Hospital living
Aug. 6th, 2015 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sonjajadeFor the handful of friends who haven't shared their facebook info with me and haven't been watching the great septic seclusion, I just got home from being in the hospital for 4 days with septic cellulitis (and some eye thing that has yet to be identified yet). I woke up on Monday, got dressed and ready for work, went #2 and made sure the kid was fed and Bruno had his pain meds, ready to sit down and eat as well, when my teeth began to chatter and I was super cold. I knew right then it was chills because I never get cold unless its November or later in the year. I called out of work, got back into my PJs and climbed back into bed, planning on going to the little clinic at Kroger's when I woke up. I dozed off and on for a few hours, wearing my hoodie and sweatpants over my pjs and and extra blanket on top of my quilt already on my bed. I was freezing uggh. When I woke up and took my temp around 1 (I think? I was out of it pretty bad by that point), the thermometer (a temporal artery one that pediatricians use) said my temp was 106.3. I freaked the fuck out and rallied Cliff and Joey into getting me to the ER.
It took a while for the triage nurse to get to me, he said my temp was 100.5 (I thought he said 105). I couldn't walk, I had the worst headache, and by this point I was roasting. I couldn't remember my middle name, it was very scary. Finally we get to an exam bed and I notice the cellulitis is back when they get me into the stretcher, and they drew umpteen vials of blood, then came back and drew more, they misplaced my urine sample (which they asked me to give when I was stumbling everywhere and practically incoherent, and they didn't have that damn potty cup in place so I ended up spilling my own piss all over myself and the floor... uggh). So they eventually come in and tell me that they're admitting me because my white blood cell count was 20,000 and high end normal is like 12,000. Critical is 30,000. And they didn't know what the hell was causing it and I wasn't presenting any symptoms other than the fever and chills, and the newly discovered cellulitis. So they wheel me up to the top floor (infectious disease) and do more labs and lots of heavy duty antibiotics. I was not allowed to leave my room and was encouraged to stay in bed, they even gave me shots in my belly to prevent blood clots. And the first night, I didn't even want to get out of bed to pee, so I was happy to lie around in bed. That night my blood pressure dropped real low and they woke me up in order to try and raise it naturally, but this was the point they declared me septic, because my heartrate also went up considerably.
The next day the cellulitis had spread around my entire right leg and climbing higher. They mark it off with a marker and tell me to mark new places as I notice them. At this point I'm still feeling crappy as hell. They put me on a diabetic diet while I was up there, later I found out it wasn't because of blood sugar but for gallbladder reasons. They said there was sludge in there when they did the ct scan. (Oh yeah, day of admittance I had to drink this huge thing of aural dye and it was the grossest shit ever. They also did a chest xray and everything was normal there.) I spoke the the infectious disease doc, he told me I was septic and they were pretty sure it was the cellulitis because nothing else was showing up. Another doctor from Syria never touched me, only looked at my leg and told it would still be a few days yet before I could go home. Another doc, a woman whose name I can't remember, was asking about my intake and symptos at time of contact etc. Another woman asked me too many personal questions. Oh yeah, they also did a pelvic exam to rule out STDs, which I only agreed to because I don't trust my husband not to sleep with some dirty ho and then pass it on to me. That came back negative though so no worries.
The next day the cellulitis is red and angry and beginning to blister. By the end of the day, I had 2 new places on the borderline they'd drawn on me, and by the end of the night I had pushed the smaller blisters together to make some really big blisters (DON'T DO THIS! It's the biggest goddamned mess ever when it pops!). They got so big I gave them names- Water Snake and Sea Slug. Water Snake was approximately 10 inches long!!! and 3 inches wide, 2 inches tall off the surface of my shin! Sea Slug was considerably smaller- 3 inches long, about 2 wide and an inch tall and was on the outside on my leg facing at like a 2 o' clock position if my foot is pointed at high noon. They are popped but still refilling with fluids.
