An Unwelcome Guest

Hello friends. 

I wish I were popping in today to belatedly share some photos from another wonderful weekend, but sadly, that is not the case. I had big plans to celebrate my birthday with my mom and siblings, attend church with my hubby and a good friend on Sunday, maybe even go out for a few cocktails with my man Friday or Saturday night. Instead, I spent Saturday-Monday in the hospital thanks to a very unwelcome and quite aggressive kidney stone. 

If you know me at all, you know this is not my first time facing the joy of kidney stones. Nonetheless, I still can't believe this nightmare is back in my life.  

Here's how it all went down. 

I had an off-site company event downtown on Friday. I woke up that morning feeling fine other than the fact that I was a little hungry and exhausted from cutting out carbs. By about 10 a.m I'd started to feel some cramping in my left abdomen but didn't think much of it. I mentioned it to a coworker and figured maybe I was just hungry. By the time our group sat down for lunch, the pain had spread from my left abdomen to the left side of my lower back. Even having had kidney stones before, I still didn't think that's what this was. Denial, maybe. I made it through the rest of our event feeling just a bit uncomfortable but by the time I walked to my car and started the drive home, I started to get a little concerned. 

I called Jonathan and by the time we both made it home he was ready to rush me to the ER. I stubbornly refused and he settled for me staying put on the couch while he took care of dinner and whatnot. Both exhausted, we were in bed by 11 and when I was still up at midnight in excruciating pain, I woke Jonathan up saying it was time to go to the ER. 

By 2 a.m., I'd been given some pain meds and we were waiting on the results of a CT scan. The doctor finally came in a short while later telling us I had a very large (7 mm) stone and since the stone was too large for me to pass on my own, they'd be admitting me to have some sort of procedure over the weekend. I've had both a lithotripsy (a procedure that uses shock waves to break up kidney stones so your body can pass them easier) and a ureteroscopy (a small telescope is inserted to get to the stone so it can either be retrieved or broken up with a laser). Neither of these is very pleasant but I just wanted to get it over with so I could go home and get back to normal. 

We were admitted and in our own hospital room by 5 a.m and thanks to drugs and pure exhaustion were finally able to get some sleep. Saturday is a bit of a blur but the doctor came to see us and basically told us they wouldn't be able to break up the stone because of its size and location. All they'd be doing is placing a stent (a thin tube inserted to treat obstruction from a kidney stone) and hopefully that would help me pass the stone. 

They ended up taking me in for surgery to place the stent on Sunday morning and on top of everything else, discovered the stone has caused a kidney infection. They needed to keep me another night to treat the infection with IV antibiotics. I was obviously thrilled. 

I was finally discharged on Monday afternoon and thankfully, they were able to treat the infection but as for the stone, I left in the same condition I'd arrived in on Friday. I've basically been home since then praying this thing passes with the help of the stent. I'm still in quite a bit of pain and I'm taking pain meds and antibiotics which are giving me all kinds of uncomfortable side effects. I'm a little frustrated. 

I went through a few years of constant health issues including kidney stones and hospital stays and scary situations but I felt like those days were really behind me. 

Life has been nonstop lately in a really good way. We've had so many fun things going on in our social lives and with family. I've been staying healthy and active and was finally feeling like I was making progress and was just in a really good place then this comes out of nowhere and brings everything to a complete halt. 

Obviously I'm thankful as I know things could be a lot worse and I know I can get through this, but my goodness. 

Since I started working on this post, we've scheduled yet another procedure for tomorrow at noon. Hopefully the doctor will be able to get in there and break the stone up once and for all. In the meantime, any prayers and positive vibes you can send this way are really appreciated.