Home again

I spent an entire week in the hospital.
It was not fun. I lost 12 pounds, all told (of fluid, I am sure) and hope I can keep some of it off and continue to lose, but we shall see.
I should NOT have been discharged, and in fact, they discharged me when I was not fully breathing un-assisted. My O2 is still not 100%.
They got sick of me asking for someone to look at my eyes, and discharged me so that I could see my retina doc yesterday, which I did.
He said that he wants to wait a bit and see if any of this resolves on its own, but we have exhausted the lasers and they won't benefit me any more. The next step would be a vitrectomy on my left eye. I hope we don't have to do that.
A visiting nurse came yesterday, O2 wasn't great.
A physical therapy person came today and we did nothing physical at all... she'll be back next week, I guess. Another nurse is coming tomorrow.
Right now, I have no energy whatsoever, so I am going to try to rest more so I can heal.

Still sick.

Today, I have SLIGHTLY less pain in my throat, depending on the moment. Both of my ears still hurt a lot, and it is still difficult/painful to swallow.
I have been short of breath, and coughing a lot.
I have been drinking a lot of fluids, as I was instructed. In fact, the ONLY thing I have had today is 2 pints of chicken broth with mini croutons, two small shortbread cookies, and water.
The cough is sometimes wheezy, sometimes dry and hacking, and this evening there has been a LOT of thick, sticky, opaque white sputum- sometimes with traces of blood. When it isn't thick and sticky, it is frothy/bubbly.
My ankles are even more swollen than usual, as are the rest of my feet.
Also, yesterday, I had smoked salmon & cream cheese on a bagel for dinner, and my urine smells like smoked salmon now... and I have had tons of broth, water, and I pee a lot.
I would think it would be out of my system by now.. but I have never had this happen, and it is really bizarre.
My entire body aches. It seems to just keep getting worse. I don't know what to do.

Also...

My breathing is getting worse by the minute. I need sleep.

My ears are doing this weird thing between extreme pain and numbness from the inside out.

My throat hurts more and more and I am having variations between a dry, hacking, painful cough and bringing up mucus and blood. It hurts so much to swallow.

I have spots in my eyes again. My neck, back and shoulders hurt more than I think quite possibly EVER. I am freezing on my hands, and the rest of my feels hot.

I can't find my thermometer.

I can't breathe.

I can't go back to the hospital even though they told me to if exactly this sort of thing happened.

I am in so much pain, and I am so scared.

...

I was diagnosed with kidney disease on Thursday.

I had seen it mentioned in passing before, but this was to-my-face confirmation.

Lovely.

Don't really have any details yet. I am supposed to see the kidney doc ASAP, and go to endocrine dept every 2 weeks.

On Saturday, I was on my feet for a very long time and went from being hot inside to getting stuck in a snowstorm with not very winter-y clothing for a couple of hours. I swelled up about 5lbs that night.

I woke up VERY sick on Sunday and went to the ER. I couldn't speak much, both ears hurt, I threw up 3 times, yellow sputum with chunks of blood, neck, back, shoulder & head pain... the works. They did a chest x-ray and took some blood, gave me IV fluids, and sent me home with a prescription for Tamiflu & Tessalon Perles. The Tessalon Perles were not covered and cost nearly thirty dollars. (plus three for the Tamiflu)

They don't seem to be working.

I went back to the ER today. Well, I started at urgent care and they sent me to register and since I couldn't talk at ALL, I was taken by wheelchair "STAT" to the ER... where I waited for about an hour to be seen- and all they did was take my vitals, do a strep test, and tell me to "grin & bear it unless it gets worse" which is why I went in in the first place...

My breathing is so bad. I get winded drinking water. I know.. that sounds really weird. I don't even know another way to describe it.