I am a 29 year old female, 5 9, 142lbs. I had spinal fusion surgery december 2010 with instrumentation from T4 to L4. I have had increasing back pain since late July which has gotten progressively worse in August. For the past 3-4 weeks I had noticed in an increase in needing to urinate but I just thought I was drinking more. I also was having stomach pain/cramping and a lot of back pain but I attributed the stomach pain to IBS and the back pain to just worse back pain since I ve had surgery. Since this past week my back is swollen in spots. Friday night pain got worse, I had chills and muscle spasms. Then by Monday my entire spine felt like it was on fire with a lot of pain and stiffness particulary in my mid-upper back and neck. I went to see my general pracitioner Monday this week who found bacteria, white blood cells, nitrites and blood in my urine. She prescribed sulfameth trimethoprim to take with aleve. I have been on this since Monday. The burning sensation along my spine has decreased however there is alot of pressure in my back...just feels huge. I am having more pain in the mid-lower left side and there is swelling there and am very fatigued. I may have had a slight fever if any but my regular body temps always 96-97. Yesterday I developed more abdominal pain that wasn t there before and I am still having muscle spasms. My question is whether or not I need to seek additional medical treatment or if this is a normal response to antibiotic treatment and just wait it out . I have called my surgeons office and dr office but still haven t been called back and I don t know what to do. I am fearing a kidney infection and of course I m very concerned about any infection settling in my hardware along my spine. How do they check for a kidney and or spinal infection? Can you please recommend a course of action. I really don t want to go to an ER because I always feel like that s for trauma stuff but I don t know what other options I have at the moment. Please give me some guidance. Thank you.