101 Hours

Monday, July 15th, dawned wet.  The smell of rain coming in through my windows and the lovely feel of humidity were wonderful.  I got up, had breakfast, and soon found myself crawling back in bed to read and enjoy the sound of the rain.

 

At almost 9am exactly, I felt a sharp pain on my lower right side.  I put my book down, took deep breaths, and prayed.  After ten minutes, I knew from the pain my body was trying to pass a kidney stone.  I had my first back in June 2007.  Not an experience I care to repeat, but here it was, happening again.  The pain of a kidney stone is beyond anything describable.  I could barely move and it took me almost an hour to crawl from my room to the kitchen where the phone is to call our park dispatch.  A law enforcement ranger found me and rushed me to the ER in town.

 

Finally, somewhere between 11:30 and noon, I was given something for the pain and it worked instantly.  It was heaven.  I was pumped full of fluids and we waited.  By late evening, the stone hadn't passed and I was admitted to the hospital.  Tuesday I was sent home with a prescription for pain meds and instructions to drink, drink, drink.

 

No stone Tuesday.

 

No stone Wednesday.

 

No stone Thursday. 

 

Thursday night the pain flared up again and I had to go back to the ER.  I got another scan of my insides and found the stone hadn't moved since the scan I had Tuesday.  HADN'T MOVED!

 

I was given another prescription for a strong narcotic and sent home again.  Finally, at 2pm on Friday, after 101 hours of labor, I became the parent of a 3mm baby kidney stone. 

 

It's amazing how something so small can wreck so much havoc.  (That's my index finger.)

For perspective, however, the tube from the kidney to the bladder this thing was trying to pass through is about the size of a pencil led.  Yup.

Regardless of still being in rather rough shape, I was at work bright and early Saturday at 5:30am for our annual Bat Flight Breakfast.  Someone had to dress up as Carl S. Bat and I wasn't passing up the opportunity.  Later that day, flowers were delivered to the visitor center for me and it absolutely made my day.

What is scary is that I have another stone in my right kidney and two in my left.  One in the left is 5mm.  When these stones decide to pass is totally unpredictable.  However, for right now, I'm feeling much better, almost 100%, and am thankful to my roommates and my co-workers for all they did during this whole ordeal.