Every person with an SCI lives through the trepidation that their health can turn on a dime. You can be feeling fine one moment then in the next, you’re having an autonomic dysreflexia episode due to a wrinkle in your clothing.
On the 30th I woke up sluggish. I don’t do cartwheels out of bed in the morning but usually I have some peep in my step. I’m usually jamming to some classic rock or listening to a podcast by the time staff come in to prep me for the day.
I played a card game called ’Sevens’ with the boys and took a nap in my chair.
Unusual, yes but not my normal. The nap did not revive me.
My residential tech checked my urine output in the catheter bag and it was almost empty at 12:30 PM. This was disturbing sinse I did drink 2 L of water and I typically have at least 500 mL of urine ready to be emptied at this time.
We started the disaster prevention protocol.
It was time to get intimate with Howard. My female residential tech search up and down my leg but no kink in the tubing was detected. She irrigated the catheter site for any potential blockage of sediment. This went without a hitch.
I asked to have my blood pressure taken and it was low.
Oh shit. Please Not an UTI.
We called nursing and they took a small urine sample.
I noticed one thing though. I was not in pain, which was abnormal. My muscles and tone was as flaccid as it’s been in over a year. We tested my arm and leg movement, which was excellent.
Too bad I felt crappy. I felt glorious and crappy at the same time.
I didn’t have the drive to attend my beloved Coffee and Convo outing with my boys that afternoon. I would just be staring off into space. I went to bed to nap.
The next day, things reverted back to normal. The tone was a little tighter and my brain and body was less lethargic.
The lab call back reported my culture tested negative for a UTI. I was actually stunned. What caused all these symptoms yesterday? Flu bug? Baclofen pump? Delayed response from the eclipse? None of it really made sense.
On 5/2, the lab called again to inform me that I actually did have a UTI after all. The lab said the culture had grown and indicated I had an “unusual strain” of infection which made it harder to diagnose.
All right then.
Since then everything was back to the usual.
- Muscle tone is tight
- Good urine output
- My bowels are regular
- Better energy
April 30 was a brief reprieve from the misery of the tone. It came with the cost. If I had to choose either/or, which would I pick?
I enjoyed moving around more but having no energy really bites. I just just stare blankly into space whereas I have learned to adapt and function with the high muscle tone. I’m more cognitively present.
There have been two previous episodes where I had Baclofen overdose from my pump, which can be quite serious. I was as loose as a gymnast but my brain was foggy and behavior best described as goofy before.
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