Kidney Stones

THEY HURT LIKE CRAZY!!!

     Late Thursday night I got a dull pain in my lower right abdomen and the pain got very strong very quickly.  Mc had the same experience when he got appendicitis a few years ago, and so I thought maybe that's what was going on with me.  After an hour or so I was writhing in pain on the bed and the pain had traveled around my side and into my back, so Mc drove me to the ER where they got me checked in right away.

     The nurses and doctor suspected kidney stones because I also felt the pain in my back and because the pain fluctuated, and after getting a CT scan the doctor confirmed that it was a kidney stone.  Because the stone was right on the edge of being small enough to pass on my own, they prescribed some medications for me to take which would help me pass the stone.

     They didn't work.  I took the medications as they instructed, and the pain medicine worked, but by Sunday morning I was still sore and it felt like the the stone hadn't moved at all.  It's very important to get the stone out so that it doesn't cause problems with the kidney, so I called the urologist and he said to come into the ER today and they would perform a procedure to get it out.

     So that's where I was this afternoon/night.  They put me under general anesthesia and did the procedure, and my body did well enough that I had the choice to come home if I wanted to, which I did.  Now I'm just taking pain meds to help ease the pain, and I'll have followup visits with the doctor to get this stent taken out and to make sure all of the small pieces of the stone are gone.

     I didn't find out what was the likely cause of this stone forming; I'll ask the doctor about it the next time I talk to him.  But I asked one of the nurses what I could do to prevent this from happening in the future, and she said that the stone likely formed because I either don't enough water, I drink too much milk or too much soda.  I almost never drink soda, but I do drink too much milk and I know I don't drink enough water every day, so I will change that starting now.  And my doctor will give me more specific instructions once they're able to analyze the stone fragments.

     I'm really glad this happened now; my mom and sister are bringing the kids up to Washington tomorrow and I really wanted to be here when they get here and not be in the hospital.  My sister can watch the kids for me when I need to have my followup visits, and she can also run interference for me with the kids if I'm not feeling well and need to rest.

     So keep your kidneys healthy: drink plenty of water!  Anyone can get kidney stones, and no matter what your sex or your body type, they hurt!

     Oh yeah, and I was able to paint the wall in our dining room before we left for the ER today (since I wasn't in dire pain and since I had to wait a few hours before I could be admitted), so that's done.  I only have the curtains in our room to put up and the kitchen to clean, and then I will have all the pictures of our new house, and so I'll post those tomorrow (Monday).  :)