the verdict is in:

kidney infection. cipro. now: naptime. assuming can sleep. pain. :-(

i'm not normally a fan of drugs.

in fact, i often have to be reminded that it's perfectly okay to, you know, take pain relievers, if you're in pain. i have no trouble with decongestants or antihistamines, but the existence of analgesics often completely slips my mind.

this afternoon? eight hundred milligrams of ibuprofen, in addition to the first dose of cipro? like the hand of god.

i was in agony. there was no way i could get comfortable, standing up, sitting down, lying on my bed, whatever. and that was just the baseline; every so often, there'd be a flaring twinging stabbing pain-thing on top of that. it was bad saturday evening, and then better sunday morning, and then not quite as bad sunday evening, and then a little better monday morning, and then quite a lot worse last night, and then considerably better this morning, but by the afternoon -- when, you'd think, having been diagnosed, it might oblige me and psychosomatically feel a little better -- there were moments when i couldn't catch my breath.

doing much better now. better enough to eat something, i think. must not neglect food and drink.