In the Eye of the Storm

Family dinner at El Rancho the day after my trip to the emergency room:

Mark, Dylan, Jake, Jacob, Sarah, and Mary. (Chris was on a camp-out.)

Friday, May 17, 2019

Despite the ongoing pain and uncertainty of discovering my first kidney stone, with all the nightmarish details involved, I'll be forever grateful for the days following the Thursday night I spent in the ER. I don't know how, I don't know why, but my symptoms completely disappeared and I felt wonderful all day on Friday and Saturday and half of Sunday.

On the morning after my visit to the emergency room, I called to make an appointment with the urologist, as ordered; dropped off my three new prescriptions at Walmart; and drove myself to the hospital for an x-ray so they could pinpoint the exact location of my inert kidney stone. They'd told me at the emergency room that the stone was 6.4 mm wide, but we learned from the x-ray that it was actually 8 mm wide and 20 mm long. That monster was not going anywhere without assistance. Especially when we realize the tube (ureter) it was trying to pass through is only 3-4 mm wide.

After the x-ray, I stopped by Walmart again to pick up my prescriptions and just happened to run into Sarah as I walked in. She'd barely started her lunch hour, so she joined me on my walk to the pharmacy. I decided to pick up a few other things while I was there, so we started down one of the wide aisles toward the back of the store. Up ahead, we saw my son Jacob enter the aisle from the direction of the automotive section.

We all did a double-take. Jacob stared at us. We stared at him. The last time we'd spoken to him was from the hospital the previous night, when I'd told him I was going to be fine so he didn't need to drive up from Mesa. Seeing him so unexpectedly was a little confusing, as in "One of these things doesn't belong here..."

After Jacob overcame the urge to try and duck us, since it was obviously too late to pretend we hadn't recognized him, he grinned and joined us. For some reason, both my sons feel it's necessary to try and surprise us every time they do anything. I keep telling them it will blow up in their faces someday, when they travel for hours only to discover the target surprisee is out of town for a few days or something. Still, they persist.

As it turned out, Jacob had barely gotten into town and stopped to visit his brother, Dylan, at work in the automotive department. (Unlike Sarah or me, Dylan knew Jacob was coming up.) Jacob had planned to surprise me at home after seeing Dylan. Instead, we surprised him! He told us he'd gone to work in Phoenix that morning, but when he mentioned he'd been up late because his mom was in the hospital, he was told, "What are you doing here? Take the rest of the day off, go be with your mom!"

I want this Instagram filter permanently installed

on both my cell phone and my camera! May 18, 2019

Since Sarah, Chris, Dylan, and Jake had to work that day, we weren't all able to get together until the evening. Jacob came over to visit with his dad and me for the afternoon, and then he joined Jake for some running around with friends later. It was after 7:30 when we were all finally able to meet up for our traditional family meal at El Rancho Mexican restaurant.

On Saturday, however, we got to spend the whole day together. Mark had to work, but he was home by 2:00. Sarah already had the day off, Jake took half the day off, and Dylan took the entire day. Chris got back from camping, but he doesn't work on Saturdays anyway.

We spent some time reliving my harrowing first experience with the horrors of giant kidney stones, and the kids continued to give me a hard time about my obsession with my uncombed, damp hair throughout the emergency. They, themselves, were obsessing over the use of various filters on their phone cameras, laughing riotously over how each other looked as a cat, a zombie, or members of the opposite sex.

I finally said, "They need a filter that removes wrinkles and gives you smooth skin and nice hair!" I think it was Dylan who told me, "Instagram already has one that does that!" So he snapped the above photo using that filter. I approve! How can you not love a filter that puts the mascara on for you?

Sarah watches while Jake, Dylan, and Jacob play video games.

The kids spent their time doing the things they all grew up enjoying together, from sharing favorite foods, to playing old and new video games, to teasing and wrestling, to checking out memes and videos on each others' phones. As for me, I just love chatting with them and watching them enjoy each others' company.

Jacob was the only one of us who hadn't tried out Jake's Jedi Challenge

Augmented Reality (AR) game yet.

