Hospital Adventures

 

Sometime around February I began suspecting I was having an autoimmune flare. At that time I began noticing that I was getting frequent abscesses, fungal infections, and the rash (which I thought was Eczema but later learned is psoriasis) was slowly crawling up my legs. 

Then in March, things really ramped up. I had another abscess on my leg which, when ruptured, quickly became infected and turned into cellulitis. I was fortunate that, while extremely painful and dangerous, I was able to treat it at home after receiving a shot of antibiotics at the Emergency Care.

Three weeks later (mid April) I had another abscess which seemed to attack my whole body resulting in intense vomiting and 101* fever for about 24 hours. Two weeks later (May 4), another abscess with vomiting and fever. And another two weeks (May 18) I had a UTI with the same vomiting and fever.

Then, on June 5 about 2:00 in the afternoon I felt ANOTHER UTI starting so, in frustration, I got in the car and went to the Emergency Room of Orlando Health. 

I wasn't there long when I noticed I was getting A LOT of attention and I just had the feeling that this wasn't a good thing. I soon realized they were focusing on my heart and I was given an EKG, bloodwork, and asked a few separate times if I was having any chest pains (no).

The doctor came in and told me I was having tachycardia (rapid heart rate over 100 BPM) and that my bloodwork contained alarming levels of Troponin which is an enzyme that is released after a heart attack. And, oh yes, as the doctor put it I had a "rip roaring UTI." How the UTI got so bad in just the two hours I was experiencing symptoms I don't know. 

Even knowing all of this I was caught off guard when a woman from admitting came in to talk to me. I said, "What? I'm being admitted?"

The first night, I got NO sleep at all!  Every hour someone was in my room to check my vitals or to take some blood to check the Troponin levels. It was explained to me that the bloodwork had to be repeated ever two hours until the levels started to drop. Even though I had an IV in the crook of my left arm, the blood had to be drawn directly out of a vein in my right arm. UGH!  I was hooked up to a little hand held machine the whole time I was there that monitored my heart rate -  which continued to be high.  And I had a very slow drip of Heparin going that night so each time my arm was bent for too long the machine would beep and had to be restarted (which they showed me how to do myself). Trust me, it happened a lot because I would forget about the IV! Also that first night, a woman came in at 12:30 a.m. to do an ultrasound on my heart. 

The doctor came in my room the next morning and started questioning me about having Lupus and not Fibromyalgia because "Fibromyalgia is not an autoimmune disease." But this is a post in and of itself so I'll move on. He was, in all other manners, very kind. The cardiologist came in and said the heart ultrasound looked completely normal, but that I needed a catherization to ensure there were no blockages.  My foolish, foolish self believed if the catherization was negative, I'd be able to leave that night. 

The procedure itself was not bad but I did not enjoy having to lie on my back completely still for two hours afterward.  I received more great news that I did not have any blockages.  However, my heart rate remained high so I could not go home. I also was still getting IV Rocephin for the UTI. At least that second night I did not have the heparin drip and did not need bloodwork so I slept pretty well. They came in my room at 11:30 and 3:30 to check my vitals and then woke me up at 7:30 for a nursing change. 

Day three was a lot of sitting around waiting for a heart MRI which did not take place until 5:00 which meant another night in the hospital waiting for results. I was also scheduled for another dose of Rocephin and I got a shot of Heparin in my stomach. Night three was much like night two.

Thursday, the cardiologist FINALLY came at 3:00 to give me the final read from the MRI which was normal. All this was pointing to severe inflammation from the autoimmune flare--up putting stress on the heart causing it to release the Troponin. One more dose of Rocephin and another shot of Heparin and I was allowed to leave!  

A shower and my bed never felt so good - for some reason they don't let you shower in the hospital!  

Now I need to get in to the rheumatologist for immunotherapy to suppress my immune system and stop it from attacking my body.