The eye thing is weird- I am on enough meds to kill an army of bacteria, not sure how it even infiltrated me. I woke up with the outside corner of my left eye itching. I got a lot of sleep goobers out, didn't think anything of it, thought maybe I'd irritated it in my sleep with the weird sleep patterns and flat pillows. Then I noticed some swelling under my eye, and some pus caught up in the lashes. Been getting more stickiness out of it today than I'd like of course, probably going to the ophthalmologist in the morning if I can. Trying not to mess with it but it is itchy and irritated and really bugging me. The nurse said they couldn't do anything about it there anyway, that I'd just be referred to an eye doc upon discharge, which happened today blessedly around 5:30.
So I'm waiting for my meds to ready so someone can go get them for me, and I'm pretty sure I'm staying home from work again tomorrow, I had half a day of vacation planned anyhow. Was supposed to go to my mom's company picnic on Saturday, but with two open and weeping blisters, I don't think traipsing around the Indiana countryside is something I want to chance at this point, especially since my right leg is so swollen and my foot is the size of a softball. Gonna miss that free country dinner though- fried chicken and home smoked beef brisket, homemade cherry barbeque sauce and peach cobbler for dessert.
So. That's why I was MIA for a bit, and still kind of on the sidelines. Not sure what to do about all this swelling, other than just keep my foot propped up and encourage the blisters to drain. As always, I value the opinion of both![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cornerofmadness and missyquill regarding any care, and I will be following up with my doctor once the antibiotics are gone. In the meantime, enjoy this pic, my favorite of the shit I reblogged on tumblr while I was out.
It took a while for the triage nurse to get to me, he said my temp was 100.5 (I thought he said 105). I couldn't walk, I had the worst headache, and by this point I was roasting. I couldn't remember my middle name, it was very scary. Finally we get to an exam bed and I notice the cellulitis is back when they get me into the stretcher, and they drew umpteen vials of blood, then came back and drew more, they misplaced my urine sample (which they asked me to give when I was stumbling everywhere and practically incoherent, and they didn't have that damn potty cup in place so I ended up spilling my own piss all over myself and the floor... uggh). So they eventually come in and tell me that they're admitting me because my white blood cell count was 20,000 and high end normal is like 12,000. Critical is 30,000. And they didn't know what the hell was causing it and I wasn't presenting any symptoms other than the fever and chills, and the newly discovered cellulitis. So they wheel me up to the top floor (infectious disease) and do more labs and lots of heavy duty antibiotics. I was not allowed to leave my room and was encouraged to stay in bed, they even gave me shots in my belly to prevent blood clots. And the first night, I didn't even want to get out of bed to pee, so I was happy to lie around in bed. That night my blood pressure dropped real low and they woke me up in order to try and raise it naturally, but this was the point they declared me septic, because my heartrate also went up considerably.
The next day the cellulitis had spread around my entire right leg and climbing higher. They mark it off with a marker and tell me to mark new places as I notice them. At this point I'm still feeling crappy as hell. They put me on a diabetic diet while I was up there, later I found out it wasn't because of blood sugar but for gallbladder reasons. They said there was sludge in there when they did the ct scan. (Oh yeah, day of admittance I had to drink this huge thing of aural dye and it was the grossest shit ever. They also did a chest xray and everything was normal there.) I spoke the the infectious disease doc, he told me I was septic and they were pretty sure it was the cellulitis because nothing else was showing up. Another doctor from Syria never touched me, only looked at my leg and told it would still be a few days yet before I could go home. Another doc, a woman whose name I can't remember, was asking about my intake and symptos at time of contact etc. Another woman asked me too many personal questions. Oh yeah, they also did a pelvic exam to rule out STDs, which I only agreed to because I don't trust my husband not to sleep with some dirty ho and then pass it on to me. That came back negative though so no worries.
The next day the cellulitis is red and angry and beginning to blister. By the end of the day, I had 2 new places on the borderline they'd drawn on me, and by the end of the night I had pushed the smaller blisters together to make some really big blisters (DON'T DO THIS! It's the biggest goddamned mess ever when it pops!). They got so big I gave them names- Water Snake and Sea Slug. Water Snake was approximately 10 inches long!!! and 3 inches wide, 2 inches tall off the surface of my shin! Sea Slug was considerably smaller- 3 inches long, about 2 wide and an inch tall and was on the outside on my leg facing at like a 2 o' clock position if my foot is pointed at high noon. They are popped but still refilling with fluids.
