My poor freaking kidneys!

"All aboard! The next train to TMI-ville leaves in just a few seconds!"

So…wanna hear all about my urinary tract?

Ew…if you must…

About six months ago I noticed that my urine had a very strong odor–like baking bread. It didn’t really concern me because I had no other symptoms other than it smelling like Panera when I peed. Over time the smell changed from a yeasty smell to just foul. Still, I had no other symptoms.

Last Monday I woke up with pain in my right flank. This concerned me and prompted me to finally call my urologist and make an appointment. Unfortunately he was booked, so they just had me come down and give a urine sample. The next morning I got a call that said they found bacteria and blood in my urine so the doctor called me in a prescription of Bactrim and was sending the sample out for a culture. Okay…I’ve done the whole Bactrim thing before, but the culture thing concerned me. I’ve had more than my fair share of UTIs in the past, but they’ve always been easily remedied with AZO and Cipro.

Meanwhile, I developed a strange sensation. The entire right side of my abdomen felt weird. It felt like a balloon was blowing up inside of me. There was a lot of pressure and occasional mild pain. That worried me because I thought it might be appendicitis.

I started my antibiotics on Wednesday evening. I tried to go to bed around midnight but the Bactrim messed with my GI tract and I spent quite some time in the bathroom. I tried to go to sleep around 1:00am, but I began shaking. It was like a full-body shiver but I wasn’t hot or cold, I was a perfectly comfortable temperature. I slept in the guest bedroom until 4:00am and felt fine when I woke up and went back to my bed.

Thursday I felt the same–pressure in the abdomen, pain around where my appendix is, and slight pain in my back around my kidneys (mostly around the right kidney). My appetite also dropped off dramatically.

Friday the appendix-area pain was gone, as was the pressure and fullness. The only thing that persisted was the pain in back around my right kidney.

Saturday I felt fine enough to go to Hofbrauhaus to celebrate Bobby’s mom’s birthday. I think I made a mistake in drinking some beer because Saturday night was rough. Around 10:30pm my back hurt around both of my kidneys so I took some Ibuprofen. About an hour later I started feeling nauseated so I went to lie down in bed and watch TV while Bobby played games in the office. Around midnight he came in to check on me. I chatted with him for a few minutes, then he lie down on the bed to tell something and immediately asked if I was okay. I answered "I don’t know…" My back hurt really badly and I was shaking more violently than before.

Bobby was so good about everything! He calmly talked to me, asked me questions, and tried to help me calm down. I sat on the bed with my knees up to my chest trying to take deep breaths and stop shaking. Once again, it was like a full-body shiver and I couldn’t control it. After about 20 minutes I stopped and the pain in my back/kidneys subsided and we went out to the living room to watch TV. He laid down behind me on the couch and held onto me to make sure I didn’t start shaking again.

Sunday I felt fine. Today, I feel fine other than a bit of pain in back around my right kidney. I called the doctor’s office and was told that the Bactrim should be sufficient to treat whatever my problem was. I was so relieved that I forgot to ask what was wrong in the first place. I’m still a little wary because of the persistent pain. I’m hoping it was a simple mild kidney infection that will clear up once I’m done with the antibiotics and the pain will subside. Of course I’ll update if anything new happens.