It's been quite some time since I have been able to post. I disappeared without a word or even expectation. I just need somewhere to vent and talk about what happened, so bare with me as I spill my beans. It started almost a month ago when I started getting horrible cold flashes. Literally to the point of full body shakes and teeth chattering. I had no idea why. This never happened to me. In hindsight, I should have checked my temperature. Instead, I took a bath. The night after, I had 9/10 pain on my lower left side. It left me writhing in pain at 2am. I had no idea what it was, but I was about to go to the hospital if it kept up until 5am. But I fell asleep before that and it never hurt again, but was sore. The very next day, I became violently ill. My fever reached just above 40 (104) when I checked and I could not even keep down water. I was vomiting over 6 times a day and I couldn't eat or move. My mom was luckily there with me and she is a nurse. After 2 days of this and my fever climbing to a dangerous 42 (107.6), we went to the ER. It was rough. And luckily not very busy. Maybe about 8 people ahead of me. Now, it was my time of the month. So I thought I had my period. I was wrong. When they asked me to give a sample before I would get looked at, that blood in there was not from menstruation. The nurse who pre-examined me seemed baffled and I didn't really know why at the time- I was just really sick. I was taken in within 3 minutes. Which surprised me. An EMS guy was waiting to get an IV into me immediately and there were like 10 people trying to get blood from me and they couldn't do it. I was dying. I didn't know it at the time. But I found out later. My heart wasn't beating. It was fluttering. I was at 160 beats per minute. Which is insane to think about, since that is more than 2 beats per second. Horribly fascinating to me. I became so weak that I couldn't even sit up on my own. I had to be lifted for my X-Ray. My blood pressure was apparently so low that I would have gone unconscious if it dropped a little lower. I was barely conscious in general already, but I still remember it. Anyways, cutting out all of the in between, I had my first ambulance ride and was admitted to the hospital for over a week. I had a kidney infection of the flesh and my blood had turned septic. I have never been so close to death in my entire life. It felt nothing like what I would expect it to, but I got pretty close. I am doing much better now. A little paranoid now that I am done my antibiotics and I think I am going to ask for one more dose or at least a test to see how everything's going. I never want to go through something like that again. Thankfully, there is no permanent damage and the talks of surgery turned out that I didn't need it this time, at least. So I am grateful for that. Now that I am back to doing some of what I do, it feels good. I still get weak now and then, but I will be checking with the doctor on Friday. It's been 3 weeks. I guess I will see how it goes!
Aro, I am so glad that you're ok. From what you've said, you have had a completely terrifying month. A close friend of mine died unexpectedly a few years ago after he got an infection and became septic in an alarmingly short amount of time. I am so so happy that your story has a different ending.
I am really sorry for your loss. It's so hard to fathom that you could drop dead at any point. It was certainly scary enough for me, though I wasn't scared at the time because I didn't know. I just felt really sick. I just didn't know how much of an understatement that was! Thank you, though. I am very glad too. I would never want to put my friends and family through that.
