I had quite forgotten the peculiar pain of having a urinary tract infection until this week.

It's a sensation I could have lived without having forever.

Think of a time when you've sliced a jalepeno and accidentally touched something important. Imagine that sensation lingering for a loooonnnnngggg time. Better yet, when you have that ear infection that snuck up on you, and you have that deep scary pain that jolts you out of your sleep in the middle of the dark night and won't let you rest? Yeah, something like that.

It's not like your bladder is a part of your body that you are normally aware of...like...say, your arm. No, it's not something you think of every day. You just think "hey, I have to pee" and then you take care of it. Having a UTI means suddenly that you think about your bladder every single time you MOVE, and it is most distressing. It throbs, which is bad. And you also run a fever, so all and all it sucks.

Sleeping is fun. Unless you take something to sleep, you lay in bed going "do I really have to pee? do I really or is it just in my head?" until finally you give up and toddle to the bathroom to try and pee. Tylenol PM was invented just for this purpose (I swear!). But sleep is the only time you aren't thinking of your bladder.

Blessedly, I was fortunate not to have dreams of dancing bladders. That would have driven me over the edge.