I went from a sore throat to the ICU in a week

‘I even had to use a walker’

I remember walking into the clinic and telling the practitioner that I had a sore throat and after a little examination she said it was mild case of tonsillitis. No biggie, I was given my medication and told that bed rest and fluids would have me better in no time.

The first few days were pretty painful

I was asleep a lot and couldn’t really eat or drink anything. My medication knocked me out for hours and when I was awake I longed for the days when my throat didn’t hurt.

A day before my prescription ended I started feeling pain in my muscles. My legs and butt would hurt when I wanted to move them and getting up became a struggle. My first instinct was that all the bed rest was probably just making my muscles lazy and as soon as I started my normal routine, I would feel better. I also realized that I hadn’t eaten at all for the past four days and was only drinking when taking medicine.

The symptoms started getting worse, except now I had also started throwing up every time I would wake up. I would briefly black out every time I tried to stand up and pass out as soon as I would sit back down. This cycle continued for a few days until I spoke to my mom and she told me to go to the hospital. At this point I could barely walk and it took me 20 minutes to even get out of bed and get dressed before I called an Uber and was taken to Robert Wood Johnson.

As expected, the first question the doctor asked me was, “Are you pregnant?” to which I answered “No.” but that wasn’t good enough because he then asked me if I was sure. I then had to explain that since I’m not sexually active, there’s no way I could be pregnant unless it was an immaculate conception. He was not amused and honestly, neither was I. He examined my legs and told me that I probably had a virus that I got while my immune system was down when I had tonsillitis and he gave me a Tylenol pill and told me that I should “stick it out.”

Another week passed and there was no improvement

I had stopped going to my classes and I was cut off from the world. My friends would get me to eat little things and keep me company when I was actually awake – I was probably asleep 18 hours a day. Finally, my roommate and other friend, walked into the room and told me that I had to go to the hospital, which I had been reluctant to do because the last time I went, all we recognized was that I wasn’t pregnant.

I called the clinic emergency help line and spoke to a nurse who asked me a few questions. Finally she asked me if my urine looked like iced tea. I responded that it did but I thought it was from the medicine. She told me to get to a hospital immediately. I tediously followed the same process and made my way to the hospital. This time there was a different doctor and she took a urine sample and started me on IV while I waited.

I was not prepared for what was coming next

The doctor came back in with two other nurses and started unhooking me. No one said anything even though I kept asking what was wrong. Finally as the nurses were wheeling me out of the room she said, “So, we just checked your results and we need to get you to the ICU because both your kidneys are failing.” I remember freezing for a minute because my brain wasn’t processing what was going on. I was taken to the ICU, changed and hooked up to every machine and their mother. I texted my sisters and family members (the gist spread like wildfire) and the kidney specialist came in to explain what was going on. I called my mom who said she would get on the next available flight from Nigeria to New Jersey and all available family members would visit me until she got there.

The news got worse because the next day after running a few blood tests, they found out that I also had Rhabdomyolysis – a rare condition where the muscle tissues break down and release a damaging protein that poisons the blood. My kidneys had tried to filter out all the poison and had ended up being injured in the process which led to their failure. I learned about a thing called my Creatine Phosphokinase (CPK) level. The normal human should have a level of about 150, by my first blood test I had 350,000. I was then started on my intensive hydration therapy.

The doctor told me that if I didn’t improve (which I hadn’t at the time), I would have to start dialysis. Imagine being 18 and hearing that you may need to go on dialysis.

At this point I was completely immobile

I could not move and I wasn’t allowed to eat anything for the first few days. My friends visited me everyday along with members of family until my mom got there on the Thursday of that week. I probably got more calls from family in those two weeks than I have in my whole life.

The healing process was probably the worst because it hurt so bad. My kidneys actually started functioning properly, but as they healed it felt like I was being shot in my back continuously; it’s safe to say there were a lot of tears involved. I was also extremely swollen from the hydration therapy but went back to normal in a few days. I was taken off my clear food and water diet and allowed to eat whatever I wanted.

The football team came by and cheered me up on their volunteer runs and even helped me during my physical therapy. I had to use a walker and practice walking again, I felt like a baby and it was embarrassing, but it also made me really happy because I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

Post sickness, continuing my normal life

Most people would probably say that it was a life changing experience and that they have no regrets, but not me – I hated every second of it. I’m so grateful that I’m healthy and was blessed to have been given the help I needed but if I had the chance to go through this again, I wouldn’t.

More
Rutgers University