Slam
Most of the past ten days are a blur... I awoke last Sunday (2. September, the day before Labor Day) with a terrible headache and mid-back pain which gradually worsened all day. I have never had a migraine and thought that might have been what was going on. Mid-day, I took some Tylenol, but there was no relief. At times I was wincing from the pain in my head, which would throb every now and then; I felt a general stiffness and malaise, and finally decided to call the After Hours clinic run by my doctor's office (Austin Regional Clinic), as they have 24-hour nursing staff available to phone-triage patients. The phone nurse talked me though my symptoms, and told me that I could either go to the ER, or make an appointment in their Urgent Care clinic for the morning (which was Labor Day). I thought I could make it through the night. After hanging up with the RN, however, I took my temperature again (earlier I had no fever), and it was elevated.to 101 degrees Fahrenheit. The RN had said to call if there were any changes, and when I told him this, he agreed that I needed to be seen in the ER. So A. drove me to the ER. Prior to the car ride I hadn't been nauseous, but I certainly was when I arrived. I only had to wait ten minutes or so before they took me back to the triage area. My BP was very low, 85/55, and they took me back into a room immediately, so that I could lay down flat. They started an IV and put two liters of fluid into me while I was there. They drew labs before the doctor even came into evaluate me. When the doctor evaluated me, he immediately told me that we were going to need to do an "LP", to rule out meningitis. "You mean a spinal tap? a lumbar puncture? AAAaaaack!" I really didn't want to do this, because I feared complications (hitting a nerve, for example, or having some sequela like a massive headache following the procedure as can happen with women who receive epidurals during labor). I asked if we could first await the other lab results before determining if the LP was truly necessary, but he was adamant that regardless of what those tests' results (they were all normal), he would still need to do an LP, because the risk of missing a diagnosis of bacterial meningitis is so serious and deadly, and an LP is the only definitive way to rule that out. So finally, I agreed to the procedure. Well, it was abnormal - but not in the worst way. It did not show bacterial meningitis, but it did show WBCs (white blood cells), mostly polys (84%), which indicated viral meningitis. They had wanted to admit me, but when I asked what they would do for me if I stayed, they said "observe." I said that if that's all they were going to do, that I'd rather be at home, as long as I knew what warning signs to look for should my condition change. The ER doc said he was going to talk to an ID (infectious disease) doctor; after doing so (apparently - I didn't see the ID doc), he agreed that I could go home. After a period of about five hours, I was discharged.
On the way home (5:30am) we stopped at a 24-hour Walgreen's with drive-thru pharmacy to pick up my prescription for Darvocet, which is a narcotic, but milder than the renowned Vicodin, which I've heard can have some heavy side effects (which is why I asked for an alternative). Over the next twenty-four hours, I struggled with my headache and developed more or less constant nausea, which was a major complication to my recovery. When I called my primary care physician for follow-up, as instructed by the ER folks, they didn't have an opening until Wednesday, so I had another 24 hours in which to deal with this. I finally convinced them to call in a prescription for Phenergan, which is a drug used to combat nausea. After all, if I couldn't keep any fluids down, I knew that I was going to be admitted to the hospital. Well, the Phenergan made my life a lot more pleasant. I was able to keep food down again, so while I was feeling very lousy, with a dull headache even on the Darvocet, I was much more comfortable. I went to my appointment on Wednesday, and they said I'd be out at least a week with this, and that fluids were very important (I was only able to drink Gatorade and eat Jello and Saltines). They also told me to start weaning myself off of the Darvocet, which I did try later that week. On Saturday, I resumed the vomiting cycle because I'd gotten a bit overzealous in my spacing of the Darvocet. I quickly got back on track, though.
A. was a godsend through all of this, waiting on my hand and foot, and driving out to get new supplies when needed. I kept one of the three handsets in his telephone system, and used that to page him and talk over the intercom when I needed something. Often that was just my feeling totally antsy and wanting something to distract me from the misery that was My Body. The extent of the headache (mainly frontal) made lying on my side impossible, and my mid-upper back ached so badly, and I was dizzy and lightheaded when standing or seated. The only position that was comfortable for me was to lie on my back. Couldn't read, couldn't watch TV, could hardly listen to the radio. It was really a tough five days or so. I'd also developed a rash on the small of my back, kind of a collection of blistery, itchy red things. On Monday morning, I called my doctor's office, and since they had an opening that morning, we went in. They confirmed that the rash represented a small, localized outbreak of shingles. That's right - the manifestation of the old herpes varicella virus which caused chicken pox the first time around. Apparently the virus sticks around in the nerve root ganglia and can become active again in cases of a great amount of stress (bodily or psychological, I imagine). By this time the lesions had already stated to dry up, and there was nothing to do (if they'd known earlier they could have given me an antiviral medication to help stop any spread, but it was so localized all on its own, so this wasn't too bad of a miss). On this second visit, my BP was 90/60 seated, but dropped to 75/55 upon standing, which is why standing felt so horrible - I was on the way to fainting. In fact, I had nearly fainted in the shower, and had to get out in a hurry and slump to a puddle on the floor as a quick fix to get stable.
My friend Larry has also been a big help; he's a physician and former co-worker (at the insurance co.) from 'back home' (Massachusetts), and I called him several times (even had A. call him when it was painful for me to talk on the phone) for advice about my condition.
As of yesterday, I have been eating much more normal food, and am feeling so much better. I am able to sit up (and type, in small spurts), watch TV, talk without getting a massive headache, and think more cohesive thoughts. Yesterday and today I watched half a dozen or so episodes of Season 6 of E.R.; in those episodes, there were at least two cases in which the patient's differential diagnosis was meningitis!
