I spent the end of the week, and most of the weekend, struggling with a kidney stone. Words cannot describe the pain of one of those! It started Thursday night, with a little discomfort in my lower right side, but I dismissed it as a cramp or something. Suddenly about 1:45am I woke out of a dead sleep, feeling like someone had stuck a long blade knife right through me, just above my right hip. I felt it all the way through to my back. I spent the rest of the night doubled over in agony, with only brief periods of minor relief. The pain was so severe, I thought I would black out a couple of times. Man, I wish I had! Lisa kept a cold pack on my head, kept me pumped with Advil or Tylenol 3, but nothing helped much. We thought it was my appendix first, and were preparing to drive to the hospital, except that something tipped Lisa off to the possibility that it might be a stone- I felt this painful urge to pee all night in between waves of agony, but nothing came out. She said, "I think I know what this is..."
She arranged for me to see Dr. Abraham first thing in the morning, who suspected kidney stones as well, but wanted to be sure. They sent me to a CT/MRI imaging office, and the pictures they took of my insides confirmed it. In fact, I had a severe episode right there in the imaging room, and almost fell off the scanner bed, doubled over in pain.
The doc put me Lortab, a heavy pain killer, and told me it was not big enough to get it "blasted", so I'd just have to drink tons of water and try to pass it. Great. That could take days, even weeks! Needless to say, Friday was miserable, and I sweated through several sets of clothes and sheets wrestling with this tiny object inside me. Friday night the pain and its waves seem to let up some, and I began to be able to urinate better. Believe me, that was a welcome feeling!
Lisa thinks sometime on Saturday I may have passed the tiny tormentor. I had a couple of painful times peeing in the morning, then suddenly I was pain-free throughout my affected areas. I did, however, deal with the after effects of the whole ordeal the rest of Saturday on into Saturday night- fever headaches, sweats, and a bloated abdomen, likely from spending days gasping for air while in the throws of pain.
By Sunday morning, although I felt weak and tired, I went to church and led 2 hours of RockiTown children's church. Honestly, I felt better when the morning was over than when I began- I think my strength was just gradually coming back. I've felt pretty good most of the day today. But I still wonder- did I pass that little pointy pebble?? I certainly hope so. I don't want to have to endure THAT kind of pain again anytime soon!
If that's the closest a man will ever come to experiencing childbirth- ladies, I now have an even deeper respect & admiration for you!