It's been a long week. Month. Year.
Babygirl's acute kidney failure. I'm working through a divorce. We need a new roof. My tenants are buying a house, and I need to do some serious work on the apartment before new tenants can move in. AND our furnace just died, and we don't get a new one until tomorrow.
Oh, and one more thing.
Babygirl caught a cold about a week ago. Typical symptoms, feeling crappy but not ill, until Monday. She sent me a text from dialysis: "I'm getting a fever. Temperature was 99.8." Typically, she runs about 97. But I know the rules: "over 100.4 we go in."
She got up to 100.8, but didn't initially say anything. She thought I meant 104 degrees. We cleared that up.
We hit the ER at 6:15, plus or minus. The put her in a private waiting room, but I wasn't allowed in until she had a Room. Ah, no worries. Snacks in the doctors' lounge, a nap in the massage chair in the Wellness Room. When they finally actually took her vitals, her temperature was 102.4.
These days when you go to the ED, the triage nurse has the ability to assess the situation, and order whatever tests match the patient and the symptoms. For someone like Babygirl, this would usually be the "Sepsis Workup." Labs. Cultures. X-rays. They did not do this. They swabbed her throat and did a respiratory disease panel.
We got to a Room about 3 hours after arrival. The doctor came in, all excited, and said, "You have RSV! We know what is wrong with you, so you can go home. Did you get the ibuprofen I ordered? That will make you feel a lot better!" The look on my face must have told him something.
"You know, Doc, she got winded taking off her T-shirt and putting on the hospital gown. Also, she's in kidney failure. She CAN NOT take NSAIDs. Her transplant is still getting rid of water and potassium, and keeping her from a lot of miserable diet/fluid restrictions."
He was unaware that one can need dialysis and still have partially functioning kidneys. I was not surprised by this. If I had given it a moment's thought before Babygirl's diagnosis, I might have thought the same.
To his credit, he took a better look at her. Examined her, even. And ordered the sepsis workup.
Fortunately for us, it was all negative except for some diagnosis-expected bronchial swelling. We were home a little before 1 AM.
But there is no treatment at all for RSV. It can and does kill babies, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. And because her immune system can't fight, she needs to stay in her "bubble" for a full month - about 3 more weeks, so she doesn't spread it to the babies in the family.
Today is the first fever-free day. The cough remains appalling.
I have to say that this acute illness has been....grounding. I had quite literally reached the point of bubbling pre-hysteria. A kind of What the Everliving DUCK is my life right now? But Babygirl got sick and is now getting better. The rest is just.... stuff. Hard stuff, but stuff nonetheless.
So here we are, celebrating gratitude for, well, everything. The house is pretty warm today because we have an oven that works and a turkey (that we were supposed to take to another dinner with family), in a roaster in the dining room, adding more heat. I taught Squeaker (who was the bringer of "the cold") how to make homemade piecrust, and the magical chemistry of pumpkin pie. Babygirl made apple crisp from the last of our "Family Apple Picking" supply.
Home dialysis equipment arrived Wednesday. I sign for a home equity loan to get everything done on Monday. I had enough money to pay for a furnace, when a large percentage Americans can't find someone to borrow $500 from (true story. Someone did a poll about this).
There is a sign in my dining room that says, "Gratitude Changes Everything."
Yes. And amen.
DeeDee
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