For dinner on Saturday night, Jacob helped me make two big pans of Jalapeno Popper Chicken Casserole, a delicious new dish that Mark and I have had twice now, but our kids hadn't experienced yet. It was a big hit. As it happened, in all the madness I had completely forgotten that I'd invited the sister missionaries to have dinner with us that evening, so when they texted to confirm on Saturday morning, I simply added them to our big family meal. With steamed asparagus and a big garden salad served on the side, there was plenty of food for everyone. And it was nice to have two new, young voices to join the fun.

Typical family get-together, with everyone on their phones:

Chris, Jake, and Dylan, with Sarah in the background.

Since I've been trying to use up a lot of the food in my freezer to make room for more sale items, especially meats when there's a great sale (first-world problems, right?), I suggested we have smoothies for dessert. That helped get rid of two bags of frozen fruits, plus it was delicious! And Jacob did a low-carb version for Sarah and me.

Jacob makes a sugar-free chocolate-berry smoothie dessert

for Sarah and me after dinner on Saturday.

Sunday was a little quieter. Dylan, Jake, and Mark had to work, but Sarah was off so she came over to spend the morning with us. Dylan had a later start at work, so he was able to come by for an hour before he had to be on his way. It was fun to watch them compete on a very old Wii game, Shrek Super Party, that Dylan had recently unearthed. It brought back so many memories of the kids and their friends, lined up on the floor in front of our living room couch, competing in the crazy Shrek-themed sports.

On Jacob's last day, Sunday morning, Dylan stops by on his way to work,

to play Shrek Super Party with his siblings (an old favorite from their childhood).

After Dylan had to leave, Sarah challenged Jacob to a final hand of Skip-Bo. She won, as she usually does. She's a master of strategy when it comes to some of these card games. Her brothers often accuse her of cheating. Hmmm...

Jacob headed back to the Valley around 12:30, since he had to be back at work on Monday morning, so Sarah went home to relax. She planned to return by 5:00 to watch the final 3-hour episode of American Idol with her dad and me.

Sarah and Jacob play a hand of Skip-Bo before he heads home around 12:30.

I don't know if I'd realized during this "eye of the storm" what a miracle it was that my pain had entirely disappeared for the complete length of Jacob's visit and resultant family togetherness. I suppose I was hoping that the stone had passed while at the hospital and it was all over, despite the extreme unlikelihood of such a scenario.

If I'd truly believed that, boy, was I wrong! One and a half hours (at 2:00) after Jacob left, the pain returned, underscoring what a great blessing it had been to be pain-free for so long. This pain felt exactly the same as I'd felt on Thursday, although not quite as strong or intense. It was still enough to make me double over, but weakened enough that I was able to take it with minimal moaning and groaning.

The pain lasted for four hours and was still there when Sarah returned to watch American Idol. It eased up around 6:00, but very quickly returned and didn't entirely fad away until after 8:30. I took the narcotics I'd been given--hydrocodone and tramadol--but soon learned that they didn't even begin to touch the pain. And I wasn't allowed to take ibuprofen before my upcoming procedure, due to its mild blood-thinning effect.

There was more pain early in the morning on Monday, but I felt well enough to see my primary doctor at 10:15 to discuss two cysts in the middle of my back that had gotten infected in late March and still hadn't completely healed seven weeks later. (When it rains, it pours.) I was also able to keep my 1:30 chiropractor appointment, but another bout of pain set in on the drive home.

Then Monday night was a near-repeat of Thursday. The pain had me curled into a ball on the couch, sobbing loudly and crying out in frustration and agony. I was desperate enough to take two hydrocodone pills, but it only made me throw up. The pain lasted a full three hours, from 6:00 to 9:00, before it began to subside. I knew then that the stone was still stuck and I was going to have to take the next step the doctor had recommended, something called a lithotripsy.

I visited this office, shared by three urologists.

The pain was better on Tuesday, but I was still so nauseous that I hardly ate a thing all day. At 9:00 that morning, I had my first ever urology appointment. Given the size of the stone, the doctor was already prepared to set me up for the lithotripsy procedure at the hospital the following day. (I love that word, lithotripsy. I can hear Gollum hissing, "Is his litho tripsy, my Precious? Is it?") 

Wanting to spread around the "joy" of toting mom here and there, I asked Dylan to take me to the hospital on Wednesday, since he was off that day. He picked me up after I returned from dropping Mark at work, and we arrived at the hospital before 6:30 a.m. He spent more than an hour with me before he left with my clothes and other belongings. My procedure was scheduled for 8:30, but they got me back to the operating room and sedated well before that.

