Figures

It's been a while since I had a med reaction.  I had an allergic reaction to Bactrim sometime during the whooping cough disaster but I've had a lot of meds since then without my usual horrible reactions.  Some have not been pleasant since the effects of asthma treatments on bipolar aren't pretty, but those were expected.

Last night the percocet finally kicked in and I was comfortable until nearly 4 when I woke and took the 2nd dose.  That actually gave me a little bit of pain relief.  And then (I suspect) three things conspired.  Several of the possible things going on can cause urinary retention by impacting the bladder.  Percocet can also cause urinary retention.  And I already have urinary retention, probably because the unusual volume of urine my bladder handles in a day has stretched it.  I'm used to this and just know that if I don't want UTIs I need to be sure to really empty my bladder, not just decide it's done.

You can see where I'm heading.....I woke up and really couldn't pee.  I managed to finally at least get enough out to not hurt in yet another way, and then as the percocet has worn off I've been more successful.  But that means of course that I can't have percocet, at least right now, and whatever is still in my bladder along with whatever is wrong has now made my belly so big that I look more like 6 months pregnant instead of 4 (and for those who are asking questions, I am not pregnant at all).  it's been gradually increasing for some time and I suspect that this has finally become the deciding factor in whether I keep working because I'm pretty certain that I can't wear any of my scrub pants any more, including the ones I keep for when I want to wear layers in the winter.  My biggest pair were pretty tight yesterday and my belly is even bigger now.  I actually have a place where blood vessels have burst open because the skin is so stretched.  And of course the pain is coming back and I can't take more percocet.  I believe that pain now is including bladder spasms and after years of seeing people with catheters I know those hurt.

To make this even more fun not only is a cold or sinus infection a very, very bad thing for me at any time because of asthma and to being able to easily do what someone with asthma does with those situations-take steroids-, so I have done everything in my power to avoid germs.  Well, yesterday my asthmatic symptoms offered proof of a possible infection brewing and so I pulled out the bottle of just-for-when-this-happens-on-a-weekend antibiotics I've had from Dr. Body for some time. The good news that the antibiotic should help if a UTI is brewing from all that nasty urine.  The bad news is NOT NOW. I don't really know if this is something infectious or bacterial or not but I'd rather take one course of unneeded antibiotics than try to recover from illness enough to be intubated in 2 weeks.

So unless things change very drastically I'll be staying home tomorrow to go see Dr. Body and I suspect I am done working until after surgery.  The pants thing will be one factor, but if I can't empty my bladder that's another, and the abdominal distension is so huge now that just the size and weight of my belly is getting uncomfortable, much less anything (aka pants) pushing on it.  Last week was barely tolerable with pain.  Things are worse now so I assume when the last of the percocet is gone the pain is going to be even worse, on top of the bladder discomfort and the cold sx.  And I am also now aware that I work in a germy cesspool and perhaps being near germy people this week isn't so much ideal.

I could be wrong.  Everything could turn around.  I hope it does.  However, there is something that tells me that since I've ignored the pain thus far that I have not avoided the ultimate outcome, just put it off a while.  Dr. Body tells me pain is reason to be off work on disability.  I don't know if my pants no longer fitting counts but I suspect something not pleasant is happening in my belly.  I also suspect I'll have to go see Dr.Surgeon this week which is another reason I do not really think I'll be going back to work.  My fear is that my cyst has grown a lot and that it could rupture which could be extremely painful if it's size is the cause of my abdomen's size.

Either that or I have gained a lot of weight really fast....My shirt is one leftover from 50 lbs ago and it is not fitting well.

So, life is about to get very interesting.....or very, very boring.