5 days at the hospital

  Thursday. October 6th.

I had an appointment with Dr. Policy a spine specialist/surgeon. This was at 8:45 AM, and I was expecting to be back at school before 4th period so I could attend 4th period and ACCESS.

But I ended up never returning home that day, staying at a hospital overnight.

So, what happened?

When I met Policy, he basically said that we need to do things faster. Schedule the back brace fitting faster, and see the infection doctor faster. We discussed discitis, which is what I have. He said that ultimately, two of my spine bones will morph together in the long run and that's going to be what happens. And I do that with the brace.

So he moves the brace fitting from next week to literally today which is great. So we do all that stuff, and the guy taking my measurements explains the brace complexities and stuff.

So after that, it's time to head back to Pleasanton and to school. Within 3 minutes of our drive, Dr. Policy calls my mom and says that we should go to the John Muir hospital in Walnut Creek to do more infection things. I don't really even understand but we went to this room where they just took more blood tests to gain some information on my progress. 

But after that, they wanted to take a biopsy of me, which is like taking a needle and taking the fluid out of one of my spine bones to see which bacteria is causing the infection. That's what my impression of it is. This procedure takes an hour, and requires anesthesia, so it's kind of a scary deal. I was scared as sh**. I just wanted to go home, and I thought that after this, I would be going home.

However, it was 12 PM, and the latest they could do the biopsy today was 3 PM, and the radiomanage team thing said there wasn't even room today to do it, so I had to do it tomorrow, meaning I stay at the hospital overnight. This was a plain SHOCK. They moved from this normal cramped room and moved me to a room upstairs that was much nicer, and this would be where I would stay for the next 3+ days. It all turned around so fast. My back is infected. This is what needs to be done.

my MRI, you can see severe inflammation in the white area.

1st photo = my original room where I thought I would just be there for the blood test and be done and go back to pleasnton and school.

2nd and 3rd photo = transferring me to an actual room to stay. I was in a bed and they were pushing me to an elevator onto the children's floor and to the room where I would be staying. Along the ride, I saw lots of old people on beds in the rooms. It was like what you see in those movies. it felt so surreal. 

4th and beyond = pictures of my room. It's almost like a hotel room. I'm just in this bed with a blanket, wearing a gown and the light pants and socks they issued. My left arm is constantly hooked to some IV fluids to give me nutrition and stuff. idk what they even do with that.

But my room is pretty nice. There's tables that I can slide on top of my bed so I can use my computer throughout the day. This hospital is so nice, the service is nice, these rooms are nice, and I'm just grateful that I have this. I know in other places, I wouldn't have this, and instead something way smaller and discomforting.

<3

So the rest of the thursday was just me watching youtube, cubing, raving over fantasy geo, and then sleeping. All in this bed. I would get up periodically to take a walk or go to the bathroom. 

That night, my mom left to bring some necessities back at home, such as toothbrushes, chargers, cerave. Literally all we had was my school bag which had my computer luckily for me to use, and my mom's bag. We weren't anticipating for all of this to happen. We thought we'd be home.

So my mom slept back in Pleasanton, then came back here at around 8 AM the next day with all the stuff.

Friday. October 7th.

Today was biopsy day, at 1:30 PM.

I woke up at 4 AM and pressed the remote in my bed to call for them to do my blood pressure and temperature test since they do that every 4 hours. After that I fell asleep and woke up at like 6:30 AM. the doctors came in my room, and did another blood test along with vitals. I am writing this day on Saturday, so I don't remember all the details.

I just did random stuff until 10:30 where they had some team meeting where all the nurses and stuff go to every patient and discuss the general plan or something with everyone. After that I took a shower, where they covered my IV input with a ziploc bag and tape. 

This IV thing is basically connected to a wire that gives me IV fluids periodically, which is basically just saltwater with nutrients. I couldn't eat from midnight to 1:30 PM, the time of my procedure, so this would make sure I had energy and stuff idk. I felt fine not eating for the entire morning

So yeah, my procedure was at 1:30 PM, I hopped on this a carrier bed and here I was in the room. After waiting some time for them to set everything up, I laid down on the bed belly down, and they took like a CT of me which is just some images so the doctor guy knew what layer to perform the biopsy from. 

Then, they connected that IV thing to a wire that gave me some substance that was basically anesthesia. Literally the last thing I remember was getting tired. And next thing you know I'm in the recovery room, lying belly up with a mask on. I basically just took a 1 hour nap or something and during that nap they did the entire biopsy. 

The ENTIRE THING was painless. Literally making me fall asleep was so painless. Them numbing my back was painless because I was asleep during that. That was some LIGHT WORK. I wish dentist appointments could go like this. They just put you to sleep so u dont have to deal with this.

So yeah, it was over, there was a big bandaid on my back, and I was back to my room vibing as always. 

Here's what I got for dinner:

Very cool, I was sitll considered a child cuz I'm 17 so this is why. I'm not complaining for sure.

So the rest of the day I was just lying in my bed as usual, watching youtube and doing nothing meaningful in my life.

Saturday and beyond.

They unplugged my IV fluids, so I didn't constantly have a wire connected to a machine, meaning I can walk around on my own a lot more conveniently. Before, I used to have to push around my machine along with me everywhere I went. They just gave me antibioitics every like 6 hours. 

There's really nothing meaningful left to talk about. I just existed in my bed. 

Here's some random photos during this time:

Monday. 

My inflammatory levels went down, I'm feeling better, and I get to go home. Thank god. What an experience. I remember this moment. I took the blood test Sunday night, and if my inflammatory levels didn't go down, I would have to stay for likely another 2-3 days. The results came out Monday morning, and I just sat in my bed in emptiness before receiving the good news.

10/24, three weeks later.

Here I am, back being a normal person in school and marching band. I have back brace that helps with everything SUBSTANTIALLY, and I'm feeling confident. However, the pain is still there, and it's been three weeks. I've been on oral antibiotics, which made my inflammatory levels back to normal which is super good.

 - CRP (measurement for inflammatory markers in blood) = 36 or something when I was in the hospital

 - Lowered to 22 released from hospital

 - Last week went down to 14

 - Now its at 3.6

 - For reference, 0-9.9 is the normal range. Meaning my inflammation is gone. 

So yeah, that's the post. I waited a while to publish this. Here's my unique experience with discitis, which is rare for me to have. Hopefully this post was the peak of my back pain, and everything gets better. :')

This really puts things into perspective. I had such a great room with windows, a sofabed for my mom, good food, and overall nothing hectic. In other places around the world my mom would have to bring a sleeping bag, and I would be in a small curtained area in a big room with 5 or more other patients. This was an experience.

Lyric(s) of the Post: 

I wanna call you when I'm drowning
I'm drowning every night
I've just never been a chancer
This is not a goodbye
Oh, and if you answer
I'll know by your voice
Or the feel of your silence
If I made the right choice

Silence - Trivecta, Amistat