The 2mm Monster

Photo from ELS Podcast Blog

  

    It has been said that it is "the worse pain you have ever experienced" or "worse than giving birth and no baby to show for it."  I would have never thought that something so small could cause SO much anguish.

    At about 12:15 yesterday I was eating lunch with a friend at school.  We had found a quiet area in a lobby to sit, eat, and relax a little before class at 1.  I got up momentarily to answer a phone call and then went to the restroom.  Before I got back to the lobby I started having sharp pain in my left side which radiated into my back and stomach.  On a scale of 1 to 10 the pain was about an 5.  Within 3 minutes the pain was an 7.  It honestly felt like someone had stabbed me in the side.  I immediately thought, oh my goodness, I think I have a kidney stone.  I panicked asking my friend  "what do I do about my patient at 2:00?"  She, being the awesome friend she is, encouraged me to go straight to student health and she would cover me the rest of the day.  I grabbed my wallet, phone, and water bottle and proceeded to walk the 2 blocks to student health from the dental school. By the time I got there the pain had gotten even worse, but luckily I arrived right as they were starting back from lunch and they got me back to a room within 10 minutes.  At this point I could only pace around the room to keep from crying from the pain.  I was sweating and felt nauseated, and nothing gave me relief .  About 20 minutes later, the doctor completed the normal diagnostic run down, checking the source of the pain, and proceeded to tell me, "You probably have a kidney stone.  The pain could get worse so you need to get the the ER as soon as possible."  I thought, "Worse? Is that possible?"

    With my car being 8 blocks away and plus I am unsure that I could drive at this point anyway, I called Ryan to come get me.  He immediately left work and got downtown as soon as possible.  Ryan's dad was the closest person to me, so he actually left work to come get me so I could get to the ER faster, even though they both arrived at about the same time.

    Once I got to the ER, of course you have to got through triage all over again even though I was in excruciating pain.   About 20 minutes later I was in a room, with my sweet husband to comfort me, and I laid down trying to get some sort of relief.  Within 20 minutes I actually started feeling better.  Of course!  I finally get to an ER bed, within reach of morphine, and then the pain decreases.  Once the doctor came in my pain was at a bearable 7.  By the time they started an IV and gave me some meds it had decreased even more.  

    The doctor order a CT, and after examining the results told me that my left ureter (tube from the kidney to the bladder) was inflamed so if I was feeling relief it was because I had just finished passing the stone.  So I passed about a 2mm stone in about 2 and a half hours without any pain medication. The doctor told me they saw another stone in my right kidney, basically a ticking time bomb for this to happen all over again!  Needless to say I am drinking water like crazy and praying that the stone that is still there will just disappear.  Once we left the ER I felt fine, was just tired.

    Insane day.  Treated a patient that morning, passed a kidney stone that afternoon, had dinner with Ryan, and then fell into bed and was asleep by 9.  Then today it was almost like it never happened.  Other than the terrible memories I have of the event and being more tired than normal, I was back at school today in clinic like normal.  Talk about a strange turn of events.  Needless to say, I am officially ready for the weekend, which I will most likely spend resting, plus a little relaxing fun with friends.  And I will end this unique post with a quick message to Ryan and my family.  Ryan - thanks for caring for me so well, I am blessed to have you as a husband.  Mom and Dad - thanks you for your prayers and checking up on me.  I am so glad to have you near when things like this happen!