| Current mood: |  sick |
my precious bodily fluids
So I've been sick since Saturday night. We turned the heat up in the apartment and put me under three comforters and I was still shivering uncontrollably. Plus, I have terribly swollen lymph nodes, so much that it still actually hurts to turn my head. And a nice headache. I tried to call of work Monday, but my boss said she needed me, so I went in late for a short shift. Then when I got home I called the doctor, who decided I needed to come in for an appointment. I thought they'd just do a, "take two and call me in the morning,' but apparently not.
The doctor was a really nice lady — I'm half-considering switching over to her as my family doctor, because I liked her a lot. She wound up sending me over to Harrisburg Hospital's ER for some tests, because she wanted to make sure I didn't have meningits. For those who may not know, bacterial meningitis can get in your spine, and if untreated, will kill you. So they took my blood, they took a urine sample, and as the definitive test I got to go through a neat little procedure called a spinal tap.
Brandon got himself all worked up, because, as he put it, if it was him he wouldn't care. But he didn't want to see them sticking needles in me. I was glad he was there anyway. He's been babying me while I've been all miserable. Plus, he stopped home quick to call off work for me, and apparently scared the heck out of my boss!
They numbed me up a little, put a needle between my vertebrae, and took some fluid from my spine. I had to lie flat on my back while we waited for the results. Turned out I actually just had a urinary tract infection. Fun!
Apparently there's a not neglible (10%) chance of the needle hole in the spinal casing leaking, thus causing a horrendous headache, but mine's been pretty steady about the level it was.
I just have this weird-ass little worry about taking off the band-aid they put on my back. For some reason spine fluid seems reaaally yucky. Plus, I would like to be sure the hole in the skin is totally healed before I go bathing or anything. So I'm stinky for now.
Oh, and the antibiotics I have to take now make food hard to keep down. Very unpleasant. I felt better before I started taking them.
Ah well, guess I better trust the doctors though. They were nice enough to write me a note for being off work.
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