Fadedwords

Jake IMed me yesterday morning and told me he wasn’t feeling well.  I encouraged him to try to eat something and get lots of fluids in.  He ate an orange and then went idle for awhile so I assumed he was doing better.  At about 2ish he IMed me again and said he really felt bad, that his back had started to hurt too, and he needed me to come and get him.  He had driven the bike to work, and didn’t think he could keep it up.  He also said he thought he needed to go to the doctor.  Approximately ten seconds later I was speeding down the highway.

I had planned on taking him to urgent care, but when I saw him I knew that plan was changed.  He was clearly in a great deal of pain.  He had a fever.  He looked awful.  I had never seen him looking so terrible.  When I asked if the emergency room was OK he responded with, “Whatever’s closest.” Yet another clue that the ER was likely the best choice.

They got him back and in a room very quickly thanks to the acute pain in his back.  I’ve never seen him in so much pain, and I hope I never will again.  It took two shots of pain medicine, but eventually he was knocked unconscious.  That part was kinda fun.  He was in and out of it, one minute asleep the next minute saying random stuff.  He was finally comfortable, which was all I cared about.  His fever broke too.

After tons of tests we were told he has a bad case of strep throat, complete with a white blood cell count of 18,000.  When he gets sick, he does it well.  They didn’t do too much investigation on his back, but gave us a prescription for pain medicine and a note to see a back doctor if the pain persists.  He has antibiotics and all sorts of lovely things to take.

On the way home last night he requested a “strawbrerry” shake and a cheeseburger, and I was inclined to oblige him.  I was just glad he was feeling hungry, as he’d been so sick earlier that the thought of food made him queasy.  It was torrential downpour last night, and driving was terrifying.  We decided to wait on picking up his medicine until today because of it.  I’ll be picking those up on my way back from my WW meeting this morning.  I’m only going to weigh in today, because I don’t want Jake to be alone for too long.

I can’t begin to explain how relieved I am that it’s only a case of strep.  I was incredibly worried seeing him that way.  It’s not like I didn’t know how much I love him, but seeing him sick had my heart in my throat.  I told him that now we’ve both had to go to the emergency room and we’ve seen each other at our absolute worst… so we’re even.  No more of that.  He agreed.