So, not surprisingly because it's super common, I have a post-surgery infection. It's a little bit in my bladder (also unsurprisingly because my bladder's default position is Low Key Mad, and then when you shove a catheter in there, even for a little while, and then it also has to move to take up space that wasn't there before, it's going to exact revenge) and other places, nothing major, and easily fixed with antibiotics. Two of them, in fact.
Right.
The good part is that I'm on day 2 and already starting to feel better. Let's just say that from the outset. I was feeling weird pains that I knew weren't normal (and also my doctor said they weren't normal) and those are gone, and it no longer takes multiple tries to pee, and I'm not as tired. All good things.
I spent a morning/early afternoon in the ER (not because it was super dire, but because my doctor told me to go there because my insurance was taking its sweet time approving a contrast CT scan and my symptoms started escalating in ways that were very, very uncomfortable) and I've also decided on a new career: ER eavesdropper. If I can make a career of that, that'd be awesome. Literally, I heard someone call their refrigerator a Grocery Hole and that is what I will refer to it as for the rest of my days. (Not a patient. It'd be markedly less funny and I wouldn't be joking about it at all if it was a patient.) Then, I left with one antibiotic, and then immediately got a call from my OB-GYN Oncologist dude that said "nope, don't take that one, take these two instead."
One of them is Flagyl. Awesome. Except not. It's already throwing me like it did last time.
You see, about seven years ago around this time, as a result of the antibiotics that I took after getting my wisdom teeth out, I got C. Diff. It was, to this day (inclusive of breaking my arm in three places and needing surgery, having a full hysterectomy, and two fine needle aspiration biopsies on my thyroid), the worst thing I've ever been through medically. Ever. It took a full year for me to recover from it, and it took even longer than that for my gut to recover.
Flagyl (and can we just say out loud that it sounds like some weird protozoa or amoeba or something?) was one of the antibiotics the doctor put me on back then. Right now it's not going so bad, but let me tell you: I remember. It takes a few days to get really bad. The weight loss, the digestive issues, the fatigue, the constantly terrible taste in my mouth, the brain fog, the joint pain (which was actually more likely caused by the other antibiotic I was on at that time), the inability to eat distilled foods and crying in the produce section of Hannaford, all of it. It's hard to take vinegar out of your diet. I dare you to try it. It will be much easier for me this time because I eat a lot better and I'm much healthier than I was back then. There's also the fact that the antibiotics are not treating a debilitating case of colitis this time, but still. I can't use things like hand sanitizer because if I slip up on ingesting anything distilled or alcohol based, I pay a pretty heavy price.
No joke, and not to put too fine a point on it, but I went to my follow-up with my PCP back during that time and she put me on another 7 days after an ER visit and I legit asked if I could just live with C. Diff, and burst into tears when she said no because it kills people if it goes untreated and it's super contagious. The side effects of the treatment were literally that bad.
I am also battling the fact that while my appetite is coming back little by little post-surgery, it's not fully back yet. So, I asked my doctor what to do about that because he was like "make sure you're eating enough and hydrate hydrate hydrate. And then when you think you've hydrated enough, hydrate some more," and then when I asked him how to figure out having to eat more when I literally can't, he was like "Shove it in if you have to." This man does not sugar coat anything, and if I could, I'd have him as my PCP. I was also talking to him after I got out of the ER and was like, "But, all things considered, I feel great!" and he was like "Um. You're a vivacious person, and I totally get that, but you just got out of the EMERGENCY ROOM, Ryan. It's ok if you're not doing so hot. Give yourself permission to not be doing so hot."
Great advice, I must say. But, I'm currently at the First Circle of Flagyl Hell: This Isn't Super Pleasant But Not Terrible Either. I'm also teetering on the Second Circle of Flagyl Hell: I'm Very Tired and My Gut is Very Very Angry and No I would Not Like to Eat That Very Pleasant Thing but Thanks Anyway. It's coming. I can feel it.
In the next day or two, I'll experience Circle Three: Fluids. Just, All of the Fluids, and Also I lost Ten Pounds. Because this course of antibiotics is mercifully short, I'll likely only make it to Circle Four: Dear God Make It Stop.
If my doctor extends them (DEAR GOD I HOPE NOT), I'll likely have further circles, like Circle Five: I Can't Stop Sweating and None Of My Pants Fit, or Circle Six: I Can't Eat Anything and I'm Very Frustrated and I Don't Want to Eat Anything So I'm Going to Look at Watermelon in the Produce Aisle and Start Crying Uncontrollably In the Grocery Store and Leave Empty-Handed.
I just have to keep thinking to myself that I'm starting to feel better and repeating that to myself over the next five days.
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