Words of Hope – The Fringe Benefit of RSV

March 2009

After enduring the RSV treatment in March, and mentally getting over being hospitalized for another 5 days, I was back at home beginning to recover again.  There was one  fringe benefit to having the RSV.  When I came to Hopkins for out patient treatment, I had to be quarantined.  This meant I had my own personal room, which was larger and more private than the general outpatient center.

The virus which has clogged my sinus and upper respiratory system was clearing and my blood counts were on the rise once again.  I was home and wiped out from the viral treatments.  It takes many days, if not weeks, to catch up when your body is under such stress.  I was exhausted.  I continued to recover, but I started to notice my urine was getting more and more dark in color.  Then the frequency of urination picked up dramatically.  At the outpatient center they tested me and said I now had something called the BK virus.  I called it the Burger King virus…

The BK was tough.  It is a terrible bladder infection. I’ll try to not be too graphic here. It always felt like I had to go to the bathroom and the more I went, the more it felt like I had to go…  One night I got up 13 times.  One nurse said she saw patients with the infection for months. Fortunately, it only lasted 2 painful weeks for me.   The virus was also quite painful because the infection created blood clots and those clots had to be passed, or pissed, if you get my drift…  Here’s the visual, take a drinking straw and try to squeeze a grape through it.

As I’ve​ said in previous posts, these viruses and infections happen so frequently because I had no immune system.  The RSV set me back and opened me up for more and more problems.