about last night...

I woke up at like 6am yesterday with my throat on fire. I figured it was just super dry (which happens when I sleep on my back sometimes) so I got some cold water and curled back up in bed. My mom woke me up at 11 to see if I wanted to go run errands. I realized it was not just dry throat and declined in favor of "sleeping it off". I got up about 12:30 to make chili as I had been promising I would. I almost didn't make it because I was getting really light headed and sick to my stomach. I hurried up and then retreated back to bed, noting that I was starting to run a fever. I spent the next 3 or so hours shivering under 3 layers of blankets because I had such horrible chills. Finally at about 4:30, I wrangled the strength to grab my cell phone and call my mom (in the other room mind you) for help. We checked my temp and discovered it was 102. That's 4 degrees above normal for me. Upon standing, I went woozy, darted to the bathroom and puked for dear life. That was enough for Mom and she insisted on a trip to the ER.

I got to the ER, still shivering, and they instantly labeled me as urgent given my temperature. When they discovered my pulse was racing at 160, they didn't waste time. I had an EKG, a CT scan of my head, and chest x-rays, in addition to several bags of IV fluids, blood cultures, and a throat culture. I no longer felt silly for going to the ER. My mom left me around that point because she said she wasn't feeling good. My nurse came in and told me that my strep culture had come back positive. That sucks, but at least it's not pneumonia, right? Well, then like 20 minutes later she comes back in and asks if the doctor has been in because I'm being admitted. Not why or anything, just that I'm being admitted. Well crap. So I call my mom, who has decided she needs to camp out in the bathroom because her entire digestive system was revolting. She ended up sending my awesome brother up with my things, which I totally appreciated. My nurse comes back in and tells me I'm going to ICU because I have sepsis. Not gonna lie, that freaked me out a bit. I got to ICU, had more holes poked in my arms, was hooked up to an IV, a heart monitor, and a blood oxygen monitor, and frequently a blood pressure cuff, so I had to get a nurse every time I have to pee (and when you're on IV fluids, trust me...) The nurses last night were telling Brother Bear and me that I would probably be in for 2 or 3 days. Yea, that's expensive when you don't have insurance. I'm glad I was there, though, because my heart started racing in the middle of the night when my fever spiked to just over 103. My nurse woke me up around 5 (for the umpteenth time) and told me that my mom called and she's now in room 515. Seriously? Good lord. I'd been on hardcore IV antibiotics all night to get the infection under control, which worked because my temp was holding steady at around 99 and my heart rate was back down under 100. I was bracing myself for nasty hospital lunch when my nurse came in and told me I was being discharged! So I'm at home with antibiotics and lots of rest. Either I'm really lucky I went in early or they sent me home because I don't have insurance. Probably both with a bit more of the second one. That sucks, but I'm pretty sure I'm stable. And my brother's optomism on that was, "If you relapse, you'll never have to work again because you'll own that hospital!"