Just got home today after spending 7 long days in the hospital again.
He said he was so afraid of losing me after learning that I had sepsis.
This one was by far the worst.
My bad sih kali ini.
All started about 2 weeks ago with what I suspected as a simple urine infection. I had no symptom apart from funny-smelling urine in the morning.
Then I had on-off low grade fever for few days, but really nothing. It felt like I was about to have a cold, that was all.
I honestly brushed it off my mind. I mean, I had enough. I just got back to work after 3 weeks off. I had a very productive week. Im about to go on holiday..... so no. Im not gonna see Shona for common cold. Or so I thought.
But I guess God loves me so much.
Out of the blue, ga ada angin ga ada ujan - Monday 5 Dec Shona phoned me.
She was just checking to see how Im doing, coz few weeks ago I complained about my blurry vision post-op.
And after being stubborn and told her that I'll see an optometrists next year (coz I've had enough seeing specialist this year) - I sort of casually mentioned about the low grade fever.
I can almost literally hear an alarm bell in her voice. Her toned harden, and she was suddenly very alert.
She urged me to come see her hari itu juga.
Of course Insaid no. It was 1 pm, I was at work, and I need to pick up Sonia from school at 3. So no. I need my day planned. Not ambushed like that.
Jadi gw "dipaksa" ketemu Kyra the next day (Tue, 6 dec) karena Shona is off every Tue. Then I asked her, cant it wait til Wed??? She firmly said no. It's either you come see me today, or Kyra tomorrow.
So I chose Kyra.
Shona let me go that day, but send me to the lab to get my blood tested.
Came Tue. i came to see Kyra. All blood test came back good, but urine culture shows heavy growth of nitrates and white blood. Kyra sent me home with a round of antibiotics. I had no fever today, mind you.
However, that night my right flank was hurting so bad. Then agaiinn, came Wed I brushed it off again. Masi kerja biasa, cuma emang kedinginan terus. Uda mulai mengigil...
I came home, took my temp and kaget juga tetiba udah tinggi.
I felt better after panadol though.
Kamisnya masi ngantor juga... semua masi nyetir bolak balik sendiri... di kantor mulai berasa ga enak banget. Ahirnya pulang jam 2 nyerah deh. Gw ke Shona.
By then I knew something was wrong. So for once, I asked andi buat nemenin gw ke Shona.
Gw rasa Shona pas ngeliat andi juga tau that I was in a bad state karena biasanya gw ogah ditemenin.
Bener deh, she checked all my vitals and all went bad. Very high temp, super fast heart rate and low blood pressure. And the fact that I've been in antibiotics for more than 48 hours, yet all these still not under control really rang her alarm.
She almost send me off in an ambulance!!!
I told her Andi is gonna take me straight to ED. So off we went with referal letter from her.
I didn't have to wait long at all di ED. They whisked me off pretty fast.
I felt miserable! Inwas shivering. Shaking so violently. I was cold, yet my temp was high. It hovered between 39.4-40.6°c
I sent Andi home buat jemput Onya. Drod dia duduk ngeliatin gw doang... udalah, kasian onya masih di Kelly Club. And Im in good hands anyway. So off he went.
Docs kept working on me. IV fluids, IV antibiotics, CT scans. Ya fast forward... the scan reveals that my left kidney was in a pretty bad shape.
Now most people with kidney infection would settle after the first or second high dose of IV antibiotics. But in my case, even after 5 days - i still had high temperature. That's when I learn that the infection has gone up to the blood.
Remember I said that all blood test came back okay on Tuesday?? Whoooo not this time. Not only I had kidney infection (pyelonephritis), but the infection had also spread to the bloodstream.
I had septicemia kidney infection.
Sepsis. Blood poisoning from the bacteria.
From what I understand, there are 3 stages of sepsis. Sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock. Im (only) on the first one.
But it was scary how fast things can turn really bad with sepsis. My blood test was totally fine on tue. By thursday it was all over the place.
4/10 people died of this kind of blood infection. And believe me, it was a painful.
That Thursday night, I created a commotion in the ward. I triggered an emergency medical call. High temp with distress respiratory rate. Within seconds (LITERALLY seconds!!) I can see all the nurse and docs gathered around me, checking on all my vitals.
I could barely talk. I didn't even know where I was!
Somehow they managed to stabilised me. The same thing happened again on Saturday night. Another emergency medcall. Maan, it was horrible.
The pain was worst than childbirth. They pumped me up with morphines after morphines after morphines to try to make me feel comfortable. It was excruciating, really. So those few days I was really just kinda slipped on and off consciousness.
Sepsis is no joke man.
If Shona didn't call that Monday.
If Kyra didn't give me that initial dose of antibiotics, things can be so much worse.
If I was being stubborn and refuse to go to ED.
If I was just one day late.
I may not even be here right now.
Sepsis happened really, really fast. It can crippled your organs within hours.
Im on the mend now.
Thanking God for letting me went through this.
ED room
So yes. I had a rough week. But Im home now. Still not 100% but Im here on my comfortable bed... badan masi berasa kaya digebukin, but as I said... im on the mend.
Ready for Jakarta next week.
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