About 5 minutes after Nicole and I finally fall asleep I heard them call Judy Gregory. Close enough. Poor Nicole wasn't waking up and I seriously debated about just letting her sleep, but I was afraid at how she would feel waking up with me gone, so I woke her up and we made the trek to an actual room inside the ER only 3 hours after arriving there. This room had a bed and 2 chairs - nothing comfortable for her. But she put the 2 chairs facing each other and sat in one and put her feet in the other and we both settled in for the next unknown wait. It took about an hour, but finally the ER doctor, Dr. Wilsom, came in. He was really great and nice and explained what he was seeing - which was some signficant levels of bacteria in my urine. I told him my urologist had explained to me that I will pretty much always have bacteria in my urine now that my ureters are going through my small intestine which has bacteria, but he said he really wanted my urologist to make the call on this. He said he was going to order me a dose of antibiotics and then admit me and ask my urologist to see me in the morning during his rounds. So the nurse came in and gave me the antibiotics through my IV and moved me to a room that didn't look like a regular room at all. But Nicole and I didn't care because it had a reclining chair that unfolded into a bed for her!! Praise the Lord! I was feeling nauseous from the antibiotics, so the nurse brought me some crackers and ginger ale. Nicole was pretty hungry, so she had some crackers to settle her stomach, too. I asked the nurse if they had any night urine bags, and she said it is usually pretty difficult to get them in the ER (ah, so we are still in the ER - just in a holding room because they had no beds available) but she would try. It was finally around 3am when Nicole and I settled in, and I think someone only came in once between 3am and 8am - it was so nice - we actually were able to sleep! I had to get up a few times to empty my bag, but for the most part I slept, too.
I woke up at about 7:45am and finally used my doctor's cell phone to text him since he had told me to do that. I explained that I was in the ER and I was told he would be seeing me on his rounds but I know he usually does his rounds early and I didn't want to miss him. He texted me 15 minutes later and said he would be coming by. About an hour later he came in with the same guy who had helped him with my 2nd surgery, and they both looked prepped to go into surgery. I explained that I started having some intense pain about a week ago when I called his office about this same time exactly a week ago, was transferred to his nurse's voicemil where I left a message, but I never received a callback. I told him the time before that I had to call back 4 or 5 times before I ever received a callback. He once again reiterated that I should text him directly. He then said my white blood count wasn't elevated and I didn't have a fever, so he was feeling a little doubtful I had a UTI. But when he felt my left kidney and I yelped he said it was swollen and maybe I did have a UTI. So he said he was sending me home on a 7 day course of Cipro. After waiting about 2 hours we finally had all the paperwork and discharge things done for us to leave! So about 14 hours after leaving home, we finally arrived back at about 11:30am. I took my first dose of Cipro, had something to eat, and then my home health nurse showed up for our last visit. He watched me change the base and the bag, said I was doing great, had me sign some paperwork, and that was that. I then took some ibuprofen and laid down for a nap. I remember taking a probiotic around 4pm. I didn't do any walking today because I was still in pain. I had some dinner, laid around the rest of the evening, took my 2nd dose of antibiotic around 11pm and went to bed. I was feeling kind of sheepish about the whole ER affair - don't know if I would do that if I had it to do over again. But Tim and Nicole and myself all believe I really do have a UTI, so I think all in all it was the right thing to do. Either way, it's over and done with and I'm on an antibiotic, so it is what it is.
I woke up at about 7:45am and finally used my doctor's cell phone to text him since he had told me to do that. I explained that I was in the ER and I was told he would be seeing me on his rounds but I know he usually does his rounds early and I didn't want to miss him. He texted me 15 minutes later and said he would be coming by. About an hour later he came in with the same guy who had helped him with my 2nd surgery, and they both looked prepped to go into surgery. I explained that I started having some intense pain about a week ago when I called his office about this same time exactly a week ago, was transferred to his nurse's voicemil where I left a message, but I never received a callback. I told him the time before that I had to call back 4 or 5 times before I ever received a callback. He once again reiterated that I should text him directly. He then said my white blood count wasn't elevated and I didn't have a fever, so he was feeling a little doubtful I had a UTI. But when he felt my left kidney and I yelped he said it was swollen and maybe I did have a UTI. So he said he was sending me home on a 7 day course of Cipro. After waiting about 2 hours we finally had all the paperwork and discharge things done for us to leave! So about 14 hours after leaving home, we finally arrived back at about 11:30am. I took my first dose of Cipro, had something to eat, and then my home health nurse showed up for our last visit. He watched me change the base and the bag, said I was doing great, had me sign some paperwork, and that was that. I then took some ibuprofen and laid down for a nap. I remember taking a probiotic around 4pm. I didn't do any walking today because I was still in pain. I had some dinner, laid around the rest of the evening, took my 2nd dose of antibiotic around 11pm and went to bed. I was feeling kind of sheepish about the whole ER affair - don't know if I would do that if I had it to do over again. But Tim and Nicole and myself all believe I really do have a UTI, so I think all in all it was the right thing to do. Either way, it's over and done with and I'm on an antibiotic, so it is what it is.
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