Okay...time for an update. I'm going to try and keep this as brief as possible as it is not a very pleasant one and I could RANT about doctors and hospitals for the length of a book after what I went through this past week...but I know you guys get it and I'm going to try and keep this as positive as possible.

First off...baby is doing great. On August 28th (Thursday) she started moving a lot more and kicking noticeably harder. My boyfriend FINALLY got to feel her move yesterday because she was bouncing for a long enough time that he got to feel it. I can see my belly moving now when she gets really excited...it's a surreal feeling but gosh does it make me incredibly happy. Had my first baby shower yesterday (there will be two more...this was with my family and then one with my boyfriend's family and then one at work). I wasn't feeling great (I'll go into that in a minute) but it was a nice low key celebration with about 12 people. I basically staked out a comfy chair and spent the whole party there...but I still had a nice time just having everyone there to celebrate this happy time.

So...now for the less happy part of the update. I know I posted on another thread that I was diagnosed with the gestational diabetes (which I might not have now...but still have to operate as though I do)...but that has been a bit of a challenge to deal with. Pricking my fingers HAS caused flare ups not only in my hands but throughout my upper body. I don't know what to do about that...but if it turns out my sugar levels get back to normal once I am over this infection then I'm not going to test any more unless I feel a need.

Infection you ask? Oh yeah...so I think it was 3 weeks ago now that I was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection...fairly normal in pregnancy. I took my week's worth of antibiotics and went about things as normal. The problem I guess is that the only symptom I felt of the UTI was a slight, low grade fever which went away so I assumed all was well and good. Apparently not...apparently the infection didn't go away and actually travelled up into my kidney and caused a kidney infection. Last Tuesday I started to feel achy...in part because of the RSD flare up in my upper body and I thought I also may have overdone it a little at work (even though I didn't think anything I did at work would have been overdoing it...but is seemed the likely answer to my achiness). Then Wednesday when I got home from work I took my temperature and it was 100.5. I took a Tylenol which took care of the fever and the pain I had started to get on the right side of my back.

So then Thursday morning rolls around. I feel okay...mostly just tired and a little sore...and I go to work. Within an hour my back starts hurting more and more...all in that one spot on the right side of my back. I can't concentrate and feel miserable. I hated to do it...but I told my boss I needed to leave and call my doctor. I called before I left the parking lot and they said they could see me at 2pm (this was around 10am). I felt like I was running a fever but had nothing to check with at work but I told them I was running a fever Wednesday of 100.5. When I got home and took my temp...it was 101.7. I took a Tylenol, arranged for my mom to drive me to the doctors office, and then took a nap until it was time to go in. My temp was down to 99.7 when I left to go to the doctor.

So they tested my urine when I got there and they said I had a BAD infection and because of the back pain suspected a kidney infection. But my fever had dropped to 98.7 so they called in an Rx of antibiotics and told me to call if my temp went over 102. Before I even left the office...I started to get the chills. By the time I got home I was shaking so badly that I could barely get into the house with my cane (did laugh at myself a little because I thought I must look like a stereotypical 100+ year old lady walking with a cane all hunched over and shaking). I took a nap on the couch and my mom went to pick up the Rx. When she got back I took my temp and...yeah...it was 103.1. I took a Tylenol, took my antibiotics, and call the doctor's office. The person I spoke to said just take Tylenol and the antibiotics and see if the temp went down...I told them the doctor said to call if it went over 102 and they said they would call me back. 5 minutes later they called me and said I need to go to the hospital because the doctor was having me admitted so I could get some IV antibiotics and get treatment ASAP.

So Thursday night I was admitted to the hospital...what an awful night but my fever broke around 11pm and in the morning I felt a TON better. I spiked another temp at 3:30pm Friday but they were able to get that down in about an hour. Saturday morning I felt pretty great (a little tired...but that's about it). The OB doctor said I was doing great and that baby/pregnancy were perfect and we were just waiting on some results from the infectious disease doctor to decide if I was able to go home on oral antibiotics instead of the IV ones I was getting in the hospital.

The nurses (not the doctor mind you) decided to move me to another room since I was stable and doing so well. Not a problem for me...but unfortunately when they moved me they started to push really fast to get through the doorway...and MISSED! The bad (with me in it) rammed the wall really hard and I'm sure you can guess...sent me into a full body RSD flare up.

This was BAD...as bad or worse than when I was in the wheelchair for a year and had to go through all that physical therapy just to get out of the chair and back to work. I knew it and I started to panic. But...they put me in this new room and then my "new" nurse didn't come in to see me until I had been in there for almost 2 hours. When she got in there I was in tears and complete agony. There is NOTHING they could do for me at the hospital...I went through my protocol for dealing with flare ups and they literally had NOTHING that would help me.

