A Very Close Call

Apologies for not writing more often, but I have been preoccupied for quite a bit.  I don't remember if I wrote anything about a problem I had that started back in April of this year.  I was put on two antibiotics and neither of them cleared up the infection I had.  The doctor then prescribed a sulfa drug and on the last day of taking that medication, I broke out in a rash.  I eventually figured out that I was allergic to sulfa drugs.

OK, so the head scratching began.  How to get rid of that infection located in my renal system somewhere.  I decided to wait until my doctor appointment last week to actually do anything since the symptoms were almost all but gone.  I requested a urine sample be taken by the office to determine if it was the same result as the one I had taken at home the day before.  It was.  

Now, at this point in time, the doctor is as perplexed as I am.  Why is this certain infection hanging around?  And why is it one tiny symptom and still showing a trace in the tests?  A few months ago the doctor said that if it did not clear up he would order an ultrasound of my bladder and my kidneys.  I had blood work done and the numbers for my kidneys came back all out of whack.  My creatinine figure was very high and my GFR figure had gotten a lot lower than the same test a year ago.  This has progressed this way for the past 5 years and we have been keeping an eye on it, but the figures were so bad this last time I became very concerned.  

The doctor told me with those figures I was probably in Stage 3 of chronic kidney disease.  I was not officially diagnosed with that, but he did mention it in passing.  I have a history of high blood pressure.  High BP can cause kidney damage and kidneys can cause high BP.  Granted, my BP is always low in the stores, at home, but never at the doctor's office.  I have white coat syndrome.

This past Monday I had the ultrasound done.  My urine was sent to a lab for further analysis.  I have been stressing over the ultrasound ever since, reading everything I can and trying to figure out what the outcome is for different scenarios.  You do not want to know what I was thinking...other than I thought I was now living on borrowed time.  But aren't we all?  I thought I might get the dreaded call from the doctor's office Thursday.  I did not.  It came today while I was out.  I had hoped to get back too late to have to call back if they left a message for me to do so.  I am a big wuss when it comes to things like that.

When I walked into the house the first thing I did was check the answer machine and that darn red light was blinking away.  All I could think at the time was, oh crap.  My husband listened to the message, turned to me and asked me when I was going to return the call.  I had no choice but to do it right then and there, much as I did not want to.

They confirmed that I still had a tiny infection and I am now on yet another antibiotic, stronger than the first three, but not a sulfa drug.  That was all she was going to offer.  I had to question her on the results of the ultrasound.  

Both the bladder and the kidneys are normal.  They do not show any type of deterioration whatsoever.  That brought tears of hope and joy to my eyes...you cannot imagine the relief that flooded through me.

Meanwhile, I had put myself on a low sodium diet since I found out I was consuming far too much of it.  I have also been on a low calorie diet for the past 6 weeks.  This past week, since being on the low sodium diet, I have lost five pounds  besides the other ten I had lost prior to this.  Despite the fact that all is well, I am going to continue on the low sodium (as well as the low calorie diet) because now my main concern is getting my BP down when I visit the doctor in three months.  And losing another 20-25 pounds won't hurt.