Mystery Illness

So I have been on my ass the last couple of days with horrible body aches, chills, low grade fever, and general malaise.  I started feeling crummy on Tuesday afternoon and went home from work a little early.  I woke up in the middle of the night on Wednesday and took another dose of Tylenol and Ibuprofen.  Wednesday I made it up to Pasadena for Ryan's graduation, but I was a mess during the majority of his ceremony and left at 2:30 to head back to OC.

I got in touch with my MD and she wanted me to come in and be seen so I made an appointment for Thursday (yesterday) morning and got blood work done.  My white blood count was elevated double the normal numbers and I felt totally crappy.  Last night, I got a call from the doctor at 9:30 that she was concerned about the WBC and wanted to make sure that if I felt worse in any way I went to the ED over night.

This morning she emailed me and wanted me to get to the main lab at the hospital for another round of more serious blood and urinalysis.  Turns out I have a UTI or bladder infection as well as the YI which was probably why my WBC was so high.  It could be that I had those vaccines earlier this week and they distracted my immune system so that my YI progressed into a UTI.  Or maybe I had both but I couldn't really tell because I didn't have a frequent urge to pee.

As Carina said when I texted her, "WTF you're a mess!"  So now I have a prescription in at the pharmacy that should be ready to be picked up in about 45 minutes.  Hopefully that will start to get everything back to normal.  My WBC had dropped from 18.9 yesterday to 16 today so that's a good sign!

Hopefully things are going to be turning around for me here soon because on dear Lord I cannot manage this crappiness for much longer.  I am also really happy my parents will be here tonight and they'll be able to take care of me this weekend while Sammy's on call.

I should note that Hunter has been quite the little nurse during my illness and he hasn't really left my side.  Yes, there has been more barking than I'd like, but overall he has been a little gentleman sitting with me on the couch.  

Sick

I tell ya, being at my parents house is a real treat.  My parents completely spoiled Hunter and I while we were staying with them last week.

Sam and I attended my company holiday brunch on Sunday morning and came home to finish packing and load up the car.  Unfortunately, the 49er game got interesting and we had to postpone our departure until after the loss- ugh! 

After all of Sam's birthday celebrating, he and Hunter passed out on the way up to Northern California and I drove 6 hours straight, making it home in record time.  Yay! 

• It was an amazingly busy week- Monday Sam and I went into San Francisco to do some shopping.  
• Tuesday I worked a bit from home and then did some reconnaissance with Mom and Lisa in Danville.  
• Wednesday I had my busiest day- up to Sacramento to visit with Aunt Kathy, Aunt Annie, Alicia, Justin, Clare and Ryan; off to Jackie and Joe's to try on my bridesmaid dress for their wedding; dinner with Tony and April to meet the adorable Harper; and then back to pick up Hunter from Jackie and Joe before driving back to Mom and Dad's house.
• Thursday I visited Nonna and Papa with Hunter for some pie making activities.
• Friday Mom took the day off and we spent the day running errands and then hosting Sam and his parents for dinner.
• Saturday I caught up with Lindsay over breakfast and a walk before getting my nails done with Mom and then heading over to Sam's parents' house for a Chanukah kick-off party.  
• Sunday we got up and drove home to Southern California.

Unfortunately I managed to come down with a horrendous head cold while I was in NorCal and I am suffering immensely for it now.  I worked from home today to minimize the exposure of my coworkers, but I think I was initially feeling ill on Wednesday night, and I woke up Thursday with a scratchy throat.  Today has been the worst day (I think) but I slept horribly last night.  I am just soooooooo congested that I keep having to blow my nose and drink tea/water/soup.

I'd like to say Hunter enjoyed having me home today, but truth be told, he has been sleeping most of the day.  Hopefully that means he will also sleep tonight!

It's hard to believe that 2 weeks from today we will be celebrating Christmas Eve with my parents and my sister.  I think Carina is going to bring her Terrier/Chiuahuah mix with her from Colorado, and my parents are bringing Max down too.  It will be a full house for sure!

Hopefully by then I will be feeling better!  This Wednesday kicks off the holiday parties and I am terrified that I will be lingering on the brink of health for the holidays this year.  No fun when I have the Rose Bowl to look forward to!

Mommy's Little Pervert

Mommy's little pervert ate a pair of panties on Saturday afternoon when he wasn't properly secured in his crate... Mommy's fault.

Things seemed to be passing naturally until this morning when Hunter woke up at 3:30 AM and was projectile vomiting on our bedroom and bathroom floor from 4-5.  I haven't seen him so uncomfortable since he was neutered!  He was sitting beside me cowering, shaking, whimpering.  Luckily, I was working from home today, so I was able to call our amazing veterinarian and they got him into see one of the doctors at 8am.


We have an amazing staff at our vet office and today it was Dr. W. who helped us out.  She told me she wanted to keep him at the office for a set of x-rays (first set above) to determine whether he had an obstruction.  If he did in fact have a blockage, we would pump his stomach with barium to flush out the obstruction.  If that failed, Hunter would go in for emergency surgery.

Initially, I didn't hear back from Dr. W. and I found out later that the barium was sitting in Hunter's stomach without passing the blockage (x-rays above).  She had been debating whether he would have to do surgery when, miraculously, it began trickling through his GI tract! (x-rays below)

Dr. W. called me ecstatic that Hunter would not need surgery after she saw the x-ray above.  She wanted to keep him for a few more x-rays just to be sure that everything came out okay.

 

While I was in my meeting, Dr.  W. called to say that I could come and pick Hunter up after she took the last images at 3pm... nearly 12 hours after we got up to address his upset stomach.  Between the x-rays above and the one below, Hunter passed a 6-inch long thick accumulation of fabric.

Little Hunter came home and has been napping with his head in my lap ever since.  He's on a special diet while his tummy adjusts, and he is to have some R&R.

Dr. W. sweetly offered to send me home with the images for Sam to check out.  She also put in our insurance claim while I was at the office and she told me that if it gets denied (which is very doubtful) she will personally write a letter to justify her medical judgement.  I could not ask for better care providers for Hunter!  We will certainly be sending one of our holiday cards to the office this year.