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Hi Everyone!
First, thanks Brad for updating my my journal for me!! He's the one who let you guys know I was in the hospital. He's awesome, so please say a quick hello :)
Second, thanks to you guys and gals for all of your prayers and support. They really meant a lot!
Ok, so it turns out what I had was a kidney infection called Acute Pyelonephritis. They said it's common, but serious. I'm relatively prone to UTI's (urinary tract infections) so I didn't worry at first, but this one just would not go away. So here is a lesson learned for you, if you have a UTI lasting more then 5 days, SEE A DOCTOR. From now on, I am supposed to call my doctor right away if I get a UTI because if it turns into another infection, there could be worse issues. But that's why I had the fever, chills, nausea.....
I had IV antibiotics and I still need outpatient antibiotics for the next 7 days. It's weird because they had a PICC (Physical Internal Centerline Catheter) line inserted in me, which is like a take-home IV port (I'm all set for the hookups :P) It's actually kind of weird, it's not a normal IV. The antibiotics they are giving me would burn out a normal IV vein in like 3 days. That's how strong these are.
The PICC line is in my right arm, above the elbow on the inside. There is a 46cm catheter inserted, which stops about an inch or 2 above my heart. They inserted it using a local anesthetic (it didn't really hurt) and found the right vein as well as the correct length by using ultrasound and x-rays. I have 2 tubes (filled with saline) sticking out, so it's kinda weird. But it's on the inside, so it's not easy to see they are there. It was actually really really interesting.
I have a really great internal doctor (who just happens to be a kidney specialist). The other thing they did was a CAT scan of my internals. When I saw my doctor on Monday, I told him about the 8 hour throwing up and I was worried that I may have hurt my stomach. So, nice guy that he is, when he ordered my CAT scan, he ordered it for the kidney and bladder area, as well as my stomach and intestinal area. He said that the infection was in my right kidney, starting to spread to my left, but we caught it in time and there is no scarring so I *should* be fine. If I am infection-free a year out, then I am fine.
I saw my Bypass Surgeon (who is out of the same hospital) and she took a look at the scan results. She let me know that nope, I didn't hurt anything, in fact, it all looked PERFECT in there!! My stomach and the Bypass process is right exactly where it should be, I'm not over- or under-stretched and she can see that I have been doing perfectly with my diet. I'm not sure how you get all that from test results, but it made me happy as all hell.
My surgeon was, however, worried about my protein and some other levels in my body. Considering I didn't eat for 5 days (including protein and vitamins, it makes sense they are low). So we will monitor my blood, and she is going to start me on monthly Iron shots at the same time as my B-12 shots. We are also going to re-evaluate my vitamins and see if I need additional supplementation.
I never ever liked seeing doctors before. I still don't, but I think they are smarter now and more sensitive (they no longer just say "lose weight and your problems will all go away, here, let me write you a prescription..."). So I'll keep up with my visits and actually listen to the advice, now that I have a few that I really like and who's opinions I truly respect.
Oh, and being sick, I lost 5 pounds between Thursday and Monday. Not the best way to do it, but I'll take it :)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Now, there are 2 other things that happened that I must note about. I remember somewhere in a past post that I said I would truly know I am being successful if I can see my collarbones. Well, They are starting to show. Just barely, but I was naked in the bathroom trying to sponge-bath and I looked, there they were! I was like, WHOA. I think I spent 20 minutes just feeling and looking at my collarbones. I still am in denial I think, like, it's only *starting* to show, but yeah, I have
The one other thing that kinda had me feeling really sad was that my room-mate (in the hospital) was admitted for abdomen pain, supposedly gall-bladder related, had to be told she has Leukemia. Holy shit, that has to be the devastation of the century for someone. She was a really nice older woman (snored like nothing I had ever heard before, but considering her circumstances, I wasn't about to complain, I just got some ear-plugs). That was just very sad and disturbing. Just hearing about all the tests she was going thru scared the SHIT out of me. She must not have seen a doctor in years! Another note, see your doctor regularly and have blood tests done.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
So the end result is, I'm ok. I have 7 more days of IV antibiotics, then 10 days of pill antibiotics. After that I need to re-visit my doctor and we'll do some tests and go from there. My main concern was, had I done or not done something to cause this. The answer was no, but (my doctor chastised me) I should have gone to the hospital on Friday when instructed. From now on, I follow his orders explicitly.
