As you may have seen mentioned on FB, the week began last Sunday with the discovery that my left big toe was infected, so I went to the local urgent care to have it seen to. I was given a week's worth of strong antibiotics that would rout it from my system, and I'm glad I went to the doctor because apparently the infection was such that it had begun working its way through me in insidious ways. To be specific, by Monday night it was evident that I had a UTI. As I am a kidney failure patient and I do not produce much urine, it too a while to make itself known, but when it did... NOT FUN.
I had to weather Tuesday before I could request further antibiotics from the doctors at the dialysis center — they come in every Wednesday — and during that time I noted traces of blood in my urine, plus to say nothing of the fact that the frequent, usually fruitless urge to pee was met with excruciating pain when it was time to let go. Oh, that and a marked inability to keep in stray trickles here and there. Also, the oral antibiotics pretty much killed my appetite, so I was weak from low blood sugar and blood pressure due to lack of food.
Anyway, along with the week's regular dialysis misery, I had to deal with the two infections fucking with me by giving me shortness of breath. When I arrived at the center on Wednesday, Shaunda immediately noticed that I looked like crap, and she could hear that my breathing was short, so I spent Wednesday's session on oxygen while stuck in the chair feeling a terrible urge to pee, but I had to muster all of my concentration to keep it in until the nearly four hours were up.
When the doctors showed up for their weekly check-in with the patients, I told them of my issues and they immediately prescribed more strong antibiotics, two different ones, this time administered directly into my system by the dialyzer at the end of the session, with more to follow at the end of my sessions on Friday and the upcoming Monday. So what I was getting was double doses of two strong antibiotics, orally twice per day, and via dialyzer during my treatment sessions, and what nobody told me was how bad that can fuck you up while routing the infections. No one told me that it could result in loss of bowel control — thank the gods for sacrificial underwear — and loss of balance, so maybe five hours after I got home after Wednesday's dialysis, the nightmare began.
Between roughly 10pm on Wednesday and 4:20pm the following day, I weathered all of this misery, and I was in such bad shape I cancelled a checkup with my PC at Mount Sinai. Staying in was definitely right call, as the appointment was at 1pm and it's an hour of subway and bus transfer to get to Mount Sinai. At around 10:45 that morning, I was lying in bed when I felt the strong urge for what would likely be a loose bowel movement. I fled to the bathroom but on my way my knees gave out and I fell, sitting down painfully hard, and unceremoniously shat myself. (Like I said, sacrificial underwear.) In a state of utter defeat, I managed to crawl to the toilet, take care of that dire business, properly dispose of the ruined boxers, and then give myself a comprehensive hosing-down/bum-and-thighs wash in the shower. Believe me, there is nothing better than a multi-function showerhead on a hose, especially if one of its settings amounts to the bathing equivalent of a science lab's dual eye wash station. Anyway, you see the necessity of canceling my Mount Sinai checkup. Befouling myself on the subway would have been a most unpleasant experience
After dealing with that foulness, I resigned myself to resting as much as possible and allowing the antibiotics to go full scorched earth. I have flew to the bathroom twice more, with the difference being that I made it those times with no mishaps.
Then came Friday's dialysis, and when I arrived I was greeted by Irena, the nurse/tech who is second only to Shaunda in my estimation. We're pals and we always ask how the other is doing, so I filled in on my sorry state of the previous day. The look of shock on her face was clearly visible, even before she lowered her mask so I could hear her thickly-accented words more clearly (Her English is fluent, but MAN, can she veer into Moose-and-Squirrel territory.) She had me walk her through my previous 24 hours and after hearing my tale of woe, including making note of my lack of appetite (I ate a lackluster Granny Smith apple before attending that morning's session, but little else during the previous day), Irena simply said "With all of those antibiotics in your system, did none of the doctors tell you to eat something probiotic to restore balance to your system???" Indeed, none of the three doctors who had attended to my infections since Sunday had mentioned even one word about probiotics, info that could have spared me Thursday's indignities. Heeding her advice, upon getting home from Friday's treatment I bought a big tub of probiotic yogurt that became nearly the only thing I ate yesterday. Anything to prevent another intestinal reenactment of Mount Vesuvius, plus it's a win for me, as yogurt is a favorite that is on my list of renal dietary restrictions, but this was cleared by one of the wise women whom I trust with my life. This was the first yogurt I have consumed in two years, and it was delicious.
All of that said, as per usual on dialysis days, I started hiccuping upon getting into my car to the center, around 9am on Friday, and I endured roughly five hours of such until coming home and resetting my phrenic nerve with that trick I do where I down forty ounces of water that I then spew up into the toilet, thus allowing for a few hours of relief until the cycle begins anew. Anyway, I got home and did the water move, only to have it work for maybe twenty minutes before the hiccuping started again. During the time between resetting the nerve and the hiccups starting again, I had taken my afternoon meds, which included the day's second dose of oral antibiotics, so when the hiccuping again commenced, I did not want to do the water relief trick again, lest I fuck up the antibiotic dosage. As the antibiotics were absolutely doing their job, I wanted them to continue doing such, so I resigned myself to endure a few more hours of discomfort until the meds had infiltrated my system. This was on top of little sleep over the past two days, so I would have committed a felony in order to achieve even two hours of a quality nap.
I let a few hours pass before trying the water maneuver, but when I did it it failed to quell the hiccups for more than twenty minutes, so I repeated the process. Again, relief for only a brief duration. Perhaps it was the antibiotics affecting the move's efficacy, but serial attempts at getting hiccup relief just would not work. I was massively sleep-deprived, and I found myself in a childlike state of sheer exhaustion and despair, and more than once, as I regurgitated 40-ounce gouts of water into my toilet, I kept pathetically uttering "Please let me sleep..." And on top of all that, I suffered another antibiotics-related loss of bowel control, but at least it was only the once for the evening. I think it was caused by the double-whammy of two oral doses of antibiotics, and two administered into my system by the dialyzer. (I did, however, lay down a towel on my bed, just in case. Thankfully my bed remained unviolated throughout this week's ordeal.)
After nearly 22 hours of on and off hiccuping — starting yesterday just after 9am and finally ceasing around 6:45 this morning — I believe my diaphragm just wore itself out and finally had mercy on me. I happened upon a perfect sleeping position on my stomach, which kept my diaphragm compressed, and one that allowed for the slow intake of breath with my mouth mouth buried in either a pillow or the mattress and with my lips pursed like when one whistles. I am unsure if I actually slept, but just being able to relax without hiccuping was enough. I would periodically look at the clock and just over four hours passed between 6:45am and me collecting my thoughts on all of this. (I began writing this at 2pm. It is now just a tad past 3pm.)
The pain of urination through the UTI is down to around a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10, and a decent amount built up overnight. It was also free of the traces of blood that had turned up occasionally over the last two days, so I am definitely slowly on the mend. And after last night's sacrificial underwear incident, I ate yet more probiotic yogurt. As always, Irena's advice proved sound, as my stomach and bowels kept it together after Friday's late-night incident. That said, the last two oral doses of antibiotics are today, so I'm remaining wary.
Anyway, today is about more rest and, hopefully, actual sleep. And I have the endoscopy on Tuesday to look forward to, so hopefully I will soon find answers as to why I am plagued with hiccups.
