Medical fun

Having two young kids means a lot of bugs get brought home and shared with the family. I've always been someone who has succumbed to colds and the like fairly easily. In the last couple of years I've been living a more healthy lifestyle, which has improved my disease resistance some, but not entirely. Recently, we've had a nasty bought with illnesses.

Last week, just in time for the visit from Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Dave, Elaine and I got nasty colds. I always seem to get sick around their visits. Some have suggested that it's psychological. I think it's simply a curse. Anyways, by early last week both Elaine and I were improving, but I had this nagging back pain. Elaine was generally irritable. By Friday we seemed well enough to be able to go on our planned weekend trip to Iowa.

Saturday morning I woke up in no condition to go anywhere. I had a fever and severe pain in the middle of my back. We consulted with the family doctor (Jen's dad), who made some predictions and advised a trip to urgent care. We were worried that one possibility was the virus that causes chicken pox, which Elaine hasn't yet been vaccinated against, so she came along on the urgent care visit too.

Turns out it wasn't that virus, but we also learned Elaine had a double ear infection. No wonder she hasn't been her normal, cheery self! After eliminated some possibilities, the doctor recommended I go to the ER, so that they could do further tests on me.

The pain was so great and in such a strange location that the ER doctor was worried enough to do lots of tests. The most likely possibility was a virus of some sort or another, but it was still troubling enough to do bloodwork, get chest x-rays, and call in the MRI guy from his nice fall weekend day to scan my midsection. It was the day of firsts for me. It was my first ER visit since I was 4 years old and had to get a tick pulled out of my head. It was my first chest x-ray. It was my first IV. And it was my first MRI. My fear of needles and enclosed spaces were both put to the tests. I was at the hospital from 10:30 to 5:30. The good news: they eliminated all worse-case scenario possibilities. It really looks like a nasty virus that will hopefully get taken care of in a few days. Also, I got some codeine to finally manage the pain. I am now somewhat functional and coherent--though still quite under the weather.

So, I'm thankful that even though I feel pretty terrible that there is not something seriously wrong with my body. When I get over this bug, I know I'll be even more appreciative of my good health.