PRAYER REQUEST

The Short Version:

• Pray for me. I am in the hospital.

The Long Version:

• So, I thought I was doing well. I knew that our family had a very full and active week and weekend coming up, and I had a couple of posts "scheduled" to appear on the blog. That way, I had already completed them, with writing and photos, and was "ahead of the game". However, I didn't know that I would be needing those posts because I would be hospitalized come Monday morning. Bummer.

• That's right, folks, I'm coming to you live from this nice, very stylish, air-pressurized hospital bed in the land of endless juice buckets (pick a flavor, any flavor, I've had them all.) This weekend, I realized that I was getting a UTI (urinary tract infection). No, I have no medical degree, but am able to self-diagnose because I have had over 30 of these in my lifetime (literally)....and hey, I know the signs. The funny thing was, I started having bladder spasms Saturday night, and I've never really had those before. But, I let it rock on, and moaned and groaned throughout Sunday. Sunday night, I had fever with chills, back pain and a headache. I writhed with the pain, every hour on the hour....no sleep for me. So, I was glad to see the sunrise Monday morning. That meant I could call mom to come take the kids to school for me, and then come back and get me and take me to the "doc-in-a-box".

• You know, the "doc-in-a-box" is similar to a drive-thru service for the food industry. Except, of course, you can't just drive thru...you do have to get out and wait your turn, but it's nothing like the wait in an emergency room. I was glad we made it and didn't have to wait long. I felt horrible, but knew that soon after I took a tinkle in their plastic cup, they would give me a prescription for antibiotics and we could be on our merry way. Boy, was I wrong. They did blood tests, and more urine tests. And then the nurse practioner (an indian girl who looked like she was 12) came in my room and said "Mrs. Bowling, you are very sick. Your UTI is severe. You have proteins and blood in your urine. Your white blood count is very elevated like there may be other things wrong too. " And she said she was off to look at more blood tests. Then the next thing I know, an older man walks in, Dr. McGee. He says, "Mrs. Bowling, you are very sick. Our nurse practitioner brought me your chart to look over. It's severe. We are concerned that it has spread to your kidneys and possibly your bloodstream." And then the dreaded words that followed...."you need to be hospitalized."

• Well, what do you know, those folks at the "doc-in-a-box" are in fact, 'real doctors' afterall. So, a hop, skip and a jump later, and I'm at the hospital. Getting IV's and catheters (no matter how small they say the tube is, it still hurts) and antibiotics and morphine and lots of chicken broth. I'm being poked and proded frequently. I was told my doctor here would be Dr. Shepard (being a huge Grey's Anatomy fan, the thoughts of Derek Shepard "McDreamy"...was a perk for me.) It turns out this man looks nothing like Patrick Dempsey. But, that's okay because he seems nice enough and answered and explained everything to Temple and I late last night. It seems that the infection has basically made it's way through my entire urinary system. Once it gets all the way to the kidneys, it has to be treated, like it is now, not just with oral antibiotics for a week or 10 days. He said some "p" word, but neither Temple nor myself could remember it. Temple is medical-terminolgy challenged......and me, well I was just doused up on morpine. :)

• The doc said it would take 2-3 weeks to get over this. And I will be here for a couple of days at least. Kind of a wait and see. Then lots of antibiotics to take at home. When Temple left me last night, he sent a text back that said "think of it as a vacation without the view". Yea, sure. A day at the beach with toes dug in the sand, the sun scorching my skin, hearing the waves crash, eating great seafood, smelling the salt air, and taking a moonlit stroll on the beach holding his hand. That would be a vacation. This is not. This is having my toes dug into some crumpled white sheets, a fever scorching my body, all I hear is constant beeping noises out in the hallway, a clear liquid diet, smelling that "hospital" smell, and the only "strolls" I take are about 3 feet from the bed to the potty....while I'm holding my IV pole. Yea, it's certainly a vacation without a view.

• So, basically I'm having a party here at the hospital. You know, since I'm on vacation and all. I mean, if I'm going to be stuck in this five star plaza hospital, I'm gonna live it up. In fact, I think I'm going to buzz for another shot of morphine right now. Oh, I would get all of you a round too, but I think they frown on the sharing of even legal drugs.....something about rules, laws, ethical codes.......so clearly, just an fyi, this is a b.y.o.b. party.

• On a serious note, I'm asking you to pray for me, a speedy recovery, and for this pain to subside. Whether you are reading this blog and really know me, or not, just lift my name to the Lord. He knows. I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is power in prayer. There is also power in morphine. But it only alleviates the pain for a short period of time. The Great Physician, he can heal, once and for all.