The eye thing is weird- I am on enough meds to kill an army of bacteria, not sure how it even infiltrated me. I woke up with the outside corner of my left eye itching. I got a lot of sleep goobers out, didn't think anything of it, thought maybe I'd irritated it in my sleep with the weird sleep patterns and flat pillows. Then I noticed some swelling under my eye, and some pus caught up in the lashes. Been getting more stickiness out of it today than I'd like of course, probably going to the ophthalmologist in the morning if I can. Trying not to mess with it but it is itchy and irritated and really bugging me. The nurse said they couldn't do anything about it there anyway, that I'd just be referred to an eye doc upon discharge, which happened today blessedly around 5:30.
So I'm waiting for my meds to ready so someone can go get them for me, and I'm pretty sure I'm staying home from work again tomorrow, I had half a day of vacation planned anyhow. Was supposed to go to my mom's company picnic on Saturday, but with two open and weeping blisters, I don't think traipsing around the Indiana countryside is something I want to chance at this point, especially since my right leg is so swollen and my foot is the size of a softball. Gonna miss that free country dinner though- fried chicken and home smoked beef brisket, homemade cherry barbeque sauce and peach cobbler for dessert.
So. That's why I was MIA for a bit, and still kind of on the sidelines. Not sure what to do about all this swelling, other than just keep my foot propped up and encourage the blisters to drain. As always, I value the opinion of both
cornerofmadness and missyquill regarding any care, and I will be following up with my doctor once the antibiotics are gone. In the meantime, enjoy this pic, my favorite of the shit I reblogged on tumblr while I was out.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: August 7th, 2015 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: August 7th, 2015 03:00 am (UTC)Also that art is funny
no subject
Date: August 7th, 2015 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: August 9th, 2015 01:04 am (UTC)I am so glad this is on the mend. Everytime I hear about cellulitis, it's always in conjunction with a rapidly speaking infection like this :(. Observation bias, I know, but it is still quite worrisome.
no subject
Date: August 9th, 2015 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: August 9th, 2015 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: August 9th, 2015 03:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: August 9th, 2015 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: August 9th, 2015 03:33 pm (UTC)Regardless, it needs looking into. I'm not sure I agree with the eye doc that it looks like a spider bite but I'm not there with hands on so it's not impossible. Usually with the recluse there is more tissue damage but between the cellulitis and the viral eye infection I'd be asking the doc for ideas as to why the immune system is taking the month off.
Good luck. I hope they have some answers for you.
no subject
Date: August 9th, 2015 03:58 pm (UTC)ETA: I take a zinc supplement to help with immunity. Think this could be causing a problem now?
no subject
Date: August 9th, 2015 04:03 pm (UTC)The glucose is a little high (not when I went to medical school mind you but it's now considered 30 points too high for what's that worth)
Right now I'll be traveling maybe once I settle back I could look.
the fatty liver is a little concerning but reversible.
no subject
Date: August 9th, 2015 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: August 9th, 2015 11:11 pm (UTC)Well, I'll be sending good vibes your way~ I'll see if I can draw Braeda and son later on tonight? That was a cute idea with that reblog...
no subject
Date: August 10th, 2015 01:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: August 10th, 2015 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: August 11th, 2015 12:05 pm (UTC)I hope that work isn't giving you a hard time for so much time off (it appears that I am set on compulsively worrying about others this month)
A bit of anecdotal info: My dad, who was told for years that his blood sugar was fine as it was never higher than 130, was diagnosed with diabetes after several serious recurring infections. The endocrinologist that visited in the hospital eventually set things back where they should be. He got off insulin after ~3 months and now just takes pills.
no subject
Date: August 11th, 2015 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: August 11th, 2015 08:09 pm (UTC)you have certainly taken a beating this year in terms of infections :(
no subject
Date: August 13th, 2015 04:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: August 13th, 2015 11:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: August 14th, 2015 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: August 15th, 2015 01:48 am (UTC)