I always knew it would happen again someday but wasn't sure when. I am lucky it happened before we went on our trip to our honeymoon. It would have been a terrible time being away from home in this amount of pain.
The past 24 hours have been rough here at our house. Since 2004, off and on, I have had some episodes of kidney stones, some works than others. Last time was in 2018, until the night before at 1:30 a.m. That entire day I felt off, but I wasn't sure why I was feeling off.
I woke up with a sharp pain in my left flank. I moved around trying to get comfortable hoping that it would go away. It didn't. It just got worse and worse. I shot out of bed and was like, no, no, no, no, no, this can't be happening, not today! I have to get up and to do HQ to do my job. People were counting on me. Thursdays are busy for me. I can't be getting kidney stones again.
I continued lying in bed for another half hour, really hoping that the pain would go away...it never did. I tapped Ben and told him that I needed to go to the ER. He was wide awake at that point. He got up and got dressed. I threw on some sweatpants, a sweatshirt and grabbed my phone and wallet. We were out the door in the cold, frosty weather. It didn't take us long to get to the new clinic off of Pacific Avenue near the Fred Meyer.
I slowly walked into the clinic around 2:30 a.m. while Ben parked the car. We checked in and sat for about a half hour or so, pain coming and going in waves. I heard my name be called so we went into the back so they could get my vitals and get a port in me. I hate needles.
We sit there for a bit while people came and went. The doctor finally saw us, and she gave me the run-down of what she thought it was without the tests and CT scan. She said they were classic symptoms of kidney stones, and she rattled off what kinds of tests I would get getting that early in the morning, followed by the meds she wanted me on. They took my blood, and we waited for the CT scan.
I've never had a CT scan before. It was interesting. They called for contrast and when the lady told me what I would be expecting from that, she wasn't wrong. My body got warm, I had the sensation that I was peeing my pants and my mouth tasted metallic. When I was done, I went back out to the waiting area with Ben, and they got me on an IV and some meds to help with the pain because I had a bad sharp pain after that CT scan. The nurse said I would. It hurt so bad my eyes cried.
We sat there for about another hour or so to wait for the CT scan results while being pumped full of liquids to force me to pee in a cup. All of the sudden, out of nowhere, I went from not having to use the restroom to needing to use the restroom now. I got my cup filled up, handed it to Ben and he gave it to the nurses. We continued to sit there, and I had no idea what time it was.
My CT scans results were finally done so the doctor went over it with us. It was weird seeing my body parts on the screen. She pointed out what everything was and then pointed out two small white dots on the screen. She said, those are your kidney stones. I was surprised there were two of them. She continued with, they were small, and one had already made its way down to the bladder. She added that I will probably pass them quickly and by quicky she meant within the day or so. It wasn't going to be a week-long marathon. That was a relief, but I still felt terrible.
She ended the conversation with letting know that the nurses will help get me discharged and get the port out of my arm. That process was taken care of, and we left just after 6 a.m. We were exhausted. I sent out a few texts to my coworkers and family. We got home and Ben amazingly still went to work on like two hours of sleep, and I got onto my work computer to let everyone know what was going on. I was disappointed in my supervisor but relieved that my DJA supervisor supported me to take the day off, relax and get some rest.
I immediately went to bed and slept until about 12:30. My body was angry and sore. I got up, ate some breakfast and then went to go get my meds at the Safeway on College. On my way there, I had another sharp pain episode and if I wasn't in the Escape I would have dropped to my knees. I went into the store, hoping it would be quick, haha, joke's on me! I was there for an hour! I wanted to die! I was in so much pain that I laid on the floor in the waiting room because they told me my meds weren't going to be filled for another half hour. I just wanted to go home.
I waited the half hour, which turned into an hour. I got back in the long line, I was in agony, finally got my meds and went home as quickly as I could. I changed back into my sweats, grabbed my pillow and blanket and set up shop on the couch. I took my meds and hoped for the best.
The first few hours were ice and then had a couple miserable moments where I wanted to die. Ben felt bad and wished he could do something for me, but he couldn't. I had to let it take its course. He did make dinner and some chores, all on two hours of sleep. I thanked him. Why did this have to happen on that day? Why couldn't it have waited until Friday or the weekend? Ughhh!
My arm about five days after my visit to the ER.
It's interesting who gets kidney stones and who doesn't. I am unfortunately one of those "lucky" ones.
*Updates - I found out my visit to the clinic cost almost $50,000. I am so thankful I had insurance and only had to pay $500.00 of it plus a couple copays. I two appointments so far with a urologist. I had to pee in a collection funnel and dump it into two different jugs. Once those were completed, I had to mail it into a clinic. I found out that my uric acid was low, so I had to have more citrus fruits in my diet, obviously keep drinking water. My follow up appointment is in December for a follow up appointment and another scan.*
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