A Trip Too Far

Six plus hours in a car may have been too much for my Neo.


Every year we make a pilgrimage to spend Christmas with family in North-Western Wisconsin. It's a tradition. And this year is special because we were joined by our Son and Grand Kids from Chicago. Most of our family hasn't even seen our youngest grand-daughter so we're all excited about the trip.



Fever and Chills:

This hit on Christmas day and took me right down. I was fine during the afternoon and enjoyed the fabulous Christmas feast. I shared the excitement of opening presents and just when people were starting to have fun I was hit by chills and uncontrolable shakes. I begged out of the rest of the evening and drove the short distance to my Sister-in-laws where we were staying. I took a couple tylenol and tucked myself in to the very comfy, warm bed. The shaking soon stopped and I went to sleep.

Emergency:

Maybe this 6 hour trip was more than I bargained for. I've overdone before and I do pay for it. Sunday afternoon Debi convinced me to go to the ER at St Croix Falls (~ 25 miles away) - not a hard sell since I was running a fever something close to 104 and feeling pretty bad.

They took me right in to the ER when we got there and began probing and testing. They took blood and I managed to pee - I learned that I needed to be on a toilet for this to work - no chairs or beds. I took this as good news.  They wanted to admit me over night for IV Antibiotics and fluids. I told them I wasn't a normal human and they should take the lab results (at least the urology results) with a grain of salt. I gave them the number of my health provider's 24 hr On-call service so the doctor could talk to someone on my urology team. He came back and said I could leave if I promised to see my doctor on Tuesday. They gave me a big pill to take right there, and a prescription for a weeks worth of antibiotics ( Cypro). This whole process took over four hours but we watched the whole Packer game right there in the ER room, on a nice HD-TV, so we didn't mind.


Back home in Madison:

I slept most of the way home while my wife and son drove. We made an appointment to see my urologist (team) for Tuesday (day after we got back). All the doctors were most worried about my Kidney function. My Creatinin was 2.1 (above normal range ~1.3) so they did an ultrasound Wednesday. No word so I'm assuming either there's nothing wrong or there's nothing they can do till I've finished my current course of antibiotic (Ciproflaxen).

Night Sweats: 
The peeing is going fine - over two hours during the day with no leakage - but I can't tell how long I can go at night because I wake up every hour soaking with sweat. So I Pee while I'm changing PJ's or bed cloths. This is so frustrating. I can lay under only a sheet and I'm still soaked. I believe my subconscious is remembering the surgery.  Or it could be my body fighting off the infection. For now it means I don't have a fever so I'll take that.

Meanwhile I'm trying to catch up on my writing and sleeping. My appetite is better and I have no fever. My stomach is sorer than it's been for many weeks and Debi says I look like a great-grandpa getting around. I told her; "yes, I am pretty great" .

So I think things are going in the right direction once again.