I am thankful for your well wishes and am happy to report that I am doing much better...I am surprised that in my last post I could even put together words, let alone a sentence....
So it all started on Monday June 30th. I woke up with some mild discomfort in my back, but "not to worry", I said to myself...I'll just get the kids ready to swim at my mom's house and I figured I would start to feel better....It is safe to say that didn't happen.....(Side note...I know I am going to explain this as though I am the only person in the world who has gone through this...) As I am swimming in the pool with the kids, I don't feel any better, in fact I am feeling worse...I told my mom I was going to use the restroom and be right back. I noticed blood in my urine (sorry for the bluntness) and knew I should try to get into the doctor that day....With no appointments with my Dr., I decided to go the the urgent care near my moms...
When I got to the urgent care, I was feeling worse......I felt as though I was in labor...within 15 minutes, I went from discomfort to absolute agony!!!! The staff was very sweet and felt so bad for me...after about 30 minutes they gave me a shot of Toradol....I called Andrew sobbing that I needed him...that was all I could muster....he was 2 hours away and couldn't do much but head back in my direction, and so he did. After the medication started to kick in I felt some relief and was finally able to give them a urine sample, which by the way was completely concentrated with blood.....(thinking about it makes me weak). They would not let me drive to the hospital by myself, so I called my mom and she packed up my kids and came to get me....25 minutes later, Andrew called and said he was at the hospital waiting for us....What did he do fly there? WE were only 10 minutes away and he was 2 hours away, yet he managed to beat us there...Luckily they had all our info. from the urgent care and we were taken care of pretty quickly...I needed a CT scan to confirm a Kidney stone and then back to see a Dr. The Kidney stone was 4 mm and still pretty high up....in other words, this is going to be a long painful process....I am so thankful for my mom who watched, entertained, and took care of the kids, because I was completely useless......So you think the story ends there? Not really!
The shot I got at the urgent care worked really well...My entire time at the hospital, I felt reasonably comfortable......It was almost embarrassing... So I got some pain meds and an antibiotic for a urinary tract infection as well, and headed home...Shortly after I got home I started to feel discomfort again, so I popped a pain pill.....That didn't seem to be working so I took another one..(1-2 pills every 6 hrs. for pain)Not wooorrrrkkkiiinnnggg!!! by 2:30 a.m. I was back at square one and had to wake Andrew...Teeth chattering from pain, and I was unrecognizable from the non-stop crying....I know Andrew loves me if he stayed with me after that...They took me right back gave me 2 shots of pain meds and some anti-nausea pills and I started to again feel some relief.... after about 25 minutes the Dr. was sitting right next to me talking about what was going to happen and bam!!...I was going to throw up, and I was going to do it right then...he handed me a nifty throw up bag...I did my thing, and he continued talking...Funny in hindsight! After going home I had a miserable 3 days of pain like I have never felt and an upset stomach...I saw a urologist on Thursday,who suggested Surgery....They were going to do Lithotripsy, which is a machine that sends sound waves through your body to break it up into pieces to be able to pass it easier...That didn't work because They use a machine that travels from office to office, and his office had the machine the day before and wouldn't see it again for weeks...Next...wait it out...not a option I was crazy about!...third...Surgery...through the Urethra with a laser and a stint for 5-7 days....I was not crazy about that either, but sooner is better than later...Friday came and I was feeling better after being able to get some rest with the new pain meds....All this time I was straining my pee so that I could catch the little guy in the event he decide to come out....It was like the heavens opening when to my amazement I saw him....Tiny as tiny could be....It was like he was staring me right in the eyes trying to say sorry for all the pain he caused me!! So long story short(I know a little late for that)...I am doing much better...It was all worth it to hear Jonah say as excited as he could be "Mom, you baby came out you nose?" Where he got that, I will never know, but it made me crack up anyway! I have a couple picts. I will post later tonight
So it all started on Monday June 30th. I woke up with some mild discomfort in my back, but "not to worry", I said to myself...I'll just get the kids ready to swim at my mom's house and I figured I would start to feel better....It is safe to say that didn't happen.....(Side note...I know I am going to explain this as though I am the only person in the world who has gone through this...) As I am swimming in the pool with the kids, I don't feel any better, in fact I am feeling worse...I told my mom I was going to use the restroom and be right back. I noticed blood in my urine (sorry for the bluntness) and knew I should try to get into the doctor that day....With no appointments with my Dr., I decided to go the the urgent care near my moms...
When I got to the urgent care, I was feeling worse......I felt as though I was in labor...within 15 minutes, I went from discomfort to absolute agony!!!! The staff was very sweet and felt so bad for me...after about 30 minutes they gave me a shot of Toradol....I called Andrew sobbing that I needed him...that was all I could muster....he was 2 hours away and couldn't do much but head back in my direction, and so he did. After the medication started to kick in I felt some relief and was finally able to give them a urine sample, which by the way was completely concentrated with blood.....(thinking about it makes me weak). They would not let me drive to the hospital by myself, so I called my mom and she packed up my kids and came to get me....25 minutes later, Andrew called and said he was at the hospital waiting for us....What did he do fly there? WE were only 10 minutes away and he was 2 hours away, yet he managed to beat us there...Luckily they had all our info. from the urgent care and we were taken care of pretty quickly...I needed a CT scan to confirm a Kidney stone and then back to see a Dr. The Kidney stone was 4 mm and still pretty high up....in other words, this is going to be a long painful process....I am so thankful for my mom who watched, entertained, and took care of the kids, because I was completely useless......So you think the story ends there? Not really!
