wow! a lot has changed on this site since ive gotten back in the loop! ive spent the last week and a half being seriously sick, and before that i was working on a couple major projects. last thursday, my mom took me to primacare for what i thought was an oncoming sinus infection (which im prone too), and the docs there know me, and so then gave me an antibiotic shot and a script for a 10 day coarse of antbiotics. so then in the middle of the night, i wake up freezing, and shaking uncontrolably, with a fever over 103 degrees and a horrible migraine, stiff neck, and lower back and leg pain. so the following moring i wake up with th esame thing. so i get out of bed and go talk to my mom who cant belive how high my fever then is while im again shaking uncontrolably. again, with a more than the usual bad migraine, stiff neck, and so forth. so this just keeps getting worse and by saturday my fever has yet gotten higher, and my migraine unbearable. so my mom then takes me to the plano prebetarian er, where thankfully, the docs all know me there, and they and the nurses and rest of the staff are very compassionant. in triage once again my temperature skyrockets, and i start shaking again, so one of the nurses gets me a warm blanket and they take me strait back. im immediately hooked up to an IV (and very thirsty not to mention extremely dehydrated from the fever), and given fluids, some demerol for pain, and some zofran for nausea. so i have blood drawn twice, and the doc comes in. he checks me out anhen asks me if i can touch my chin o my chest. no way could i do it...it hurt beyond belief. he then orders a CT scan of my head. after the chin to chest test, i immediately knew what he was looking for - meningitis. ive had it twice before and this would be my 3rd time. so after the scan, he comes by in checks on me, and i tell him im still in a great deal of pain, so he orders some more demerol. after this i wait awhile, and my mom comes back to see me. we wait for the tests to come back, but b-4 they do dr grimm, whome ive known for a very long time and is a wonderful doctor, comes in and tells me shes taken over my previous doc's shift. she order a un specimen and tells me if it comes back negative, that she wants to do a LP (lumbar puncture or "spinal tap"). while shes there i tell her that the nausea is coming back along with the headache, so she orders some dilaudid 4 pain, phenergran 4 nausea, and toradol as an anti-inflammatory. finally she comes back and tells me that my urin test came back negative, so she wants to do a spinal tap. since i had a bad expirience with the last one, i was reluctant, and she said it was my decision and that i didnt have to. a couple minutes later, she walks back in and tells me that she will worry about me all night if i dont get the tap, since with my high fever, migraine, and stiff neck she really belives i have meningitis. however she told me it was more than likely viral, as i would probably be dead already if it were bacterial. so with some coaxing also from my mom, i finally agree to it. and she also orders me some more dilaudid 4 pain and i also get a bag hooked up to my iv full of robaxen (a muscle relaxent). so then she comes back in and allows my mom to stay, while she numbs up my back with lidocain to do the tap. she and my mom help my curl into a ball, and bring my knees up to my chest and lean forward (which was also painful). so then she doe sthe tap, but gets no CSF (cerbral Spinal Fluid) from it. so then she has me sit up and lean over the bed, one of my arms holding my mom's hand and the other holding onto the nurse's leg to brace myself. she once again numbs up my lower back, and i again feel several very sharp pressure pains as she inserts the LP needle in my lower back again (my lower back is still stiff and sore from this). but atleast i was finally comfortable after all the pain meds and other stuff given to me. she comes back about 30 minutes later after the tap, and tells me that meningitis didnt show up this time, but it doesnt always show up on a tap or a CT scan. so basically she tells me shes not entirely sure whats wrong, but tells me to come back if i get worse and lets me go home. im getting better slowly, i wake up with a fever and migraine everyday since then, but the fever has gone gotten down to low-grade the past few days. however, i feel like ive been hit by a train and still have a lot of pain. thankgoodness for my pain meds. i go see my doc monday to see if he can find out whats going on. i havent been this sick since i had mono when i was 22 yrs old (im 31 now), and i believe this is the sickest ive been in yrs. it has really knocked me on my butt. hopefully soon ill be back to myself tho. thankgoodness for good docs!
