Sunday, January 26, 2020

My Kidney Saga (part 1 of perhaps many)

Starting at the beginning would be hard, since I'm not entirely sure when it started. So I'll start with the acute symptoms: the suspected allergies. Early November my eyes started to wig out and I got what felt like a sinus infection. After a few days I went to the emergency clinic and the doctor there prescribed allergy medicine and eye drops for the conjunctivitis. So I figured I had allergies. Not good, but the California wildfires were drifting smoke up into our area, so there was a possibility it was a temporary condition.

Over the next few weeks I tried everything to alleviate the allergies. I cut out different foods, used an air purifier, took the medicine (which did nothing) and hoped. And, because I'm aspie, I just kept trying different things thinking all along that it was just an allergy I hadn't pinned down. Even when I went to Thanksgiving at my folks place and my feet started to swell, I assumed it was just another symptom of allergies.

Throughout December I was miserable beyond any reasonable level but I still thought I was dealing with some garden-variety allergy and still was trying to pin down what I might be allergic to. Eventually I realized this was way more serious and that I was genuinely sick. So I set up an appointment with my normal physician for right after the holidays ended on Jan 2. I didn't think it was urgent.

On the 2nd I went to the doctor's office and had blood and urine taken. The doctor did not like how I looked, and was very concerned about my high blood pressure. She told me the results would be in next week and sent me home. The next morning, about as early as she could, she called me and asked me to get to the emergency room. My kidneys weren't working.

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