What the Hell happened this week? (part one)
This week began like so many other weeks. Monday rolls around, I start feeling like I have the flu, I work through my day, have dinner, watch TV and...
Oh... that's sort of where it all started to go wrong. I finished work at 5 PM and decided to take a nap since Lou was teaching until 6:30 PM. I laid down and thirty minutes later I woke up, shivering, teeth chattering, body aches to the Nth degree, and just feeling plain awful. I drew myself an excessively hot bath and immersed myself, up to my neck, in hot, hot comfort. I could tell that things were a little different than usual as the body aches didn't completely melt away as I defrosted in the tub. I toweled off and got dressed, heading once again back upstairs to my napping nest, and wrapped up in a blanket.
All of this sounds like it should've been a wonderfully indulgent experience except for the fact that I felt terrible! I allowed my body to cool down so I could eventually take my temperature, but in the meantime, Lou had finished teaching and was about to heat up some leftover Chinese from over the weekend. I opted for a piece of toast. He came up, set his plate down, and went back to the kitchen, and while he was gone, I took my temperature. 100.9, read the thermometer. I quickly stashed the instrument and we proceeded to watch Bob's Burgers as I enjoyed my toast and he picked at his Chinese food. Upon finishing my toast, Lou insisted that I take my temperature, so I did. 101.3 this time. We had to go to the hospital because anything above 100.4 is a little "dangerous" for people with cancer.
"I hope you didn't do what I think you did and take your temperature while I was in the kitchen and didn't tell me," he said sternly.
I wasn't going to lie. "Of course I did! I wanted to make sure you ate something in case this was going to be a long night for you," I responded with a ridiculous grin on my face.
Lou pulled one of his 36 angry faces at me and went downstairs to grab his keys and his coat.
So off we went to the Lakewood Emergency Department where I was seen immediately. Immediately, not because I was in that much peril, but immediately because no one else was there. For some reason, the people in Lakewood have an issue with the new emergency department because the Cleveland Clinic razed an underperforming and outdated hospital facility. They would prefer instead to drive 15 minutes away to Fairview Hospital (a nice hospital, I might add) to wait. And wait. And wait. But I digress...
The medical staff remembered me from my visit from the previous week. I told them I was back because I missed them so and I longed to see their bright and shining faces. I was so remembered that Brian, one of the nurses, remembered exactly where to find a good vein.
They drew blood samples and whisked them off to the lab to see what the problem might be. In the meantime, the doctor on duty came by to administer a COVID-19 test. He gave me the standard warning everyone gets about it feeling uncomfortable and how there might be a momentary burning sensation in my nasal cavity near my brain... which I found to be redundant as I don't think anyone has experienced a particularly joyous burning sensation in their nasal cavity near their brain. I could be wrong because I don't know everything.
Burning sensation? No. Discomfort of any kind? No. I giggled. I giggled as the swab went past the first obstruction, up to my nose's G-spot, and until it was removed from my nostril. The doctor didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to say. It was my first time. I blushed.
A couple of short hours later, the lab came back to let us know that the reason I had this fever, and these bodily reactions was because my immune system had crashed. I did not have the white blood cells and other goodies to fight off infections. Or function, apparently.
Because of this, I was to be transported down to Main Campus of Cleveland Clinic to have a couple of spa days in Building M.
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