I got home from the hospital today, after a seven-day stay. I’m better, but still have a ways to go in the ‘getting well’ department.
It all started with a couple of months of complaining to my Ear/Nose/Throat doctor about headaches and dizziness following an ear infection. He finally ordered an MRI of my head and put me on antibiotics.
The MRI showed I had mastoiditis, which is an infection in a part of the temporal bone, which is a bone in the skull—a left-over from the ear infection. After taking the antibiotics for a week I was twice as ill as I had been the week before. When my temperature shot to 102.7 we headed for the emergency room.
After 20 minutes in the ER we were advised I wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon, and besides the mastoiditis I was already being treated for viral meningitis and most likely had pneumonia too. I definitely had the meningitis headache.
Over the course of the last week my fever has spiked to over 103 twice, over 104 twice, and over 105 twice. I discovered one can experience a heady out-of-body experience during a 105.4 fever spike. I especially liked being packed in ice and used for a pin cusion. I’ve had so many IV’s my veins will now open on request and insert that little plastic tube for you if you show the right medical credentials.
We had a couple of other scares when, first, I “lost” oxygen. I “awoke” at one point to find six nurses standing over me calling my name. Seems my oxygen level had reached “0”. They managed to get my O2 level up to a reasonable 93% about the time my blood pressure started falling. Fortunately, my blood pressure is normally very low, so the climb back to what is normal for me didn’t take much. Yeah, that’s easy to say now!
I’m still facing surgery for the mastoid problem, but that will have to wait until all of the pneumonia is out of my system. Needless to say, I’ve found a new ENT.
I’ll be back to writing in the next couple of days, hopefully. Until then, please say a prayer for us, if you’re so inclined.
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