovering from a sore lower back (see above, YoPHH™) and that was mostly gone at this point, but I did feel one small spot on the right side that was still a bit sore. I was wrong about this. It wasn’t my back.

I went to see my new doctor later that afternoon and since I was feeling fine at the time, said nothing to him. That was mistake #1, as the pain I felt was not in my lower back, but on the other side, in my abdomen. Specifically my kidney. I wasn’t sure so said nothing, which was dumb.

Wednesday evening I spent the night burning up the bed. I felt radioactive. My partner would not cuddle–who wants second degree burns from a hug? This led to mistake #2. I was clearly running a fever at this point, but instead of going to the ER or a walk-in clinic (my doctor is a two hour commute) the next morning I went to work. Later that morning I began feeling the hot/cold thing again, but it was lasting much longer now. By noon it was persistent and I left work early.

Mistake #3 was going straight home to rest instead of going to the ER or walk-in clinic. By this point I knew something was wrong and I’d have to get checked out. But I was weak, and felt terrible and just wanted to shut off.

Thursday night was spent in a weird fugue where sleep came in small snatches as I burned up/froze. By 1 p.m. I summoned the strength to go to a nearby walk-in clinic.

It was uphill all the way. I’m not even joking. It’s on Columbia Street, just off Keary Street, and the latter is all hill. At least it was all downhill coming back.

At the clinic I gave them my info and the woman at the counter told me it would be about 45 minutes. I did not relish this. I sat down and closed my eyes and pretended to be inside a healthy body.

Surprisingly, about ten minutes later I was taken to an exam room and was attended to shortly after by a sexy red-haired doctor. Even in my horrible state I pick up on certain details.

He applied pressure to my kidney. I confirmed it caused much pain. He took my temperature with an ear probe thinger and said it was 38.7ºC. That’s super high. He made me produce a pee sample. I was sent back out to the waiting area while they did a quick analysis. I was then taken to a different exam room, but with the same doctor, so it was only partly disorienting. He confirmed a kidney infection and prescribed antibiotics (you know, those things I’ve proven allergic to over and over). Fortunately this batch is Cipro, which I’ve taken before without sporting a rash after. It’s only six tablets, two per day, but they are what the old-timers called horse pills, which is to say they are big.

On the way to Save-On to get the prescription filled I had to drop my urine sample off at Life Labs for further analysis–a precaution to make sure they were treating the infection as efficiently as possible. Normally a courier would handle this, but he’s apparently off until Tuesday.

The doctor cautioned me that if I felt worse after a few days of treatment to get to the hospital or clinic ASAP because kidney infections can apparently turn very nasty very quickly (he used the phrase “low tolerance”), leading to toxic shock and other equally fun-sounding side effects.

Fortunately, a few hours after taking the first tablet my fever broke and I am feeling much better (though not great) than before. I’ve actually done a few things today, which is way more than I did yesterday. I no longer feel hot or cold, just mildly awful.

The bigger issue now is why did I get two infections within weeks of each other (the broken tooth being the first)? Is my immune system compromised? If so, by what? Something else even more horrible? Considering this is the YOPHH™ there’s a strong chance the answer is yes.

Once I’m done with the latest antibiotics, I’m getting some bloodwork done. Perhaps more answers will be found there, even if they are un-fun answers.

In the meantime, I may have some ice cream today. But I have a specific window for that. These antibiotics can lose their potency with dairy products and also things like calcium, minerals or anything acidic. My solution is to have a two hour window of no food/drink before and after taking a pill. I’m about 45 minutes away from the next window opening up. I’m pretending water is delicious and satisfying in the way a turkey dinner might be.