You’re Not the Only One Who Had a Nervous Breakdown After the Inauguration

And neither am I

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About mid-January, I thought I had a UTI. I had been trying to treat it at home by drinking lots of water and taking AZO. When I realized it had been too long with no resolution, I thought the infection must be severe, so I went to urgent care to get antibiotics. They ran some tests and said that I didn’t have an infection. Toward the end of my visit, I suddenly felt intense pain. I was given an injection of Toradol and advised that it might be time to go to the emergency department. I didn’t want to go, and I believed that I would be better as soon as the pain meds kicked in. I thought the tests were wrong, and I figured I would self-treat with a stash of old antibiotics I had at home. (In general, that is ill-advised. Don’t do it.)

Once home, I felt some relief from the pain, but the shot helped for all of one hour before I was suddenly in intense pain again, and I realized that the provider was right. I needed to go to the hospital. After two separate visits to the emergency department at the hospital in the days that followed, I ended up admitted and in emergency surgery to remove a kidney stone that was blocking my ureter and causing my kidneys to swell and begin shutting down.