Posted by:
catnip
(
)
Date: July 24, 2020 08:53PM
Most of you know that kidney problems gallop through my family.
A couple of days ago, I felt the beginning a a urinary tract infection. I've had enough of them that I know what to look for. They make you miserable enough that you DO NOT want to sit in an ER while they take care of all the heart attacks, vehicular mishap victims, etc. before they get to you.
Because it was the middle of the night (around 1:00 a.m.) I was unable to get through to my usual renal nurse, who knows me and would have prescribed something on the spot.)
The next day my DH took me to an urgent care hospital that I had never been to before. I submitted the requisite urine sample plus blood work (never requested before). Then we waited. And waited. After about three hours of squirming in misery, I asked the clerk abut how much longer I would have to wait. After shuffling through a number of papers and checking the computer, she had no clue who I was. (Though I had a receipt showing that I had already paid for care.) She told me, "You just have to wait."
I told my DH, "Screw this. I need help NOW." by that time, the urgent care facility we have gone to in the past was open, and I got seen quickly.
The doctor (a stranger to me) agreed that my urine was loaded with cooties. He totally ignored a paper I had given him showing medications I was taking, as well as things I am allergic to.
He prescribed something I had never heard of before. A single dose of this stuff made me sicker than I had ever been in my life, except maybe when I had C. Diff a couple of years ago.
I called my pharmacist, whom I have known and trusted for years, and explained the situation. I asked him if he could contact a physician who could prescribe the medication I had initially asked for (and which has a great track record in cases like this for me.) He did so, and within an amazingly short time, I had the medicine I needed.
I am doing much better today, except that I ache all over and have no appetite, but the dreadful urinary tract pain (which extended all the way up to the kidney area in the flanks) has subsided. I am weaker than I have ever been with a UTI, but I attribute a lot of that to the terrible medicine.
I don't have the energy to drag myself out to the living room to watch TV with DH. I have been cuddled up with my teddy bear (a lovely specimen who resembles the original Winnie the Pooh, not the Disney one) and listening to audiobooks. They are a lifesaver.
COVID would have done me in altogether. I'm pretty sure I have a chance of surviving this one.
Thanks for the positive thoughts - they help every time, y'all!