The main entrance to our local hospital.

While I get a little nervous about being "put under," I do appreciate how quickly it happens and how it's all over in the blink of an eye. The nurse said, "Sleep tight," and two seconds later another nurse was asking, "What's your name?" I've often thought that dying while under anesthesia wouldn't be a terrible thing. No pain or fear, you just wake up somewhere else. Like when you're a child and you fall asleep on the couch but magically wake up in your own bed the next morning.

As for the lithotripsy, it's a procedure where they pummel the stone with sound waves to break it into smaller, more manageable pieces. I was picturing a gentle ultrasound, but apparently it's far more complex and tougher on the body. Hence the sedation. They described how I'd have a thin water mattress placed under me, and then they'd slide in a wedge to raise my "left flank." The procedure typically takes about an hour, and they said I'd feel bruised along my left side for a few days.

"Bruised" doesn't begin to describe it. As soon as I woke up, I was painfully aware that Rocky Balboa had spent the past hour practicing punches on my rib cage. It's been nine days since the procedure, and I'm still very sore, having to be careful how I move. It's not nearly as bad as the first week, when it was agonizing to take a deep breath, sneeze, cough, blow my nose, burp...well, you get the picture. It's still nearly impossible to find a sleeping position that doesn't hurt, so I'm not sleeping very well. During the day I nap for an hour or two in a recliner.

The bruise from my IV is still visible today, nine days later.

The hospital called Dylan to pick me up at 10:00. They'd told me I'd be released around 11:00, but I was home by 10:30. I went straight to bed and spent most of the next two days there, dozing and crying, dozing and crying. I couldn't get comfortable, but I was exhausted. This old body doesn't bounce back like it used to.

The lithotripsy was deemed to be successful. Over the next five days, I felt the stones pressing through the ureter on at least a dozen occasions. It was the same old recognizable discomfort, but I could feel that the stones were shifting and moving, as if there were a purpose to the pain. In fact, the pain in my ribs caused the greater suffering now. I was hopeful that all the little pieces of my original stone were on their way out and the whole nightmare was almost over.

The last episode of kidney-stone pain was around 5:00 a.m. on Monday. For the rest of that day, as well as Tuesday and Wednesday, I felt almost like my old self. I got a lot accomplished and started to draw a breath of relief. On Thursday (yesterday) I went to the chiropractor and then back to the hospital for another abdomen x-ray.

By the afternoon, though, I wasn't doing so great. I started getting severe stomach cramps and horrible nausea. I ached all over. It felt like I was being poisoned. I hate taking drugs. That may be why I've developed a generally high tolerance for pain, because I'd literally rather deal with pain than with drugs and their side effects. Unless you're talking about super-sized kidney stones. Or urinary tract infections. Those are the two things that will turn me into a big baby begging for drugs. 

At any rate, I wondered if the variety of recent drugs I'd taken were making me sick. I'd given up on the narcotic painkillers more than a week earlier, so they weren't to blame. I'd been living on ibuprofen, one every four hours, since the lithotripsy to blunt the edge of the rib pain, but I'd actually been able to quit those a few days earlier. My primary doctor put me on an antibiotic last week in preparation for cutting out the cysts on my back next week, but I'd quit that drug after three doses since it was too strong and made me sick last week. I'd started on a different, less noxious antibiotic Wednesday afternoon, but I doubted the two doses I'd taken so far were creating such a huge problem so quickly.

Back to the hospital yesterday for a second x-ray to look for lingering stones.

I woke up still nauseous this morning, but I had my follow-up appointment with the urologist. He showed me yesterday's x-ray. There are two tiny stones remaining in the ureter near the left kidney, which he described as not much bigger than dust particles. However, there is also a 1.8 mm stone that was "kicked" back up into the kidney during the procedure. He said that was the most likely cause of my cramping and nausea, which continued into this evening, along with the sharp sensation of another stone trying to pass.

For some reason, the doctor didn't feel that these remaining stones were going to pass on their own, although he also said he didn't think they were going to create problems. The next step, he explained, would be going in to clear them out and leaving a stint in place for a week. I really don't want to do that, so I told him I'd rather wait and see what happens on its own. Next week, another x-ray and another appointment.

I can't even express my disappointment at learning this may not be over any time soon. I want my life back. Please, say a prayer for me!