It started...
On Wednesday 21th June I thought I just had a headache, later that day I thought I had the flu because my entire body had muscle ache. Also my fever was 38,8 degrees Celsius. So I slept after eating a banana. When you are ill, you won't eat much which is normal but Thursday morning my fever was still 38,8 degrees Celsius. It became worse that afternoon, I became paralysed. My hands and arm cramped in the form of crab claws. My legs needed to curl up to make the pain lesser. My breathing was rapid and my body shot in a panic. A family doctor arrived two hours later and determined an ambulance has to come to bring me to the hospital. Another two hours later an ambulance arrived. I felt ashamed of needing help to walk downstairs from a 3 store flat, but I guess I had no choice because my whole entire body was cramping. My body wasn't listening to my mind at all. I was finally in the ambulance. I was paralysed for quite sometime before I was finally admitted at the Emergency Room (ER) of the nearest hospital. It took them more than 4 hours for them to take proper action...
Admitted in a hospital
It is Thursday evening/night and the doctors and nurses determined my fever is now 40 degrees Celsius. I am in pain and morphine sulphate pentahydrate didn't relief the pain. I received antibiotics and I think the diclofenac helped my pain the most. My muscles were slowly relaxing after I took the tablet. The pain throughout my body, head, arms, hands started to become lesser. Around 3 am on Friday I could finally rest a bit. Except it didn't last very long, the side effects of the antibiotics hit me from 6 am till 8 am, diarrhoea. It didn't calm me down, when I heard around 5 am that I had to be admitted in another hospital because the one I am in has no beds left at their nursing department. I had to finish the strong antibiotics treatment in a hospital and they had to monitor me even though my body was finally calming down.
Sleep?
I have only slept for one hour and I was lying in another ambulance travelling to another hospital. I haven't slept well for two nights and I hoped I could finally sleep in the next hospital. Every time I lay down on my side, back or other side I felt a pain in my lower back. My lower back was soar, because they retrieved spinal fluid there through a needle when I was at the ER. They deduced with the spinal fluid that I didn't have Meningitis (a brain inflammation). I am glad that there was nothing wrong with my brain, even though it was throbbing like a maniac. My headache was still there and I felt that my muscles had an unusual ripping tearing workout. Still all I wanted to do is sleep and rest.
I couldn't sleep at all on Friday. I had to feel hunger for more than half a day so that they could make a Ultrasound and CT scan of my Thorax and lower parts of my body. I guess the X-Thorax made at the ER of my lungs wasn't enough. They needed to find whether there is a problem with my intestines, stomach, kidney's, uterus etc. I felt like a guinea pig for an entire weekend, I had to use a poo and a urine cup so that they could test my fluids. And I received plenty of fluid through Intravenous (IV) therapy, sacks of NaCl and each day also a bag NaCl mixed with a strong antibiotics. The side effects were again diarrhoea. This sounds like a vicious cycle right? Giving someone antibiotics which will cause one to dehydrate and than give them IV treatment of NaCl to replenish the fluid they have lost. I guess Western medicine sucks on this front.
Trauma
So I thought it couldn't get worse, but it did. I am in a four bedroom patient room with a Misses on my left and diagonal in front of me a Mister. Both of them patients, who are old and not just "sick". The first night I witnessed some horrible things, a warm welcome as a first night in this hospital. Misses in the room had hypo and almost died from a coma. It took hours to stabilise her and in the middle of the night Mister in the room made a drowning water sound from his mouth, than he coughed non stop. I peeked through my curtain and saw a sea of black puddles on the other side of the room. I pressed the red button to call a nurse, but no one came after I counted for 3 seconds. I had to get up to get the nurse, who was at his station. I was super tired, but had to retrieve a nurse to help Mister in my room. This while I had to put on my shoes and walk with my IV pole! The room lights weren't on so I still saw the black puddles, I sat down on my bed behind the curtains and took off my shoes. Then I lay back in my bed and closed my eyes. The lights were switched on and I am sure behind the curtains of my bed the puddles would have looked dark red, but I ignored it and tried to sleep while I slowly stopped smelling the sourish scent and slowly didn't hear the nurses who were helping Mister.
Refreshed for while
On Saturday I could finally take a shower, while on the other side of the shower wall was my IV pole. Showering with one arm is no fun and getting dressed with an IV sack in one of your hands is a weird experience as well. It was refreshing though, wearing clean PJ's. My clothes were smelly, sweaty and sticky. Three days of feverish nights has also made my hair look greasy and I had a hairdo that looked like that of Mortisia from the Adams family. After washing my hair it was silky soft again, which felt great. The pleasant feeling didn't last very long, especially when travel back with your IV pole through the hallway back to the four room hospital room, number 39. Opposite of the room is Mister, who is now receiving donated blood to replenish the blood he has lost the night before and on your left Misses who isn't in her hypo state anymore but still breathing heavily. This all with a gorgeous view from the window of the 10th floor.
Recovering
On Monday I could finally go home. While I headed home my body didn't move as I wanted to. It was unusual tired so was my brain. The metro ride felt like a long endless rollercoaster, where you have to stay awake in otherwise you will never wake up again. Walking home and walking up the stairs felt like I was carrying my body instead of moving forward, but I was moving forward. I guess not walking much and lying in bed a lot while taking heavy medication just doesn't make one seem sane.
The mystery remains
At home I finally slept and rested, food smelled great but due to the antibiotics treatment most of the food tasted like metal. At home I had to finish the antibiotics treatment through pills three spread out in three days. I dreaded this treatment the most, because I had to time when I eat and take the pills. Also the taste of the pill was metallic, which is the cause of the taste of metal for most of my food choices. Four days ago I finished the treatment and since two days ago, I could finally taste every food again. I guess the antibiotics is slowly leaving my body...
Unfortunately, I don't know what happened a week ago. I just hope it will never happen again. It was a new experience, but I would never wish anyone such pain. It would have been great to know the cause of it all, but after all the tests they have done with my blood, stools and urine I am glad I am not a guinea pig anymore. They couldn't find anything and they couldn't see anything strange from the pictures of my Thorax and lower body parts. I guess we are only human after all. Our human bodies is still a mystery.
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