I want to get most of the health stuff out of the way. I couldn’t talk seriously about my “well-being” without addressing kidney stones. For those of you who haven’t experienced this thing be glad. The first time it happened to me I really did not know what was happening. I was laying in bed and could not get comfortable in any position. It was a dull pain in my lower back. It continued to get worse. After a couple of hours, Kathy and I decided that I needed to go to the emergency room. By that time I am groaning with pain. It was horrible. They put me in a bed in the emergency room and took my vitals and gave me some pretty strong pain medication. I told them that I needed to go to the bathroom. I made it to the bathroom and actually passed the stone. OMG, the pain was gone. Just like that, the entire episode was over. I came back to my bed in the emergency room pain-free. It was incredible. The doctor ask if I had saved the stone. I don’t honestly know how that would have happened although later on, they give you a screen to use that supposedly will capture the little devil. All I know was that it passed and I was like new. What a great outcome.
The second time Kathy and I were at an Indian Casino and I started feeling the dull pain again. This time it got much worse very fast. I told Kathy that we needed to leave. Halfway home I got really nauseated and had her stop the car so I could throw up. Apparently, nausea can be common for this stuff. I continued to feel lousy. Did not end up in the emergency room and once again did pass the stone.
The third time we were in Phoenix visiting my son Jeff and his family. The pain came out of nowhere…this time I did end up at the hospital. By now I knew that when you don’t pass one of these stones there is a surgical option which I did not want to know anything about. I was beyond groaning this time and no amount of pain medication seemed to work. Once again after some serious groaning and screaming the little morsel made its way through and life returned to normal. The crazy thing about this is that no matter how bad it gets once you pass the stone or stones you feel like it never happened.
The last time it occurred I started getting the pain. It was starting to get worse. Kathy and I were discussing the idea of going to the emergency room. As we were talking about it I went in the bathroom and I passed two stones…that hadn’t happened before. I did have that screen handy and I did save them. I took them to my doctor for analysis. I guess there are different kinds. It turns out that these were just largely calcium and that there was nothing I could do to help prevent these things from occurring again.
The good news is that I have not changed any of my habits but have not had an episode for several years. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. The pain is hard to describe and it is amazing that something so small could cause so much pain. I don’t think these are truly preventable…don’t take my word for it. I will say that the experience is not something that you will ever want to have. I hope to god that I never need to have any surgical procedure to remove one…that seems pretty extreme to me. I am hopeful that I won’t be experiencing another episode any time soon. To those of you who have had these things, I feel your pain…to those who haven’t you have no idea what you are missing. Stay healthy and happy.
