If you ever want to know what Hell feels like, you should try putting yourself in my current situation (not that I understand why anyone would want to know what Hell feels like) – I’d be happy to trade with you.
I won’t give out all the details, but the gist of it is that I suspect I have a kidney infection. What does that mean? you might wonder. Well, google it. The point is, it’s not pleasant, and it all began last night. When I realised that all was not well, I took two panadols (painkillers) and went to bed to read something for my media course. After a little while, what always happens when I’ve taken painkillers, happened: I fell asleep. Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up with my course reader cutting into my throat, realised the lights were still on in my room, and felt an excruciating abdominal pain and an intense need to, uh, pee. Fast forward to me returning to bed and wrapping myself up in my duvet and blanket and trying to ignore the pain, which also emanates from my back and sides, arms, and neck, and experiencing chills racing through my body, and a dull pain in my stomach. Then imagine me lying there for ages, writhing in agony, trying to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep, and thinking about taking more painkillers, but deciding not to do so because moving even the tiniest bit hurts so much. That pretty much sums up my night. After a while I did go back to sleep (or passed out, who knows), and when I woke up this morning I did actually feel better, but I’d decided to see the people at the Student Health Service, and I stuck to that plan.
I only have one lecture on Wednesdays, and that’s a Media Studies lecture at noon, which lasts for two hours. Seeing as my personal attendance record is perfect, I was not intending to miss or skip that lecture, so I went over to campus earlier than usual to see a nurse at the Health Service building. They got me in really quickly, and the nurse set up an appointment with a doctor after I’d seen her, because of the back pain I’m experiencing. If it wasn’t for that, she would have said that it was just a urinary tract infection and given me some antibiotics for that and sent me home. So 5 minutes later I saw the doctor, who prodded me and asked me questions, and then decided to give me some antibiotics. He didn’t specifically say what he thought it was that’s wrong with me, so at first I just assumed that it was nothing more than a UTI. However, I soon became suspicious that it was something a little more serious than that.
First of all, I can’t just write off this pain in my back as a random co-incidence, because I cannot begin to describe just how terribly painful it is. I’ve never felt anything like it. Secondly, and this is what really made me suspicious, is that when I went to the lecture afterwards, my condition definitely deteriorated. I felt sick, weak, fatigued, I got a mean headache, and throughout the two hours I spent in the lecture theatre, I had chills come over me and I sat there shivering, feeling more or less like a sack of potatoes someone had tried to teach to sit up straight and look presentable. I felt awful. Thirdly, when I got back home, I discovered that two of the main symptoms I’ve experienced are the two main symptoms of kidney infection. Fourthly, the antibiotics most commonly prescribed for UTI does not match the antibiotics I got from the doctor, so my guess is that he thinks I have kidney infection but didn’t want to say anything to me? I know it’s a little far-fetched, but even if he was being honest with me, I still think that what I’ve got is a little more serious than a UTI.
After I’d been to the lecture I decided that I was in no shape to be spending the rest of the afternoon in the library to write the rest of my philosophy essay; which meant that I had to ask for an extension. So I went looking for a form to fill out and was told that there was none – I had to talk to the course coordinator in person, or e-mail her. The receptionist I talked to also urged me to get a medical certificate from the Student Health Service, because that would definitely help. So I went back there, and talked to the most incompetent woman I’ve ever met, and left not having a clue what came out of it (if anything at all), almost in tears because I felt so sick and tired, and a little stressed out.
Then I went home, where I did everything I could to make myself comfortable, and I had a large cup of coffee, before I read on the Internet that I should avoid caffeine when I’m on antibiotics. Gosh. That means one week without coffee. If the kidney infection doesn’t kill me, the lack of caffeine surely will. At the moment I’m lying in bed wearing my pyjamas, with a hot-water bottle on my stomach, in freshly laundered sheets, listening to music and trying to ignore the thudding headache I’ve got. As much as I’d like to work on my essay, I just feel too sick to be able to concentrate. And fuck, do I want chocolate.
Right, I think it’s time for a nap now. I’m so tired and sore all over, and sleep always helps.
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