sick one

i hate hospitals.

monday morning i woke up not feeling so hot. i padded into the bathroom and yeow! ouch! burning sensation NOT normal! worst UTI ever. so bulk up on the cranberry juice and water during the day, but it's too late. by afternoon i'm shaking and can't get warm. my lower back starts to slightly ache and i think "this is NOT good." so i go to web MD dot com and look up UTI. it says call your doctor immediately, camille, because you have all the symptoms of a KIDNEY INFECTION. shit.

so i call kaiser permanente to schedule an appointment. not availble. how about anyone else? medical assistant? nurse? nope, nothing until february 7. but this could be my kidneys. are you sure? yes. i hung up and called the consulting nurse, who chastised me for waiting a week with the basic symptoms (i just hung my head and mumbled apologies) but she was very sweet once she found out that i was from seattle (she and her hubby are moving to bremerton). she got me a 6:20 appointment that evening with urgent care.

so matt drives me to the doctor. i wait. i wait more. finally my name gets called, but i have to go back in the waiting room because they don't have a room for me yet. so 10 minutes later i get my room and wait. wait wait wait. then the doctor arrives, only to discover that my paperwork got mixed up with some other woman's (a 63 year old woman). so he excuses himself, leaves the room, and 2 nurses walk in arguing about my paperwork. the head nurse takes me in to get checked out (again) with the other still arguing her case. i just look at the floor, trying to feel better.

so the doctor prescribes me a whole host of medications, which takes 45 minutes to obtain from the pharmacy. finally we get home in time for my show, 24, but i fall asleep before it even starts.

i wake up at 10:30 that night (thanks to whoever called, i know who you are!) shaking and chilled, not able to get warm. i take my temp - 102 and climbing. shit. can't walk in a straight line. double shit. call my co-worker, the lovely adrienne, who says call the consulting nurse at kaiser, see what they have to say. so i do, and she says get to the ER. NOW.

so i do. matt and i hurry, me crying and thinking i'm going to die from a kidney infection. so there is more waiting once we get to the ER. then i get into my room and they tell me to "take your top off." and hand me a flimsy gown that's not going to keep me warm. so the doctor FINALLY comes in, gives me a few firm thumps on my back (to which i yell OW!), diagnoses me with a kidney infection (great), and tells me to not drive or go to work for the next 2 days (yay). i can't eat hot foods, and nothing complicated. applesauce. chicken noodle soup. lots of water.

i'm much better now. no fever, but the anti-biotics make me dizzy so still no driving. luckily i am not going to palm springs for the board retreat so i'm going to continue resting this weekend. although we may head out to northridge to visit celena for a bbq and tivo. :)