SBE
Well, I've been out of the hospital for two weeks now and I do seem to be getting better though still troubled by numerous discomforts, particularly late in the day and at night.
If you happened to read my last (currently friends-only) post you may remember that I was badly under the weather back in March and April. The antibiotics the doctor prescribed at the time did fix things up -- for about five weeks. She was wrong about it being bronchitis though.
It turned out to be subacute bacterial endocarditis, a slow-developing bacterial infection of the inner lining of the heart, complicated, some time in early August, by kidney failure.
Through July I was visiting doctors on a fairly regular basis as they tried to work out what the problem was and as more and more disturbing symptoms developed. There was a brief hiatus at the beginning of August while I waited for the results of a bone marrow biopsy, at the end of which a blood test revealed the kidney failure. I received a phone call that evening telling me to get to emergency as soon as possible. The next day I had an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound), which showed a "vegetation" on my mitral valve.
They kept me in hospital for the next two weeks hooked up to a pump for the antibiotics, during which time I was given two blood transfusions -- they told me my low haemoglobin count was putting me at risk of heart failure.
Now that I'm out I'm being dosed with antibiotics intravenously for about 1 hour out of every 4. I carry around this kind of fanny-pack arrangement that has in it both the meds (bag of fluid) and a small pump. Then there's a tube running up from that to my arm hooked up to a catheter that runs through a vein straight to my vena cava. It's worrying and makes me feel highly conspicuous when I venture out of doors but if I can hide the tube I suspect it goes largely unnoticed. This is supposed to last until the 29th when I have an appointment with a specialist to decide if it's done the job or not.
The kidneys are expected to get better by themselves. I have monthly appointments set up with a nephrologist to make sure that's happening.
The whole thing's been a bit of an eye-opener.