Thursday 3 July 2014

Bouncing back or not ...

Its been over a week since my last adventure (acute urinary retention) and bouncing back I am not.

It seems the cellulitis (x3), the kicking off of my symptoms in February and the latest thing to add to the catalogue of disasters that 2014 has brought, acute urinary retention has depleted any energy reserves I had as back up.

I am back to a state I last saw in early 2007 / 2008, where just getting up and showering is a major achievement. Frustrating doesn't even seem to cut it. It seems 2014 doesn't want to allow me any steps forward but is keen to make all the steps I do take are backwards.

I used to bounce back within a week or two from events such as these. I knew bed rest and cutting back on activities would "reset" my system. It seems that function is no longer available. I am sleeping most afternoons and adding that to what I am sleeping at night and its getting on for over 13 hours a day. Something I haven't done for such a very long time. I know that this means that I am very sick or recovering from being very sick.

Since being catheterised and it subsequently being removed, for over 7 days I was left with reasonably painful bladder spasms that werent really responding to buscopan or opiate painkillers. The only relief I could get was a hot water bottle and to lie down. Only that always kicks my back off especially when you add into the mix that I have been sleeping for 13 hours plus a day. And my electric blanket appears to have died. I didnt think that things could get much worse lol!

Every part of my body is aching, I am struggling to think straight. I have transient moments when I can converse proficiently but the rest of the time I am struggling to follow a conversation or understand most things my husband is trying to talk to me about. Fun it is not.

I am hoping that scaling back on my activities (not that they were vast anyway) and spending more time resting will do the trick. When you have been stable for a few years and then suddenly take a nose dive its scary. Add in that the doctors don't know why my condition is deteriorating or why its come about in the first place? It makes for a bumpy ride.

I try not to spend too much time navel gazing as it gets me nowhere. My mood is low, which is hardly surprising with so much being thrown at me at the moment. I am not depressed I am reacting in a natural way to the events taking place in my life. I can still laugh, smile and look forward to things in the future. I am still enjoying all the things that I always have. I am just so very sick and tired of being sick and tired at the moment.

I apologise for this being such a "down" post.

Post script:

My blog post was completed towards the end of last week and I am happy to report my mood has lifted. Probably helped by spending the day with a dear friend celebrating her birthday.

Unfortunately on Monday night  (30th June) a mosquito or mosquitos decided to bite me 4 times. You can probably guess what I am going to say next......cellulitis, although it could be Skeeter Syndrome. I have one bite on the back of my left hand, that has made it swell up so much you would think I had broken it. Two further down my left arm that have also ballooned and one on my flank which is now deciding to swell and is 5cm in diameter. I am currently waiting for my gp to ring (its got so frequent now that the surgery staff no longer confirm my telephone number!). So more antibiotics and possibly prednisolone will be thrown into the mix. Its never a dull moment here!

Tuesday morning (left hand)

Tuesday Evening left hand

Tuesday Morning Left Arm

Tuesday Evening Left Arm

I am now on antibiotics for the next seven days and have to have a load of blood tests done next week.

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