I woke up on Thanksgiving with a fever of 101.5. This is odd for me. I rarely have a temperature over 97.9. In pure Patient Q style, the events that followed seem to be even more odd.
My Thanksgiving fever was preceded several weeks of fatigue and a busy schedule and a bad case of hemorrhoids. Not to mention some really unusual bowel movements. And, they only became more unusual on Thanksgiving Eve.
Of course I'm thankful.
Six hundred miles from home, I did some research to find an Urgent Care center. I discovered that within a 30- minute-drive radius, there was no such thing as Urgent Care centers. (another post on that subject at another time)
So, I called and left a message for Dr. PCP’s message service. She called me. She felt it was likely that I had diverticulitis and she wanted to get me started on antibiotics. She gave me a long list of symptoms to watch for and suggested I may consider going home before heading to an ER out of state. Knowing this was a possibility, we made plans to head home sooner than planned.
After a long drive home with many stops, I evaluated myself and my symptoms. As my abdominal pain grew and shifted and it had now been 72 hours since I ate, I headed to my local ER. I explained the situation to the ER doc and expected that he’d prescribe the second, more diverticulitis-focused antibiotic that Dr. PCP wanted to wait 24 hours before prescribing due to possible side effects.
But no.
It’s not diverticulitis. C’mon, would anything related to my health be that straightforward?
Of course not.
The abdominal CT scan showed pneumonia. As for an explanation for the abdominal pain, that’s still up in the air even following a pelvic and rectal exam. A lot of unpleasant possibilities were passed around as possible contributors but in the end I am being treated with aggressive antibiotics for pneumonia and what is described as pelvic pain. I’m told I need a colonoscopy and pap smear. And that’s where the story ends for now.
This week, I have a couple of appointments that were scheduled well before Thanksgiving including one for a pap smear, one to discuss a colonoscopy, and one with Neurologist #1.
So, it appears the Thanksgiving holiday has brought the premiere of Season 2 of The Queen of Optimism. How serendipitous! Hope you enjoy the show!
Hi, yes, thank you for reading. I would love it if you left a comment.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: pneumonia, undiagnosed chronic illness
Yikes! Sounds serious indeed! I hope the antibiotics are kicking in and helping you start to feel better. Not to be Miss Negativity or anything, but be forewarned that pneumonia kicks the cr*p out of healthy people and my doc says it’s fairly normal for it to take six weeks *after* you kick it for energy levels to come back to normal. For healthy people without extra stuff going on. I hate pneumonia.
I did chuckle at the parallels once again between our paths. I’ve got an appointment next week with the GI too and expect to be scheduled for a colonoscopy. (Hey, last year, I ended up having an endoscopy on New Year’s Eve. Wonder if I can spend NYE 2009 having an even worse procedure?)
*hughughug*
Hang in there, and feel better soon!
Apparently there’s different ways to do colonoscopy. My neighbor (who is weird enough to discuss such things with people) says he kept trying to joke with the doctor during his, and that it really wasn’t uncomfortable (just embarrassing). Mine was not uncomfortable, but “twilight sedation” in my case means I fell asleep while the doctor was introducing himself, was out for over an hour afterwards, and have no memory of the procedure whatsoever.
I hope the pneumonia clears quickly, and your doctors are able to come up with a diagnosis and effective treatment plan.
Sometimes Pneumonia will cause abdominal pain. I know it sounds weird, but I’ve seen it before. It is tricky to diagnose because as a doc you are focusing on where it hurts.
Once had a patient with no cough or breathing problems complaining of abdominal pain. Same situation as yours, we only found the pneumonia when the abdominal CT showed nothing in the abdomen but an angry pnueumonia in the lower lobe of the lung it covered. The human body does some strange stuff.
Hope you feel better soon, Queen!
Definately lots of chicken soup! Relax and recover.