Pain Tells Us We're Alive

My husband lives his life in pain.  He has chronic lower back pain, and arthritic hips.  He can't walk far, can't carry things, can't lift things, he can't even put his shoes on normally.  So when he tells me that his side has been bothering him, it worries me.  I ask him where?  He shows me his upper right abdomen.  We make an appointment to see the doctor.  She orders an ultrasound and sure enough he has gall stones.  He had gall stones 3 years ago but they haven't bothered him in years.  She put in a referral and we're waiting to be scheduled for an appointment with the surgeon.

That was Tuesday.  While he was getting an ultrasound, I was getting checked out by a nurse practitioner for a UTI.  By the end of Wednesday I was nauseous, having abdominal pain, dizzy, and shaky.  I called Friday and the nurse I spoke to wanted me to go to the ER.;  I declined, stating I was only in a 5 out of 10 on the pain scale, and didn't have a fever.  So she scheduled me for an urgent care appointment for Saturday (today).  This morning I show up and see the doctor.  She listens to what I say, feels around my belly, and starts asking me GI questions instead of Urinary questions.  She learns I have  Diverticulosis, and tells me she's going to send me for a CT Scan.  It ell her I'm not supposed to have any unless it's absolutely necessary.  So instead she sends me to the lab.  When the results come back I have a high White Blood Cell count.  So she said she was going to treat it as Diverticulitis and give me Cipro, the nasty tasting antibiotic that wreaks havoc on your GI bacteria, the good and the bad.  Oh, and I'm on a liquid diet for 2 days.

We finally leave the doctor's office and go to the Burlington Mall to get our wedding rings inspected, repaired, redipped, and resized.  Not all today, some of that needed to be sent out for.  It took forever.  Next was the laundromat followed by the grocery store and CVS.

UGH.

But my husband bought me a dozen red roses to make me feel better.