So over the weekend I kept up my regimen to ward off UTIs. It was going ok, except when some of the herbs made me vomit violently and I spent the rest of the day in bed wondering if it was the herbs, or if we were finally catching what everyone else has been going through and we had, so far, been fortunate in avoiding. By the evening it seemed to be the former, but I did get some good naps in so the day was not a loss. Shane, super sweetly, ran to the store to get anything he thought I might want/need plus provisions for the kid so and he to be able to fend for themselves. Fortunately I had roasted a pork shoulder on Thursday along with some mashed sweet potatoes so there were some tasty vittles to snack on.
Yesterday we carried on and made it so some lessons, but I was tired so asked Shane to stop and do some grocery shopping on his way home.
Then this morning, before I even got out of bed, I knew I was loosing the battle and it was time to call in the cavalry. I knew the clinic opened at 9am and thought if I hurried I could get there and get seen soon. I had planned on taking Cyril in to get measured for glasses- more on that some other time-but quickly decided I could not do both errands and stopping the fiery urination was first on my list. I was so thankful to have Kateri, who is always up for anything, to take with me. I woke her up, explained the situation and with minimal breakfast on her part, none on my part, and a quick diaper change-done by Kateri-we were soon hurtling toward the clinic. Where two other people were already waiting!!
But in about an hour we were given a prescription and heading to the pharmacy. I knew the antibiotic I prefer, Monural, usually has to be ordered and didn't know a pharmacy that kept it stocked, other than the hospital one. I was not about to go traipsing around to get them and was willing to take whatever I could get so went with the one she recommended when she said it goes well with lactating. I think that is about the only pairings I'm going to be doing for a very long time. At least until they find a way to Teflon coat a bladder and make it impenetrable to nasty things. (On that note, Shane told me about a TED talk on printing organs. There was a boy, who 10 yrs ago, was given a new bladder printed from his own cells. Not sure that would cure all my problems but maybe they can print and apply myelin to my nerves too. Then I might be set.) The dr was nice enough to call ahead and make sure the pharmacy had it, which they did. Which made it super annoying when 15 min later I showed up to pick it up and was told it would be ready in 20 min!!
Fortunately the store next door has a restroom and I wanted to get some yogurt too. I would have gotten acidophilus as well but could not find any so might send Shane to get some later tonight. I am really hoping it will not cause Malachi's yeast to resurrect. We had been doing very well but I ran out of the tablets I was using on him and had not restocked them so we could both use new bottles.
I was instructed to take the pills four time today, and twice for the rest of the week. The pharmacist told me I could take a double dose for the doses today to get things going more quickly. I was happy for the advice. Hopefully I will still be happy when the side effects kick in as well. Not just the ones where the bacteria dies and goes to hell to suffer fire and misery forever. That is a fine side effect. The less pleasant ones, which because it is a double dose might also be doubly unpleasant. But this morning I felt miserable and not wanting to wait until I was completely incapacitated, feverish and unable able to drive myself - that happened once, on Thanksgiving of all days- but my nephew had a round of chewable antibiotics he would not take and the dr on call said I could take those so it worked out. So I had a quick snack when I got home and popped two pills.
Then feeling like things were finally under control, I gave the baby to Audrey and went up to finally take a shower. The hot water felt so relaxing and I was mentally feeling great knowing I was going to make it I was temped to stay for an hour. But just as I was getting out, Cyril burst in shouting something about alarms and we had to get out the house now! I quickly threw my robe and cam running downstairs not really knowing what was going on. The three other kids were standing on the back porch looking mildly concerned and I asked Cyril to explain again what was going on.
He told me the carbon monoxide alarm went off and said to evacuate and he had been feeling sleepy. I was quite pleased the kids had immediately gone outside and knew, if such and emergency arose they would respond appropriately. But this was not an emergency. Kateri had bumped the monitor and set off the test alarm sequence while trying to hide from Pippin.
So we un-evacuated, I got dressed, and finally made myself some coffee, which along with the shower I had also skipped this morning. And then feeling sleepy, decided to take the baby upstairs for a nap, leaving Pippin to boil some noodles for lunch. With Audrey and Cyril doing their Latin at the table and offering help if Pippin needs it.
Then I thought I'd prepare myself for what is next to come and read the label for the antibiotics, which includes dizziness, tiredness, headache, nausea, and the really explosive diarrhea. Which is exactly what carbon monoxide poisoning looks like, with the exception of the last. Not too much fun, but still preferable to death by UTI.
All this to say I asked the dr about home tests I had read about on the internet, because I know drs like that- to help avoid unnecessary visits or to encourage one when things are not heading the right direction. She said the strips test for leukocytes and nitrates. Presence of nitrates is the gold standard of an infection as they are the bi-product of bacteria and if they are present your trip to the clinic will not be for naught. But she said some drs might still treat for an infection even if the tests were both negative and if it seemed helpful to me get some from Amazon, or wherever. I will talk it over next week when I go see the ladies at the women's clinic and see what their take on it is.
It is so frustrating to have to deal with something so miserable and urgent but takes a trip to the dr and the pharmacy to get resolved that anything that could give me a heads up or a relax and have a glass- of water-would be very welcome. I mean, women used to have to go to the dr to diagnose and treat a yeast infection, or get a pregnancy test. How backwards is that? Things have moved in a much better direction and I can't wait until the diagnosing and treating of UTIs is relegated to the same class of 'can you believe women had to put up with ...' before? Not as welcome as a permacoated bladder, but in the mean time, it would do.
No comments:
Post a Comment