SUPER SICK!

Well, you haven't heard from us in a few days because I have been extremely ill.  Sunday was wonderful as I was finally able to perform my dance at church (delayed from the toe injury ... i think my dad is putting the video on facebook if you would like to see it) but later that night my throat started hurting a little.  Monday I woke up and it still hurt, and as the morning went on, my head and neck were in terrible pain also.  I tried to nap, but between the pain, the noisy wind, and the annoying flies, it didn't work very well.  My temp was at 100.9, and since I don't have a spleen, I have to go to the ER at 101.0, so we thought that was close enough.  (As Gary and I walked outside to leave, we realized his car was in the shop getting fixed finally from the deer incident, so we had to have my mom come take us.)  We thought it was strep, but that test was negative.  They ran blood cultures, did the usual pee-in-a-cup test, and I convinced them to give me an IV (but i guess they missed the antibiotics part, and just gave me fluids and pain meds).  They thought we were about to be sent home (so we called me dad to come get us, and bring some food because I was starving!) when the lab tech couldn't get the second part of the blood culture (thanks to those ever-awesome tiny rolling veins I've been so blessed with) and doctor came over and wanted to do a spinal tap to check for meningitis, since my neck was so stiff.  I was pretty terrified, but we decided to go ahead and do it to make sure i wasn't dying.  Good news - I'm not :) but it was super painful - he had to keep using more and more numbing stuff and stuck me several times before any fluid came out :/ (And all this time I was starving! but they wouldn't let me eat or drink til after it was done).  They sent me home with some pain meds, thinking it was just a virus.  I had to lay flat on my back all night and drink lots of fluids to avoid a post-tap headache, caused by an imbalance in fluids from the procedure.  I never sleep on back, so, well, I didn't do much sleeping.  I was up most of the night and in tons of pain!  And now I kept going back and forth between extremely violent chills and then hot sweats.  So I laid flat and tried to rest in the morning (all while Gary is trying to figure out how to finish the packing I had been working on - the moving truck was coming at any moment), and then in the afternoon, I felt miserable and took my temp again - 101.4.   Well, when we left the ER, we asked about an antibiotic because every time I don't get one, even if they think it's not bacterial, I end up back in the ER within 24 hrs - but they wouldn't do it.  So, the pattern continues and here we go back to the ER (this time, dad had to come take me, since we still had no car and Gary had to wait for the moving truck).  This time they did a chest x-ray, perfectly fine, and we asked about flu because of the chills and such - he said they hadn't seen any yet but it wouldn't hurt to check - negative.  The last thing he could think of was some weird disease that required a throat ultra sound (which he just did right there in the hallway, where I was laying because they don't have enough rooms - the day before I got removed from a room to the hallway then put back in before the spinal tap - it'll be nice when the new bigger hospital is open...).  Again, all good.  He still didn't want to give me an antibiotic, fearing me building up resistance to them before I really need them, and over use of them can cause some sort of build up in your colon, and he saw my record with the colitis last summer and didn't want that to happen either.  So, he consulted some medical journals, called my family doctor, a pediatrician who is very familiar with kids without spleens, and a pediatric specialist in Boise - only the local pediatrician thought the antibiotics were a good idea - so he agreed to give me a prescription, leaving the decision to take them in my court (hoping I wouldn't, but every doctor I've ever been to has told me to take them even with a virus - I mean, I was supposed to be on penicillin everyday for my whole life - that's another story entirely, but yeah, I think it's okay, so I'm taking them).  Whew!!  So, that's pretty much the story.  Came home, slept (not perfectly, but much better), finally showered this morning which should help me feel better, and yeah, that's where we're at.  My back, throat, and head are all slightly better today - woohoo!!  Of course, I'm not feeling great yet, but maybe I can at least give some instruction on the packing today - some people are coming over to help load the truck.  I don't think we'll be leaving tomorrow as planned - I normally get car sick, so it's probably not a great idea - and I really don't think I could sit in the car forever with such a sore back.  Hopefully I'll keep improving and we'll be on our way soon (the trucks are going to be there at the beginning of next week, so we have to be there by then!).  Man, I'm sorry if this was incredibly long and boring - five bucks to anyone who just read this whole thing!  I think I need to write a book about all of my medical experiences (oh, one good thing that happened - Gary started keeping track of every test and medicine and treatment on his ipod because I can never remember that stuff ... like I've even forgotten meds im allergic too :/ and evidently hospitals don't keep very good records either) haha - but anyways, thanks to those of you knew and prayed for me - and for the continued prayers as i heal and we move!  I'm excited to live back in a big city where there is much better health care (I really miss Columbus Children's Hosptial :/ I'd almost move back there just for that hospital, but I think LA should have some good ones, right?!).  Okay, I have rambled on way too long, thanks again for the prayers and support (and reading this super-long blog!).  We'll keep you updated!