What’s the opposite of fun?
Posted By Russ Emerson on April 9, 2009 at 11:25 pm
I’ve had what might be charitably described as an interesting week so far.
Tuesday night I had chills and developed a fever, which hit 101.4°. Not extraordinarily high, but since my normal “feeling well” temperature is 97.8° rather than 98.6°, it was pretty high for me.
I thought it was pretty generous of me to be sick on my days off, instead of on company time, and figured I’d be over it soon enough.
Then, last night I noticed blood… hmm, how shall I put this? where it ought not to be. In the commode region.
More to the point, I was peeing blood.
Now, I’m no doctor, but I figure it doesn’t take a Jonas Salk to know that this was a Bad Thing. Plus, it was distinctly uncomfortable rather too close to the doodadinal region.
Fever plus blood is a pretty sure sign of infection, which is a particular hazard for me, what with the shunt in my brain, so I called the doc as soon as I got up this morning… only to discover that my doctor is on vacation.
Huzzah.
So, I instead went to the local Urgent Care place, where it turned out the entire staff was female. Consequently, I had the unique experience of paying to be felt up by a strange woman.
OK, so maybe that’s not unusual for someone like Eliot Spitzer, but it was a first for me. And I don’t think insurance covered Eliot’s adventures.
The diagnosis was as I expected: urinary tract infection. How such a thing happens, I’ve no idea, but I was prescribed a one-pill-a-day-for-seven-days antibiotic. Seven pills, with a total cost (before insurance) of $212.94.
$30.42 per pill. Egads. Best not to lose this particular bottle, I think.
I got done with the docs a bit late, but I’ve worked almost my entire regular shift this evening. Fortunately, it’s been a bit slow. The “fever” still hasn’t quite broken — I’m still a bit elevated — but it’s come down into the 99-100° range. That hardly qualifies as a fever, I think.
(It’s 99.9 as I type this.)
(Yes, I have a digital thermometer.)
(Yes, I just checked.)
(No, I don’t feel great.)
I now understand the discomfort Mycah must have felt when she had a UTI a few years ago. But you won’t catch me peeing on the carpet.