It was Monday morning and a holiday. I was excited for the day off of work and looking forward to a relaxing day. I had decided to do the dishes that morning and suddenly felt a major pain in my side as I leaned over to put a dish in the dishwasher. I thought I must have pulled my back.
Annoyed, I moved to the other room where Jarek was and the pain got worse. I laid on the ground and tried to find a position to relieve the pain, but no luck. The pain kept getting worse and no longer felt like a pulled muscle or back pain. It was in the lower back area just beneath the rib cage on the left side. I think I began to moan a little and Jarek got worried. "Should I get mom?" he asked. I told him no, that I would be fine. After a few more minutes he said "I'm getting mom".
We had Jacob and Millie over and Jacob, being a physical therapist, asked some questions and moved my body in ways to see if he could figure out what it might be. He decided it wasn't a muscle or bone, but most likely something else, like an organ. After some more looking while the pain finally began to subside, we decided it must be a kidney stone. Tevia's mom had one a few years ago and after talking to her it seemed to fit the description.
We quickly looked up kidney stones and saw that most pass within a couple of days. I had heard they were painful, but decided to try and bear it and avoid going in to the hospital. By the next afternoon, we decided to change that strategy.
I went into the hospital in a lot of pain. The pain had come and gone several times, but this time it was lasting much longer (more than an hour) and constant pain. They took a CT scan and confirmed it was a kidney stone. They tried some meds to ease the pain (didn't really work), ordered some prescriptions and sent us on our way. Seeing as it was almost two day since the pain started, I was hoping that with the Flo-max they gave me it would pass quickly. I was still working (when I wasn't doubled over in pain).
By Friday nothing had changed. I went in to the urologist who changed some meds and suggested I come in the next week with an x-ray. He said some stones take longer to pass and to give it patience.
By early the next week I was getting desperate. Life seemed just a constant wave of pain. The pain meds did little to help ease the pain and I was getting less and less sleep. I also had become constipated (first time in my life - a common side effect of kidney stones) adding to the discomfort. I got meds for that too, but they did little to help. I was able to see how many people must feel that live in constant pain. You have little desire to do anything. Even watching TV was painful. Fear that I would never feel "well" again crept into my mind. I felt like I was a burden to my family, my company, my church. I felt my prayers were going unanswered. I felt alone.
I went into the urologist again and with an x-ray it showed the stone was almost to the bladder. Wednesday morning I was able to get some sleep and when I woke up Tevia said "today it will pass". We focused more on getting me moving to try and force the stone out. I drank as much as possible (I had done this the whole time and it was miserable as I was constipated and constantly nauseous), went on several walks, ran in place from time to time,and prayed a lot. By late afternoon I finally felt the feelings that the internet had said I would feel when the stone made it into the bladder. Not much longer the stone passed and I saved it to show the doctor. Within an hour or so the pain had completely stopped and I was basically back to normal.
It took a couple more days to get my digestive track back on track and feel energized and rested. But now it is like the thing never happened. 9 days of pain and frustration. During this time I had learned that many people have had stones. Each of them talked about how painful it was - and almost all the women said it was worse than childbirth. I can't comment on that, but I can say that it was a new level of pain that I didn't enjoy. I learned a lot and hope it never happens again. They say that once you've had one, the chances of having others increases. It seems like a week of my life just disappeared. That I wasn't even there. That I was just observing me in pain.
And once it passed, life was suddenly wonderful again.
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