Hospital Adventures

Around June 10th I got a migraine. I get them every once in a while so it wasn't surprising. I took my rescue medication and waited for it to pass. Unfortunately, it didn't. I can't remember if it started on Monday or Tuesday, but by Friday I knew something was wrong. Migraines are normally only one day affairs for me, and on occasions where they last two days it's because I failed to take my rescue medication quickly enough. So I called the doctor and got an appointment for Monday, June 16th.

The doctor wasn't sure why it had lasted that long but didn't seem that concerned. She gave me a shot in my hip and some new, stronger rescue medication. I got some lunch and then took a nap as the different meds had made me tired.

This is the part where things start to get a little TMI, so consider this your warning.

I woke up later in gastrointestinal distress you might say. My first thought was actually food poisoning. Then I started noticing blood. I checked the information on my new rescue medication and bloody diarrhea was listed under CALL A DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY so that's what I did. I was then told to go to the ER.

At the ER I gave a bunch of blood, a sample, and was hooked up to an IV for fluids. Later I had a CT scan. Results came in and my white blood count was crazy high. They decided to admit me and started me on IV antibiotics. I had all the symptoms of something called c diff but I was missing a distinctive smell.

They decided I needed a colonoscopy, but not in time to do it Tuesday morning so I had to wait till Wednesday. I was on IV antibiotics all that day and a liquid diet. The blood stopped at some point on Tuesday but I was still having problems. I don't even want to go into the torture that was consuming the liquid for the bowel prep. I almost wasn't able to do it and I still have Viet Nam flashbacks about it as my mom would say.

Wednesday I had the colonoscopy and they were going to release me but I still couldn't eat anything without rushing to the bathroom. My migraine also returned and has remained off and on since. The doctor was confused. I definitely had some kind of colitis and an infection but cultures say no c diff. Could be some other infection causing the colitis or could be Crohn's, "we'll know if I get better." Thursday I was able to eat a little without rushing to the bathroom immediately so they let me go home that afternoon. I started a GI soft/bland, dairy free diet and was given a week's worth of two different antibiotics. That was the 19th.

I've finished the antibiotics now but I'm not any better than when I left the hospital. Any attempt to eat "real" food has seen a return of urgency and pain. Even eating permitted foods makes me uncomfortable. I'm worried. Either my infection hasn't gone away completely, which means it is now making a come back, or the infection was only part of the problem. My follow up appointment isn't until the 7th. I just want to be better.