@$&$@# Infection

Yesterday afternoon at around 4:00 I fell asleep on the sofa in my living room. It's the furthest distance from the stairs and from the bedrooms in my house. I woke up at 12:15 in the night still on the couch. I didn't have a blnket. The heat was turned off and I was cold. I really needed to visit the bathroom. I yelled several times, but no one came. After waiting a few minutes I yelled again as loudly as I could. Still no one answered or came.

It was very dark, but I could see in the dim light coming from the digital TV clock that my wheelchair was just a few feet away from the sofa. I moved into a sitting position and tried to use my good arm to hold onto the coffee table while I stood on my good leg and attempted to hop to my wheelchair. I didn't quite make it. Somehow I lost my balance and fell foreward. I hit my forehead on one of the little wheels on the front of my wheelchair. It left a goose egg and a bruise, but didn't cause an actual head injury. The forehead is more able to withstand injury than are most parts of the head. The uninjured side of my body absorbed most of the impact, although my doctor said any healing of the clavicle injury was probably undone. I had to lie there on the floor on my stomach and bad arm until my dad finally got up at 5:30 a.m. and found me.

My dad was, predictably, mad at me, and said the whole thing was my fault because I have been told that I may not try to get into my wheelchair by myself. As soon as she got up, my mother told him he was wrong. By the time I finally made it to the bathroom, it was more 14 hours since my last visit and more than five hours since I really needed to go. I don't want to share too much information, but it was too long, and I ended up with an infection that you can get from waiting too long.

My dad doesn't keep the sort of medication needed for UTIs on hand, so he called my uncle, who is my pediatrician. My uncle came over with all the right supplies. He tested what he needed to test (I at least didn't have to have any embarrassing exams) and took blood to deliver to a lab. He gave me an antibiotic injection and then had me take a pyridium tablet. Within ten minutes I was barfing non-stop. Pyridium is not my friend.

I had to visit my orthopedic surgeon, who was not happy with my parents. It was nice not to be blamed for a change. My parents felt so guilty that both of them stayed home with me. One of them is staying home tomorrow, too, because they don't want my Aunt Heather to have to take care of me when I'm really sick.

I was too sick to watch "Judge Alex," and, predictably, no one recorded it. It was supposed to have been a really good episode. #%^@!
When lab reports came back, my uncle called to say that I have a kidney infection. He said that it progressed quickly because my body is already in a weakened state. I had to have another injection. At least no one tried to force anymore pyridium on me.

I am really tired of this current state of affairs. My dad is trying to make light of it by saying that I need to get one of those Life Alert "I've fallen and I can't get up" necklaces. I told him that my emergency button should be linked directly to child protective services instead of 9-1-1. He apologized again. At some point I will forgive and forget, but not yet. It was a very long and uncomfortable night even before the pyridium debacle began.