First, thanks Brad for updating my my journal for me!! He's the one who let you guys know I was in the hospital. He's awesome, so please say a quick hello :)
Second, thanks to you guys and gals for all of your prayers and support. They really meant a lot!
Ok, so it turns out what I had was a kidney infection called Acute Pyelonephritis. They said it's common, but serious. I'm relatively prone to UTI's (urinary tract infections) so I didn't worry at first, but this one just would not go away. So here is a lesson learned for you, if you have a UTI lasting more then 5 days, SEE A DOCTOR. From now on, I am supposed to call my doctor right away if I get a UTI because if it turns into another infection, there could be worse issues. But that's why I had the fever, chills, nausea.....
I had IV antibiotics and I still need outpatient antibiotics for the next 7 days. It's weird because they had a PICC (Physical Internal Centerline Catheter) line inserted in me, which is like a take-home IV port (I'm all set for the hookups :P) It's actually kind of weird, it's not a normal IV. The antibiotics they are giving me would burn out a normal IV vein in like 3 days. That's how strong these are.
The PICC line is in my right arm, above the elbow on the inside. There is a 46cm catheter inserted, which stops about an inch or 2 above my heart. They inserted it using a local anesthetic (it didn't really hurt) and found the right vein as well as the correct length by using ultrasound and x-rays. I have 2 tubes (filled with saline) sticking out, so it's kinda weird. But it's on the inside, so it's not easy to see they are there. It was actually really really interesting.
I have a really great internal doctor (who just happens to be a kidney specialist). The other thing they did was a CAT scan of my internals. When I saw my doctor on Monday, I told him about the 8 hour throwing up and I was worried that I may have hurt my stomach. So, nice guy that he is, when he ordered my CAT scan, he ordered it for the kidney and bladder area, as well as my stomach and intestinal area. He said that the infection was in my right kidney, starting to spread to my left, but we caught it in time and there is no scarring so I *should* be fine. If I am infection-free a year out, then I am fine.
I saw my Bypass Surgeon (who is out of the same hospital) and she took a look at the scan results. She let me know that nope, I didn't hurt anything, in fact, it all looked PERFECT in there!! My stomach and the Bypass process is right exactly where it should be, I'm not over- or under-stretched and she can see that I have been doing perfectly with my diet. I'm not sure how you get all that from test results, but it made me happy as all hell.
My surgeon was, however, worried about my protein and some other levels in my body. Considering I didn't eat for 5 days (including protein and vitamins, it makes sense they are low). So we will monitor my blood, and she is going to start me on monthly Iron shots at the same time as my B-12 shots. We are also going to re-evaluate my vitamins and see if I need additional supplementation.
I never ever liked seeing doctors before. I still don't, but I think they are smarter now and more sensitive (they no longer just say "lose weight and your problems will all go away, here, let me write you a prescription..."). So I'll keep up with my visits and actually listen to the advice, now that I have a few that I really like and who's opinions I truly respect.
Oh, and being sick, I lost 5 pounds between Thursday and Monday. Not the best way to do it, but I'll take it :)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Now, there are 2 other things that happened that I must note about. I remember somewhere in a past post that I said I would truly know I am being successful if I can see my collarbones. Well, They are starting to show. Just barely, but I was naked in the bathroom trying to sponge-bath and I looked, there they were! I was like, WHOA. I think I spent 20 minutes just feeling and looking at my collarbones. I still am in denial I think, like, it's only *starting* to show, but yeah, I have
The one other thing that kinda had me feeling really sad was that my room-mate (in the hospital) was admitted for abdomen pain, supposedly gall-bladder related, had to be told she has Leukemia. Holy shit, that has to be the devastation of the century for someone. She was a really nice older woman (snored like nothing I had ever heard before, but considering her circumstances, I wasn't about to complain, I just got some ear-plugs). That was just very sad and disturbing. Just hearing about all the tests she was going thru scared the SHIT out of me. She must not have seen a doctor in years! Another note, see your doctor regularly and have blood tests done.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
So the end result is, I'm ok. I have 7 more days of IV antibiotics, then 10 days of pill antibiotics. After that I need to re-visit my doctor and we'll do some tests and go from there. My main concern was, had I done or not done something to cause this. The answer was no, but (my doctor chastised me) I should have gone to the hospital on Friday when instructed. From now on, I follow his orders explicitly.