Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Whew...

What a whirlwind the past few days have been. My attitude over the past five days has been, "This too shall pass...and so will the stone." And it did. Last night. Thankfully. (and I have kept in mind that in the grand sceme of things a kidney stone isn't the worst that can happen to a person but it certainly hasn't been fun either...)

So Friday we all slept in a little late (and by late I mean 8). J and B had taken M to Corpus so I was looking forward to a lazy day. Just Mommy and Joey. Daniel got up and got ready for work, I sat Joey in the high chair with a banana and every intent to follow up that banana with a bath (who knew bananas were uber sticky?!?). Daniel kisses us goodbye and heads out to work. I think I was washing dishes when the phone rang. "Babe, I'm coming home. I'm having a kidney stone." WHAT?!? Where did this come from? Up until this point I had heard NOTHING about any pain anywhere. I ran upstairs and threw on a bra, pants that could be worn out of the house, and some shoes (I realized later on that I'd forgotten the Degree....eeew). Back downstairs. Joey's still eating a banana. Ran to get the diaper bag out of the car and threw in everything I thought we would possibly need for a least a day. I knew that ER visits tend to not be quick. Called Jenii (my next door neighbor). She's been puking all night and can't keep Joey. Called Robin. Hung up the phone before it even rang remembering that she was out of town. Called Jen. No answer. At this point I'm muttering some not so nice things under my breath about not living near any family. So I clean up Joey as best as I can without a tub and throw some clothes on him too. Set him down in front of some toys and head out to the garage to haul the stroller into the trunk of my car (also muttering under my breath about putting off buying a lightweight, compact stroller). At this point Daniel makes it home. One look at him and I knew what I'd already known when he called earlier. We were headed for the ER. The three of us got into the car and headed for North Central Baptist. We passed up Northeast Methodist (which is closer) because I'd heard several stories from friends very recently about bad experiences there and since Joey was born and NCB I felt comfortable going there and knew I'd be comfortable there if we had to be there all day. So off we went. We got there and I dropped Daniel off at the ER doors and went and parked and unloaded Joey. By the time I'd gotten in to the waiting room they'd already given him a hospital bracelet. Only one other man was there. Within an hour we'd been through triage, seen a nurse, and the doctor had come in and seen him and ordered a CT scan. Two hours later he'd been scanned, diagnosed, and sent home with some meds. The doctor told him to drink lots of water and do lots and lots of walking. So we filled his prescription, had lunch, and headed to the mall. We spent all afternoon walking and taking pain pills when appropriate.

So Saturday Daniel was feeling better and headed to work. He didn't want stay home when he was feeling OK and miss a sale. So he headed off to work. I checked on him like a little mother hen. He tried to take it easy and not spend too much time out on the lot yet not sit around all day doing nothing either. He was a little discouraged at dinner when he hadn't sold anything yet had sat up there all day and been uncomfortable. Yet right before closing a lady came in and bought a suburban from him so that made his day worth going to work.

Saturday night he did not sleep well. He was in a lot of pain, even with meds. However, he did everything he could to make Mother's Day wonderful for me. He got up with Joey (without me even knowing because he'd been sleeping in the guest room through all this {the bed is softer and was easier for him to get comfortable on}) and let me sleep in. After church he took me to Little Italy (one of my fav. places to eat---love it so much we had our rehearsal dinner there!) because we hadn't been there in a long time. We then went to the gym and signed up for our membership (my Mother's Day gift) and then to Academy to buy appropriate gym clothes. Our final stop was to Brindles (GfG...have you ever been there??? If not, we're going the next time you're in town) for some super-duper-awesomely-yummy ice cream (better than Marble Slab, Cold Stone, OR Culvers imnsho). It's a good thing it's across town or I'd be 900 lbs! We came home and Daniel pretty much crashed out. He was still in pain and the meds weren't helping very much anymore.

Monday morning rolled around and B decided to take the day off and kept M home. Ahhh...maybe I'll get that quiet day with Joey I was hoping for on Friday. Nope. Daniel tried to go to work. He really did. But he was in too much pain. Called around 2 to tell me he's coming home again (no bananas for Joey this time!). Threw everything in the bag and made sure the stroller was in the car. Called Jenni. No answer. Called Jen. No answer. Tried Robin. Success! She was available and could take Joey. Drove Daniel back to NCB and dropped him off. Drove to Robin's (only 5 mins. from hospital...tops) and dropped Joey off (praying I'd thrown everything in the bag). This time the ER was PACKED. There were lots of people in the waiting room and I overheard the nurse say that several ambulances had come in as well. We were right in the middle of the rush. We waited three hours. This time I was muttering under my breath how thankful I was that someone was home and able to take Joey. They finally took us back. After almost six MORE hours of waiting (I knew ER trips weren't quick), some good IV pain meds, and another CT the ER doc (who was awesome by the way...so were the nurses...actually everyone we've seen at NCB has been exceptional) told Daniel that he still had his stone but it was very small and VERY close to passing. He gave him a stronger prescription for pain meds and after much debate and a discussion with the urologist on call, sent him home (thank you Lord for not admitting him!). We finally picked up Joey from Robin's around 11p (THANK YOU FRIEND!!!! You are a lifesaver!) and after quick stop at Wendy's (we hadn't eaten since noon), finally made it home just before midnight.

Daniel got to sleep all day Tuesday. I got to get up and keep on keepin on. I had actually fallen asleep when J and B brought M over. The doorbell woke me up. Ooops. Thankfully they understood. Daniel was feeling better (after sleeping all day) in the evening so I headed to the gym to take a minute for myself. I ended up staying two hours and trying out two different classes (another blog in and of itself). I came home, showered, and crashed during the 4th quarter of the game (apparently I didn't miss much).

All is well here today. The stone has gone on to a better land, my hubby has returned to normal and is making up for lost time as far and joking around and being funny goes and I'm just simply exhausted. I think I've lost steam in writing my post. Maybe I better hit the hay before Joey wakes up and needs more Tylenol (I'll be so happy when that tooth breaks through!). Daddy can tackle that one tonight...

2 comments:

Unknown said...

praises that Daniel is back to normal. I'm glad things happened as well as they could.

Grateful for Grace said...

Whirlwind is right. Wow! Glad it's over.

OOOH, yes! I love Brindle's. Dr. Mole, Jan and N took me years ago and it's a favorite when we are together.

Hope you can squeeze in a nap today!

love ya!