Is this burning....?

I spent last Monday night in the emergency room. I had a urinary tract infection (UTI) that had been asymptomatic. Because it had gone untreated (because I didn't know I had it), it got into my kidneys. I walked in, went to the triage station and told the nurse my symptoms:

"I have pain in my lower abdomen and back, and there's blood in my urine." Yuck. In truth, I was in much more pain than I let on; I had difficulty walking and could hardly sit in one place.

And so the triage nurse, you know, triage'd me and decided that everyone else who came in was far more important and ill than I; people who came in with minor lacerations three hours after I arrived were called first. But I digress... A discussion on the American health care system will have to wait until another day...

During the intake, I was in so much pain that I closed my eyes. I gave the nurse my hand so that she could take my pulse, feel my heart beating. Did she understand? Had she ever felt like this, had she ever felt this sort of pissing blood pain before, had she ever felt the same? It hurt so much that I asked myself if I was only was dreaming. And I wondered, "What is this burning?"

Last night, in my sleep, the answer came to me.... That burning was not from my UTI. No. That burning was none other than an eternal flame.