As a bit of background, I'm 51, healthy, no more than 5 lbs overweight, in reasonably good shape.
I woke up on a Monday and had a little burning when I urinated. Later that evening I got a bit of fever.
I called my urologist on Tuesday am and wanted to either go in or get an antibiotic. They called a prescription in to the drugstore. I got it filled and took the first pill on Tuesday evening.
I ran a 103.5 temperature that night.
Wed am temp was down almost to normal, no urinary symptoms. But that night my temp and shivering spiked around 103. I figured the antibiotic just hadn't taken full effect yet.
Went to work for a couple of hours on Thur pm. Felt reasonable but not great. Got chills and fever on Thurs pm, got in bed. Began to shiver uncontrollably.
Next thing I knew I was in ER. I had passed out, my wife called ambulance. I don't remember anything about the fire department coming to the house or the ride to the hospital. At the hospital they pumped me full of IV antivirals, antifungals, antibiotics until they figured out what was wrong. Packed me in ice since I had a 104+ temperature. Did a CAT scan, a spinal tap. My blood pressure started dropping and they pumped me full of fluids. I was lucky in that they called an outstanding internist, he called in a pumonologist, a urologist, a kidney doctor, and an infectious disease doctor. He was VERY aggressive.
Spent 4 days in ICU. Had lung congestion and needed postive pressure breathing machine for about 6 hours.
Finally checked out after 7 days in hospital. Just finished ten additional days of IV antibiotics. I'm at about 90% strength now.
Verdict: I had a bladder infection that got into the bloodstream. While the antibiotic got it in the bladder, it didn't get it in the blood. My system started shutting down and I went into septic shock. The ER doctor said that if my wife had been a few hours later I wouldn't have made it.
Still scares the cr*p out of me thinking about it.
Lessons learned:
1 - DON'T take a high fever lightly. I know I won't.
2 - (You've heard this before). Keep everything in balance. I was going through some difficult downsizing/company package departure decisions. Guess what? None of it stresses me any more!
I just thought this would provide some perspective to others on the board. Learn from my mistakes. I've been climbing this ER ladder and have only a couple of years to go. But you have to balance having some fun. I almost left a wife and two teenage kids. It's shocking to go from basically good health to almost dead in 3 days. Luckily this story has a good ending!
I woke up on a Monday and had a little burning when I urinated. Later that evening I got a bit of fever.
I called my urologist on Tuesday am and wanted to either go in or get an antibiotic. They called a prescription in to the drugstore. I got it filled and took the first pill on Tuesday evening.
I ran a 103.5 temperature that night.
Wed am temp was down almost to normal, no urinary symptoms. But that night my temp and shivering spiked around 103. I figured the antibiotic just hadn't taken full effect yet.
Went to work for a couple of hours on Thur pm. Felt reasonable but not great. Got chills and fever on Thurs pm, got in bed. Began to shiver uncontrollably.
Next thing I knew I was in ER. I had passed out, my wife called ambulance. I don't remember anything about the fire department coming to the house or the ride to the hospital. At the hospital they pumped me full of IV antivirals, antifungals, antibiotics until they figured out what was wrong. Packed me in ice since I had a 104+ temperature. Did a CAT scan, a spinal tap. My blood pressure started dropping and they pumped me full of fluids. I was lucky in that they called an outstanding internist, he called in a pumonologist, a urologist, a kidney doctor, and an infectious disease doctor. He was VERY aggressive.
Spent 4 days in ICU. Had lung congestion and needed postive pressure breathing machine for about 6 hours.
Finally checked out after 7 days in hospital. Just finished ten additional days of IV antibiotics. I'm at about 90% strength now.
Verdict: I had a bladder infection that got into the bloodstream. While the antibiotic got it in the bladder, it didn't get it in the blood. My system started shutting down and I went into septic shock. The ER doctor said that if my wife had been a few hours later I wouldn't have made it.
Still scares the cr*p out of me thinking about it.Lessons learned:
1 - DON'T take a high fever lightly. I know I won't.
2 - (You've heard this before). Keep everything in balance. I was going through some difficult downsizing/company package departure decisions. Guess what? None of it stresses me any more!
I just thought this would provide some perspective to others on the board. Learn from my mistakes. I've been climbing this ER ladder and have only a couple of years to go. But you have to balance having some fun. I almost left a wife and two teenage kids. It's shocking to go from basically good health to almost dead in 3 days. Luckily this story has a good ending!
