An Easter Week from Hell

We always do up Easter big-time with baskets and Easter Egg hunts for the kids, decorations, egg dying, and a big dinner.  Those were the plans for this year as well, but it didn't quite turn out that way as Mother Nature had different plans.  I did manage to get Adeline's Easter Basket done, and she and her mother dyed the Easter Eggs, which she really enjoyed.  Here is a picture of her Easter Basket for this year:

Adeline's Easter Basket - 2012

Unfortunately, the decorations, Easter Egg Hunt, dinner and everything else didn't happen because I became the sickest that I have ever been in my entire life.

On Thursday, April 6th I left work a few hours early because I didn't feel quite right.  I got up the next day and did a few errands to get some last minute things for Easter and then woke up that night shivering violently since I was so cold.  Then I got hot sweats.  My body kept alternating between chills and sweats and I started getting really nauseated.  Then I started getting pain in my lower right back and side. All I could do was lay in bed.  I couldn't eat, drink much or really move around it just hurt so bad.  I had fevers reaching 102.8 degrees.

This kept up until Monday and I went to my PCP Dr Amy Miller, who was kind enough to fit me in.  She ordered abdominal and trans-vaginal Ultra Sound tests and blood work.  She prescribed anti-nausea and pain killer medications for me, neither of which worked well at all.  I asked when the results of the tests would be in and her Staff told me on Wednesday.  I went home and back to bed and things got even worse on Tuesday evening.  Finally, the hubs came and stood next to the bed and told me to please get dressed because he was taking me to the Emergency Room.  I kept trying to put him off, but he would not let up, so I got dressed and off we went. 

The Staff at the Methodist Regional Hospital Emergency Room were really great!  They got me into a bed and comfortable really quickly, which I really appreciated since I had been in so much pain since Friday.  They ended up finding the Ultrasound test results and did some blood work and diagnosed that I had a severe kidney infection.  The infection was so bad that they sent me to stay for a few nights at the Methodist Richardson Hospital so that they could get things under control.

So I got packed up into an ambulance for the ride to the hospital, which is about 10 miles away.  I got strapped into the gurney like a NASCAR driver and they had me hooked up to all these machines.  They warned me it would be a rough ride and it was a little bumpy.

They got me there and wheeled me up to Room 504B.  I had a roommate since there wasn't an empty bed in the hospital.  My two nights there were filled with pain, morphine shots, blood thinners, antibiotics, anti-nausea medication plus much more. I couldn't sleep because there were two lunatic patients that keep yelling all day and all night at the top of their lungs. The hospital probably had to put them on the 5th Floor because there were no beds anywhere else.  One was an older female who cussed out the nurses day in and day out. The other was some guy screaming for "Stonewall".  Maybe he thought that he was at a Civil War reenactment.  I feel sorry for these folks because they were probably delusional due to medication and other unknown disorders, but they really kept me from sleeping.

Here's a picture of my IV drip the first night at the hospital:

The next night, the nurse gave me Morphine and sleeping medications and closed the door, which helped to cut out some of the screaming noise.  I thought it was great that I was going to get some sleep, but it was not to be. They wheeled in a young lady with Sickle Cell Anemia around 2:00 AM and she screamed all night in pain. I never realized how bad Sickle Cell Anemia can get and I felt very sorry for her. What I didn't understand is why one of the nurses couldn't call her doctor and up her pain medication dosage.  That was really unfair to her and to me.

There was a huge shortage of nurses at the hospital.  My nurse gave me some medications in my IV on Wednesday and it really hurt my hand.  The nurse didn't return for hours and finally I pulled my hand out to look at it and it resembled a rubber glove blown up.  I called the nurse and she had a more senior nurse come in to put the IV in my other hand.  The nurse was unable to do it after two tries of sticking needles into my hand.  Finally, she just left and was gone for about 1-1/2 hours and then the guy in charge of Nursing Instruction came in and got the IV into my other hand.  Then he left and nobody put my IV back on so I had no medications or fluids for hours. Fortunately, I was discharged on Thursday, April 12th later on in the day.

They sent an antibiotic and pain, anti-nausea and sleeping medications home with me.  I didn't sleep well last night because I kept wheezing and didn't feel like I was getting enough breath.  I went to my PCP today and she gave me an inhaler for the wheezing.  I hope that it works and that I can get enough rest tonight.

I 've never been this sick in my whole life!  As my condition improves, it makes me so thankful for my usual healthy condition.  To anybody bothering to read this, please take care of your health!  You never miss it until you lose it!