The Return of those Three Little Letters I Love To Hate.... U-T-I

Alternate title: they said I had a UTI and how I wish that were true.

I've been a pretty poorly cripple.  This is copied from an e-mail I sent to a friend yesterday.

Basically went to bed Thurs with bad back pain but didn't think too much of it as I get that. Woke up middle of the night with my sides and tummy and back all really badly sore and feeling sick. Couldn't lie down coz of pain. Went to docs who said gall bladder attack mostly but also UTI gave me antibiotics and anti-sickness stuff but spent the rest of the day throwing up despite them and my codeine wasn't touching the constant pain so nhs direct got me in with out of hours GP. Who said I had kidney infection, debated admitting me (for pain relief) and in the end gave me two injections and sent me home saying if I was no better in two hours I'd have to be admitted and he suspected he'd be seeing me later for that. and sent me home with my 4th prescription of the day. Didn't end up needing to be admitted but mum stayed over w/ me just in case

Woke up Sat feeling better but not 100%, not quite feeling as great today (but suspect the two jabs have now completely worn off). I'm surprised how well I am though.

Given that I came out of my chair on Tuesday it's certainly been an interesting week!




The rest of the e-mail is irrelevant to this.




When my GP said I had a UTI I was sitting there going "I what?!" because I'm the queen of UTI and I always know when I've got one. I'd had very little dizziness and no other symptoms which scream UTI (although I have since) And there was pain but that didn't feel like a UTI to me. Positives here include the fact that the GP who was not my regular one listened to me about which of my two regular UTI abx I wanted and the fact that I wanted 7 days worth not 5 - he asked if I have allergies I told him and also mentioned that I don't tolerate one of the usual abx of choice for UTI well so usually have X or Y and he went "which do you want?" LOL. And it's my first UTI since September 2008 which is huge. Now if only it was an an actual UTI and not a kidney infection I would be happier.




When the out of hours GP was debating admitting me he asked if I wanted go in and I was just like "I don't know". In the end he gave me the two jabs (diclofenac for pain and stematil as an anti-emetic) and sent me home with a packet of oral diclofenac to last me over the weekend as he thought the hospital would suggest that as a first try. I must admit that when we were getting in the car and going home I was wondering why I was going home to see if I felt better in an hour an a half if the doctor was that convinced I'd end up admitted. Surely as a GP he knows these things?! But actually the drugs kicked in and I've been able to keep my pain under control since.




Today I am still washed out and not right. I'm pushing fluids a lot and napping and taking a lot of meds (pain killers, anti-emetics and anti-biotics on top of my regulars). I've a feeling this might take a few days longer. I'm not having early nights though due to naps. Apart from tonight, they have been earlier nights though.




And yes, last Tuesday I came out of my wheelchair at sailing. I wasn't hurt, just scrapes etc and a bit sore because I caught myself with my arms. The best thing about that was that all the people surrounding me who offered help asked how they could help. And understood and respected when I said "don't try to help, let me try." I did end up having to have help back into my chair as the surface I fell onto wasn't good for an Emma to do an unassisted floor to wheelchair transfer but they checked what I wanted them to do before they did it. That's really, really great. Because not many people do that and many has been the time where it's made things worse. There's also been a few times when people have tried to stop me falling or pick me up - and I've gone anyway (or again) - and taken them with me.




Finally, I've lost 2 and a half lb this week. I'm not sure how much of that will be true weight given that I ate a grand total of one thing on Friday and threw that straight back up along with most of everything I drank. But I figured it was worth weighing so I knew where I am. I expect to see a small gain or a maintain next week because of being ill but I'll be very happy with that. So - for this week only - I'm down 17lb.