Yikes! They aren't kidding about a kidney stone being worse than labor! My only saving grace is that I don't have to deal with a crying newborn on top of the pain from the stone.
It started last Tuesday afternoon with some abdominal pain that would come on strong and then relax a bit. I worked through my evening with it just fine and had a somewhat restful night of sleep. On Wednesday morning I woke up with a sore belly but thought I'd be ok to go to work. Wrong! After back to back meetings, and having to excuse myself several times just to wipe the sweat from my brow, I finally gave in and decided it was time to head to the ER. After 3+ hours of waiting (don't worry- they gave me some extra strength Tylenol to make the wait that much more bearable-as if!) I was being told to expect to head to surgery for an appendectomy after my CT scan. Turns out the appendix was just fine but a 5mm kidney stone was taking up space and completely blocking my left kidney.
After lots of pain meds and an overnight stay I was given the option to let is pass on its own or have surgery to remove the stone. I opted for the surgery but things didn't go as planned. They couldn't even get the scope up to the stone so I was left with a stent in place and scheduled for a second surgery in 2 weeks. So I've been walking (hunched over and slowly at times) with stone pain and stent pain for over a week now. I'll whoop it up on Halloween night and go in for the second attempt the next day. Hopefully its successful otherwise we'll have to pursue other options.
Lessons learned-
Don't go to the ER by yourself. You end up crying and calling your mom. Yes, even at 33 years old.
If your dad happens to work at the same place as the ER, he shows up very quickly. He is also good at persuading nurses to give you something for the pain, even if it is just Tylenol.
Morphine is good.
Lamaze breathing and a focal point work well for labor. The same cannot be said for a stone.
All those men who I used to see for CT scans to rule out a kidney stone, that I thought were total wimps, are actually my heroes. Their wives should quit giving them crap for not having to endure labor. Turns out these guys have!
Family and friends mean everything!
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