So I knew this was some serious stuff. It was serious enough that I was NPO which meant no food, and I was a fall risk because I had passed out so I was confined to my bed. The food wasn't a big deal since I wasn't very hungry. But not getting out of bed was. This meant that I had to do all my peeing in a weired little flat plastic bottle. Between all he fluid they'd been pumping into me and my messed up kidneys I needed to pee a lot. This involved having to figure out how to get the pee into the bottle while flat on my back without making a mess. Even with a full bladder it's hard to get yourself flowing in that position and to negotiate the top of the bottle. But the worst part was I had to leave it on my side table so the tech could measure. I was told by my nurse that if I could walk 3 separate times with someone watching I could be listed as free to walk. Though she forgot to tell anyone else, so I only got one walk before night time and was trapped in bed through the night.
During this time I had yet another Dr.- the hospitalist. At one point he took one of those lights and stared into my eyes making worrying noises. I asked what he was looking for and he said you can actually see brain swelling behind the eyes. He was having a hard time telling if I was having something like that. So I got wheeled for another CT scan and while I was already on the road they also gave me an ultrasound for my kidneys. The only thing the ultrasound lady said to me was that my bladder was really full and I should try peeing when I got back to my room.
That night was one of the scariest nights I've ever had. They'd finally given me some hypertension medicine and the goal was to get my pressure under 180. I'd told Lisa I'd text her when that happened. But the first check at 9:00 PM showed I was still in the high 200's. Robbie, my awesome nurse, came back in around 10:00 with an injection of this medicine and gave me more. An hour later it was still over 200. He called the on-call and she ordered yet another higher dose. Still no change 90 minutes later.
By now I was upset and scared. This idea that I'd broken myself kept playing over my mind. Was anything going to get this pressure down? Was my heart going to get back to normal? Would my kidneys get better so I could stop needing to pee?
By now it was 12:30 and there was a little drop but still over 200. Robbie, who is still the nicest nurse I've ever encountered, gave me another dose of meds and came in every few minutes to encourage me. I think he could tell how scared I was. 1:30 still no change and another dose. I wasn't being able to sleep because I was scared and because I knew Robbie would have to wake me up to check my BP. Finally around 3:00 AM Robbie did a check and it was 175. This is a completely terrible blood pressure but I guess half of 300 is an accomplishment. Robbie gave me a high five and I drifted off to sleep.
(Next time the conclusion)
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