I was finally feeling better from my spinal headaches! After almost 2 weeks of bed rest, many tears and lots of prayers, I was able to start sitting up from time to time, nurse the baby without crying and not dread to stand up. I took every advantage of snuggling my babies and having chats with my mother and sister in law and vegging out while watching TV or movies.
I'll never forget the day that the Zempo's came to visit us. They brought dinner and we ate upstairs in my landlords sun room. The food was good and it was nice they got to spend time with the new baby and I finally got to see the sun! I remember this night so well bc I was finally able to get dressed, walk around and enjoy myself.
But then the back pain started. It was very hard to walk and it was incredibly achy and tense feeling. I wondered what the deal was and thought maybe it was sore muscles, but it started to become very bad during dinner with everyone that night.
The next day it just got worse and nothing was alleviating the pain. I couldn't get out of bed by myself because my body would scream at me to stay down and be still. I wasn't sure what was going on and I was so sad to have more pain when I was only just recovering from my spinal headaches.
The next night, I found myself alone with the baby while Erwin and my mother in law and Wa'a went somewhere...Nell's house maybe? I can't remember. I all of sudden started to feel extremely cold. I started to tense up and shiver uncontrollably and felt awful. I hopped in the shower and took one of the hottest showers of my life. My body calmed down for about...5 minutes. Then when I got out, I was even more freezing and in lots of back pain. I began to sob and sob and called Erwin to rush home to me, but he wasn't near by.
Of course, the Lord blessed me by having that exact night be the night my mom and dad were bringing over dinner. they showed up moments after I got out of the shower and were caught of guard by my tears. Mom took my temperatue and it was 103 degrees. My dad called my OB who was on call that night, and after asking a serious of questions, she determined that I needed to rush to the ER. Erwin arrived right as we got off the phone with her, everything fell into place. My mother in law went to Cam's for the night while my mom and dad stayed with the kids and we headed off to the ER.
I was sweating profusely and shivering at the same time. I became weak and faint and the pain made it hard to move. I wondered if I was going to faint. We rushed off to the ER and arrived around 7 p.m. My Dr had called ahead to let them know I was coming and they took me in a wheelchair right back to see a Dr quickly. I changed into a gown and asked for heated blankets and started to moan from the pain.
A nice Dr visited with me and told me he needed a urine sample from me, but also wanted to do an MRI to see if maybe I had a spinal infection from where I was pierced. They had to page the on-call MRI technician and she arrived about an hour later. While waiting for her, I sat in a daze and moaned and slipped in and out of sleep. Erwin kept begging me to get up and give a urine sample, but I was too cold and in so much pain, I refused.
When the tech arrived, they injected dye into my bloodstream to be able to see the spinal images better. I could barely get on the MRI table bc of the pain and had to have 2 people come help me.
MRI's are not fun. If you are even remotely claustrophobic, then you will freak out in this machine. But I had done this before, but not in this much pain. It was just the tech and me, in this cold and dark room. Sigh. So I took a deep breath and said a prayer.
While in the MRI (it takes up to 30 minutes with loud banging and buzzing noises...very unnerving), I had the most spiritual experience. I kept my eyes closed the entire time and started to hum and sing in my head : I Need Thee Every Hour. I sang that over, and over and over, because I felt scared. I felt frustrated that I was here all over again. All of a sudden I hear a voice as clear as day: "I'm here. You're not alone. It will be ok." I became to weep. My heart began to swell with the spirit and relief and all of a sudden I didn't hear the loud machine bangs or feel scared. I hear my Savior speak to me. Just me in that big MRI machine while shivering and in pain. It was one of the most spiritual and sacred experience I have had--to hear so clearly my Savior and to feel His presence with me.
As I was wheeled back to be with Erwin, I decided that I would try to give my urine sample. I peed bloody urine. (still bleeding from delivering baby) The nurse took it away and within 10 minutes the Dr came back and let me know that my urine was so potent with infection, that he knew right away that I had an infection. And I'm not talking like a UTI here. It was much worse. Both my kidneys were seriously infected--hence the awful pain and scary high fever. He told me my body was going into shock and they gave me medication right away.
At first I felt so relieved! It wasn't a spinal infection! But then I thought... if only I had given my urine sample from the beginning, I could have avoided the (super expensive) MRI experience, because they would have known right away the cause of everything. But...I'm grateful that I didn't, because of the amazing experience while I was alone in that machine.
They let me sit in the room for a while and rest and even brought me a machine to pump milk. After I felt well enough to leave, we walked out the doors and headed home at 11:30 at night. Erwin said a prayer of gratitude and we arrived to my sweet mom who had rocked both my babies to sleep. She didn't complain of the late hour, despite early work the next morning, and stayed with me and helped tuck me into bed with drinks and meds and plenty of blankets.
I probably got the infection from the catheter that I had in me during my stay at the hospital. Not one nurse cleaned it for those 3 days and when I checked out I had one of them tell me that was very bad and I might get an infection....Seriously? Pretty sure the hospital should be paying for this whole ordeal.
What an awful, but incredibly beautiful experience. I would change absolutely nothing. I know my Savior loves me. I know He spoke directly to me and I could feel Him guiding me and teaching me about His infinite love for me in every situation--and that means with all the ups and downs with my health. The sick and afflicted truly need our Lord and Savior, and I'm so grateful that He is with me on my physical journey of health trials.
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