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Elena did not feel well when we got home Wednesday night, but seemed a little better Thurday mornin.  She was complaining about pain in her lower left back and front, and she had a headache on the right side of her head that was not going away...Again, I thought that this was probably travel related and perhaps she had begun to have the flu.  I did what I could to try to make her more comfortable, and I went to work for a couple of hours because whatever was wrong with her seemed non-threatening.  We had brakfast earlier tthat morning, she was up and moving about, etc. That night she still felt the same discomfort, but it did not seem to be getting worse.  Tylenol seemed to help and Thursday came to a close.

Friday morning seemed like a repeat of Thursday, except that I had a full day at my office.  I left her keys and cash so she could get out of the apartment, and I checked in with her during the day.  She had not gone out and said she would rather wait fo me to come home before she went out on her own.  (By the way, where I live in Bosto, it is very easy to take a little stroll, etc.)

I cam home around 4:00 expecting to see her showered ad fresh, but she had just woken up after going back to sleep during the afternoon...she wasn't feeling very well.  She  said that the pain in her head and lower left back and front were a little worse, but since I could not feel what she was feeling and she had never had these feelings before, we decided to see how things progress.  We had plans to go to my friends' house nearby for dinner and I wanted to keep our plan because my friend's wife ids Russian and he is a dentist, so he has medical knowledge, even if he is not  an MD.  I did call my Dr. to describe Elena's symptoms and they suggested I immediately go to the Emergency room of a nearby hospital, but Elena did not want to go and she was up and moving about , so I decided to give her one more night to see if she improved...by the way her temprature had been 102 in the morning and was 101 when we left for dinner.

In fact two of my friends who are dentists were at dinner and they both thought her symptms were probably that of the flu.  She seemed to have a good time and weemed to feeling well enough, but I knew that she was not 100%.  After dinner we went to bed, she still with the pain and I hoping that she would begin to feel better the next morning.  She spent parts of the nigh shivering and sweating and I spent most of the night up with her.  Finally we both fell asleep.

In the morning I could feel that she was hot. I took her temperature and she was at 104...she felt awful and had tears in her eyes...that was it.  I took her to the Emergency Room at Beth Israel near my apartment...my thermometer was accurate.  We spent the next 8 hours there together, doing test after test.  If not for the fact that her headache had preceded the lower back and front pains, we would probably have been out sooner.  They found that she had a Urinary Tract infection that seemed to have extended to her Kidney...but the headaches had them concerned because some of the symptoms were consistent with Menengitis.  The Doctor had place us in a semi-quaratined room and though we were told that it was unlikely, they strongly wuggested that we do a Cat Scan and a Spinal.  

Both Elena and I were hesitant to do this, having determined through the blood and urine examination that she had the Urinary Trac infection, but she looked terrible and did not want leave anything to chance.  I was however very nervous that they were going to put a needle in her spine, etc., and I made sure that she understood exactly what they found and what they would do to be sure they found everything.  They had a Russian interpreter explaint the situation to her as well.  I asked the Dr. what he would do if it were his wife and he said he would complete all the tests because to put it plainly, while the likelihood of Menegitis was slim, it could kill you in a few hours if this is what she had.  What do you say to that?