I tried to just focus on seeing the infectious disease doctor before I lost it and seeing what the chances were that I could get out that night. I felt confident if I could get home that night and get treatment started for the flare up that I would be okay...but this pain was BAD (I know you all know). So the doctor comes in and tells me they've identified the bacteria and it is responding to the antibiotics and she doesn't see any reason why I can't go home that night and start taking oral antibiotics. Phew...big stress relief there and I just have a few more hours of this torture to deal with before I can go home and start getting my pain levels down.

Then the urologist comes in and says he hears I get to go home in the morning. WHAT??!! I had a serious panic attack. I told him that's not what the doctor told ME when she was in the room and asked him if there was any need (on his end) for me to stay overnight. He said no...but my OB doctor decided to keep me overnight.

Now...here is where I just about lost my mind (maybe I did...I was not particularly rational at this point). The OB dr who admitted me was one doctor at the practice I go to but Saturday afternoon a different one was on call...the one I HATE...the one who didn't care to listen to me about my RSD and messed up my medical notes regarding the specialist, etc. SHE is the one who has made the decision not to let me go. I tell the nurse I need to go home and I need her to contact the doctor regarding the situation, the pain I am in, and the inability for them to give me proper treatment in the hospital. I hate this nurse btw...another one that clearly doesn't give a crap about the patient. She goes and comes back saying the doctor is firm and I need to stay the night. I tell her that I need to talk to the doctor then because I will not make it (explain all about the flare up, the risks of not treating it right away, etc). She gets the doctor on the phone and it is like talking to a brick wall. She said to me that the only reason she wanted to keep me overnight was as an extra precaution just to make sure I didn't end up needing to come back. I could understand that if everything was fine and peachy...but with the RSD flare up I was in it just was not possible. Then she started throwing our scare tactics...telling me my baby was going to die (extremely unlikely given the actual situation) and my insurance wouldn't pay for my stay if I left (true if she didn't release me). I knew these were scare tactics...bullying if you will...but I clearly couldn't change her mind.

So I cried for another hour and half and tried to sort through my options and figure out what I needed to do. I was absolutely certain that if I didn't get home that night and start my RSD treatments that I would be in pain for days, weeks, or months...the longer the cycle goes on without treatment the harder it is to get things back under control. I was very worried about spread to the two areas of my body that don't currently have RSD and terrified about what these things would mean in terms of taking care of my baby.

Resolved to stay if the doctor wouldn't let me go...but I would not allow them to touch me or do anything to aggravate my RSD while I was there (ie...no touching, no vitals, no blood draws, etc). I was going to wait until my boyfriend go there after work and then try to convince the doctor one more time and if that didn't work then request another doctor on the basis that this one was not competent enough to treat me or make decisions about my medical care. None of those things would stop the flare or really make the situation much better...but that was all that I had in my control.

Then at 7pm the nurses changed shifts and an absolute angel came into my life. This was the same nurse who treated me on my first night there. I explained the whole situation to her...she is the only person on staff who actually looked up RSD and so she knew exactly what I was saying as I went through things. She told me she would call the doctor and try to convince her to let me go but told me that this particular doctor was very unlikely to change her mind given her personality...but she would try. My boyfriend got there around 8 and 5 minutes later the nurse returned and said she had good news...she was sending my buns home. I just needed one more IV Tylenol dose and something else (which would take 45 minutes total to deliver) and then I would be discharged from the hospital. They called in an Rx to the nearest 24 hour pharmacy which my boyfriend picked up after taking me home (so I could start treatments) and then all was well with the world. I think I have a guardian angel...I don't know how that nurse did it but seriously I feel like she saved my life...or at least days/weeks/months of pain.

So I got home Saturday night around 10pm and started my RSD flare up protocols. Now...on Monday...I am almost back to my old self with only slightly elevated pain compared to normal and slightly worse balance than normal. Another couple rounds of treatment and I will be back to my old self. Such a relief...I am so indebted to that nurse...she is just an angel. One of those rare people in the medical field who really does care about and listen to the patient.

So that's the short version of my ordeal this past week and at the hospital. I know...can you imagine the long version? Lol! But I wanted to share as it does relate very specifically to the complications my RSD can cause with the pregnancy. It didn't affect the baby...but I was not prepared for how awful I would be treated in the hospital and my RSD pain completely ignored by people who just didn't care and what sort of consequences that could have had. I see my OB (the first one who originally admitted me) on Thursday and I have to talk through with her what happened when she wasn't on call anymore. That witch of a doctor cannot be the one to treat me ever again. If that means I have to find another practice then so be in...but I need to do what is best for me and the baby.