Have you ever heard the pebble in your shoe parable? It goes something like this ... If you want to forget all your problems, put a pebble in your shoe. I would say that is relevant to putting a stone in your kidney.
It all started at 11:30pm on Saturday night. Dan was still in Utah and I was enjoying my evening by watching Tangled and folding some laundry. That sounds all fine and dandy but all of the sudden I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my right lower back. I was instantly in so much pain I started to drip sweat. As I reached around to find my phone I instinctively called Dan. Not realizing that he was over 700 miles away and rather helpless he began calling around to find someone who could take me to the ER. I called one of the only local numbers I had and a neighbor quickly agreed to take me.
We were there for a few hours, and went through the traditional rate your pain in a scale of 1-10. They took an ultrasound and CT scan of my right kidney. After a few hours a pain meds they didn't see anything and sent me on my merry little way. With a rather stylish dressing.
I wish that was were the story ended but of coarse it doesn't. I woke up the next morning with the same debilitating pain. I called my neighbor and she agreed to take me back to the hospital on her way to work. This visit I was greeted with an ultrasound, pelvic exam, catheter, oxygen and pregnancy test - and a few pain meds mixed in there somewhere.
Being in the ER alone is a weird feeling. I wouldn't exactly recommend it, but without someone else there worrying about you it is a little easier to stay focused. After a few hours it was obvious that I wasn't getting off the hook that easy this time. The next few days were a blur. Monday night Dan was able to fly in and hitch a ride down to Moscow. I've never been so excited to see a friendly face.
These are the beautiful flowers my family sent to me!
These came from my friend Heather at work. The original vase actually broke. The life-flight helicopter came in at a weird angle at 4am one morning and knocked them off the window seal - but the nurses were able to fine a spare vase for me. I LOVE the little watermelon in them!
These beautiful daisies are from another sweet lady at my work, Margo. I love that they are planted. Hopefully I'll be able to keep them alive.
After a few more test and labs my doctor came to the conclusion that it all added up to a kidney stone even though we couldn't see it. She called in the Urologist. (I can say the Urologist because he is the only one for the next three cities.) He agreed and decided that we needed to shoot dye up into my kidneys to see where the obstruction was and then remove it wither it was a stone or tumor. Tumor. <gulp> That made my stomach sink.We scheduled the surgery and crossed our fingers that this would bring a resolution.
Well here is a picture of the stone. I guess it was just small enough that it didn't get caught on any of the pictures although it looks huge to me! After the surgery they made me stay for a few hours and made sure I could keep my dinner down, then they let me go home - just in time for my one year anniversary! Four days in the hospital is more than anyone wants.
I'm not going to lie that I miss having a nurse at the push of a button to help me get up or bring me more medicine. But nothing beats sleeping in my own bed, with my husband, on our anniversary.
Thank you everyone for all your kind words and thoughts. I have the best friends and family.