Right now I am concentrating on increasing my strength and stamina, and weaning down off of the Darvocet. The Phenergan isn't addictive so I can stop that as soon as I'm not on the Darvocet any more (the cause of the headaches may have been multifactorial, i.e. from the headache itself and as a side-effect of the Darvocet). It's hard to believe that it's been ten days since I've driven my car, and that I've only been out of the house three times in that span of time (twice to the doctor, once (this evening) to the grocery store and library). I'm feeling very apprehensive about going back to work, but friends have helpfully suggested that I feel this way only because I'm not ready yet. I have been warned not to take on too much too early, lest I relapse. I can take as long as I need to get back to work - I've already blown through all of my PTO (paid time off), so any additional days are without pay. My boss has also been very supportive, finding folks to cover my call (I was supposed to be on call all this week).
Summary: Active girl + ten days in bed +meningitis + shingles = boredom; Pharmaceuticals do help; am sick of empty calorie foods though they kept me from wasting away too terribly much. I am very much looking forward to being well again. I want to be able to enjoy a nice cup of tea; right now, some foods which were previously my favorites taste downright nasty, and tea is one of them. I sure hope *that* doesn't stick!
On the way home (5:30am) we stopped at a 24-hour Walgreen's with drive-thru pharmacy to pick up my prescription for Darvocet, which is a narcotic, but milder than the renowned Vicodin, which I've heard can have some heavy side effects (which is why I asked for an alternative). Over the next twenty-four hours, I struggled with my headache and developed more or less constant nausea, which was a major complication to my recovery. When I called my primary care physician for follow-up, as instructed by the ER folks, they didn't have an opening until Wednesday, so I had another 24 hours in which to deal with this. I finally convinced them to call in a prescription for Phenergan, which is a drug used to combat nausea. After all, if I couldn't keep any fluids down, I knew that I was going to be admitted to the hospital. Well, the Phenergan made my life a lot more pleasant. I was able to keep food down again, so while I was feeling very lousy, with a dull headache even on the Darvocet, I was much more comfortable. I went to my appointment on Wednesday, and they said I'd be out at least a week with this, and that fluids were very important (I was only able to drink Gatorade and eat Jello and Saltines). They also told me to start weaning myself off of the Darvocet, which I did try later that week. On Saturday, I resumed the vomiting cycle because I'd gotten a bit overzealous in my spacing of the Darvocet. I quickly got back on track, though.
A. was a godsend through all of this, waiting on my hand and foot, and driving out to get new supplies when needed. I kept one of the three handsets in his telephone system, and used that to page him and talk over the intercom when I needed something. Often that was just my feeling totally antsy and wanting something to distract me from the misery that was My Body. The extent of the headache (mainly frontal) made lying on my side impossible, and my mid-upper back ached so badly, and I was dizzy and lightheaded when standing or seated. The only position that was comfortable for me was to lie on my back. Couldn't read, couldn't watch TV, could hardly listen to the radio. It was really a tough five days or so. I'd also developed a rash on the small of my back, kind of a collection of blistery, itchy red things. On Monday morning, I called my doctor's office, and since they had an opening that morning, we went in. They confirmed that the rash represented a small, localized outbreak of shingles. That's right - the manifestation of the old herpes varicella virus which caused chicken pox the first time around. Apparently the virus sticks around in the nerve root ganglia and can become active again in cases of a great amount of stress (bodily or psychological, I imagine). By this time the lesions had already stated to dry up, and there was nothing to do (if they'd known earlier they could have given me an antiviral medication to help stop any spread, but it was so localized all on its own, so this wasn't too bad of a miss). On this second visit, my BP was 90/60 seated, but dropped to 75/55 upon standing, which is why standing felt so horrible - I was on the way to fainting. In fact, I had nearly fainted in the shower, and had to get out in a hurry and slump to a puddle on the floor as a quick fix to get stable.
My friend Larry has also been a big help; he's a physician and former co-worker (at the insurance co.) from 'back home' (Massachusetts), and I called him several times (even had A. call him when it was painful for me to talk on the phone) for advice about my condition.
As of yesterday, I have been eating much more normal food, and am feeling so much better. I am able to sit up (and type, in small spurts), watch TV, talk without getting a massive headache, and think more cohesive thoughts. Yesterday and today I watched half a dozen or so episodes of Season 6 of E.R.; in those episodes, there were at least two cases in which the patient's differential diagnosis was meningitis!
Right now I am concentrating on increasing my strength and stamina, and weaning down off of the Darvocet. The Phenergan isn't addictive so I can stop that as soon as I'm not on the Darvocet any more (the cause of the headaches may have been multifactorial, i.e. from the headache itself and as a side-effect of the Darvocet). It's hard to believe that it's been ten days since I've driven my car, and that I've only been out of the house three times in that span of time (twice to the doctor, once (this evening) to the grocery store and library). I'm feeling very apprehensive about going back to work, but friends have helpfully suggested that I feel this way only because I'm not ready yet. I have been warned not to take on too much too early, lest I relapse. I can take as long as I need to get back to work - I've already blown through all of my PTO (paid time off), so any additional days are without pay. My boss has also been very supportive, finding folks to cover my call (I was supposed to be on call all this week).
Summary: Active girl + ten days in bed +meningitis + shingles = boredom; Pharmaceuticals do help; am sick of empty calorie foods though they kept me from wasting away too terribly much. I am very much looking forward to being well again. I want to be able to enjoy a nice cup of tea; right now, some foods which were previously my favorites taste downright nasty, and tea is one of them. I sure hope *that* doesn't stick!