The shot I got at the urgent care worked really well...My entire time at the hospital, I felt reasonably comfortable......It was almost embarrassing... So I got some pain meds and an antibiotic for a urinary tract infection as well, and headed home...Shortly after I got home I started to feel discomfort again, so I popped a pain pill.....That didn't seem to be working so I took another one..(1-2 pills every 6 hrs. for pain)Not wooorrrrkkkiiinnnggg!!! by 2:30 a.m. I was back at square one and had to wake Andrew...Teeth chattering from pain, and I was unrecognizable from the non-stop crying....I know Andrew loves me if he stayed with me after that...They took me right back gave me 2 shots of pain meds and some anti-nausea pills and I started to again feel some relief.... after about 25 minutes the Dr. was sitting right next to me talking about what was going to happen and bam!!...I was going to throw up, and I was going to do it right then...he handed me a nifty throw up bag...I did my thing, and he continued talking...Funny in hindsight! After going home I had a miserable 3 days of pain like I have never felt and an upset stomach...I saw a urologist on Thursday,who suggested Surgery....They were going to do Lithotripsy, which is a machine that sends sound waves through your body to break it up into pieces to be able to pass it easier...That didn't work because They use a machine that travels from office to office, and his office had the machine the day before and wouldn't see it again for weeks...Next...wait it out...not a option I was crazy about!...third...Surgery...through the Urethra with a laser and a stint for 5-7 days....I was not crazy about that either, but sooner is better than later...Friday came and I was feeling better after being able to get some rest with the new pain meds....All this time I was straining my pee so that I could catch the little guy in the event he decide to come out....It was like the heavens opening when to my amazement I saw him....Tiny as tiny could be....It was like he was staring me right in the eyes trying to say sorry for all the pain he caused me!! So long story short(I know a little late for that)...I am doing much better...It was all worth it to hear Jonah say as excited as he could be "Mom, you baby came out you nose?" Where he got that, I will never know, but it made me crack up anyway! I have a couple picts. I will post later tonight
JULIE! I am dying reading what you went through! I'm so sorry you had to go through so much pain- but I am so happy you passed the stone without surgery. What a blessing Andrew was able to get to the hospital so fast and that your Mom lives so close to you that she could watch your kids. I'm glad you're doing better.
ReplyDeleteJulie, your little buddy of a kidney stone has taken 10 years off my life! I don't ever want to see any of my kids go through that again! On the up side, I am so glad this is a completely down time for me because having you guys stay here and having the kids here was so much fun for me. When we said good bye and you went home I was so sad to see them go and was secretly happy Jonah had a fit because he wanted to stay here. I loved it when he asked if I could come home with you. A lot happened last week, Jonah learned to jump into the pool and swim. Now he swims like a fish underwater and the goggles are so cute on him. We even got Noelle to put her face in the water! My job is done :)! Never will I bad mouth a pain pill again!
ReplyDeleteYou have my complete sympathy! Those little stones are complete mysery. Side note: We were the witness couple during a session when my attack happened...couldn't finish the session. I did lithotripsy twice on the same stone and it worked! Yep....it's not an easy thing....You are Woman You are Strong! Glad thats over for you.....
ReplyDeleteHOLY. FREAKING. CRAP. That's awful. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I am so glad you had your family there for support and that you are well again. Wow, who would've known that those tiny little pebbles could cause so much pain. Trent...oh boy, Trent says you could get them polished and string them on a bracelet for memories. Hardy har har Trent. :)
ReplyDelete-Jennie
Julie, your description is exactly what I've heard from friends who have dealt with them before...any idea HOW they came about? Any way to prevent them coming around again? Good news: Jonah swims under water - Bad news: Andrew speeds.
ReplyDelete:) Love to you and all of your little kidney friends.
I have heard those are painful, but I didn't realize just how painful--wow! I am so sorry you had to go through that and I can't believe how something so tiny could cause so much pain! I'm glad you're doing much better and here's hoping that it's the first and last one you'll ever have! PS-I'm still cracking up over Jonah's comment!
ReplyDeleteJulie,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I'm sorry that you had to go through that. Secondly, I'm sorry it's taken me THIS long to respond to your comment you left on our blog back when our little girl was born.
Thank you for the note. It's good to hear from you. Hopefully things are back to normal for you now. We're in LC staying with my parents for a month while we enjoy "home leave"...doesn't feel much like time off b/c I'm still going to work. But at least my wife enjoys being home. Hopefully she'll join me on the plane home to Japan though!
Anyway, my email is ascannon@gmail.com...let me know what you're up to.
Cheers,
Tony Cannon