Tales of a Kidney Stone (Part 1)
My kidney stone adventure is finally at a close. I am told I should blog more, so for the first time in print, here is the full story.
It all started sometime after midnight on March 20th. I woke up from a pretty deep sleep feeling a small pain in my lower right abdomen. What at first appeared to be little more than a small digestion problem, quickly began to worsen to the point that within 15 minutes of waking up, I was pretty afraid that my appendix was about to explode all over my insides. What’s more, I decided there was no way I could drive and that I had no choice but to wake up Amy and have her get me to an emergency room. By the time we got to the hospital, I had been in pain for a long while and I walked in doubled over in pain, barely clothed and with no shoes or socks. Someone asked if they could help me. I almost laughed. After some poking and prodding, a good shot in the IV, and a CT scan, they determined it was a 4mm kidney stone. It is amazing how much less I care about having large needles stuck in my arm when if feels like someone is twisting a screwdriver around my gut.
I am told we were there for 5 or 6 hours (though I wouldn’t have guessed it) during which Amy was by my side the whole time. Actually that isn’t quite accurate, at one point she curled up around my feet because I was freezing. It should be noted that her being there at all was a pretty big deal since she was feeling pretty helpless, and it was the middle of the school night, and the Holmes emergency room chairs are not good for napping in, and she really didn’t like it once I started puking. Anyway, before we left I was hit by a second wave of pain which they quickly stomped with a good dose of narcotics, which of course made me quite loopy. I am told I was quite entertaining as I was wheeled to the exit. I do remember having someone assigned to watch me while I waited for Amy to get the car. I suppose they were afraid if they left me unattended for a whole minute I might do all sort of wild and crazy things. Though I have not ever, and still don’t have any desire to use drugs recreationally, I can now totally understand why people enjoy it.
Since the visit pretty much messed up Amy’s ability to go to work, she called in for a sub to cover her class. Her class ended up finding out I was in the hospital and they made me a card.
I went home with some drugs and the belief that most of it was behind me. I was even so naive to believe that I passed the stone that evening. HA! Fast-forward a couple of days, and Amy and I have gone to an Easter morning sunrise service on the beach. We get there early. We set up our blanket. The music starts. We pack everything up and head to the emergency room. Another 5 hour ER visit (which I slept through most of) and I am back home with more drugs and the knowledge that the stone hasn’t moved at all.
This is becoming quite long. Let us consider this the first of several entries to come over the next couple of days.
Holy crap!! I know what you went through was (and maybe still is) awful, but the way you wrote about was hilarious. Did it ever finally pass. I am so happy that Amy was there for you!! It was great of her to stay with you the whole night in the ER. Kudos to her.
Patience Beth. The rest of the story is coming.