Drop it like it's hot.

So, let's backtrack. The last time I wrote in here was Tuesday night when I was in excruciating kidney stone pain. Right after the post, I started chugging water at a very unhealthy speed. As I browsed the web for quick fixes, I read something about olive oil, so I took a swig of it. It didn't really help the situation. At all. The combination of the water and oil had me hovering over the toilet about to vomit. Water and oil don't mix. I thought of that myself. I was feeling sick all throughout the night. Kidney-wise, I didn't feel very good on Wednesday. I planned to go into work but was in too much pain. So, I continued with the narcotics.

By the end of the day yesterday, it felt like the pain had shifted. Then, when I woke up this morning, I was positive that today would be the day. The pain had moved significantly lower and I just had a good feeling about it. My strainer and I headed to work. I took the strainer with me to the bathroom several times and, at one point, I was sitting at my desk and felt a sharp pain. I was positive it was ready. Drumroll.... The stone was cast!

It is so small that I feel wimpy, but someone at the theatre tonight who'd had experience before (working in a hospital) ensured me that it was not. It's my lil baby. I'm still thinking of a name.

My internet and cable also went out and Comcast is coming tomorrow to fix it. I am bewildered by the fact that it is working right now. My A/C is working, too!

On a sad, yet uplifting note, my friend KM passed away early yesterday morning. One would think that her death would be the final piece of news on this bad luck streak. The thing is, though, that she was ready and comfortable with this. She fought a long, hard battle, and assured us all that she was prepared. While it is saddening for a wonderful person to be gone at such a young age, I am confident that she is happier.

Rest in peace.

You've gotta be kidneying me

Seriously.

I woke up today and got out of bed, ready to head to the gym. After I'd been standing for a few minutes, I was in excruciating pain. Now, though, it was more localized in my abdomen than in my back. I got in the shower to tough it out, and literally couldn't stand. By the time I got out of the shower, I was just in tears. I called my mom and just started bawling like a tiny little baby.

She was headed out to my place and I couldn't take it anymore. She called my sister, who came to get me so that we could get a head start. We went to Emory because it makes it so much easier for the doctors to know everything about me. I was that person in the ER doubled over, crying out in pain. They got me back to a room and my blood pressure was hovering at 160-something over 100-something.

In all seriousness, it was pretty scary. There were moments when I wasn't sure I was going to make it through. I have never been through pain anywhere near this bad at any point in my life. The central theme throughout the day was that "people say they'd rather have a baby than a kidney stone." I was in a room just bawling and yelling at the top of my lungs for more than an hour. Finally they started giving me IV morphine, which worked for a few minutes and then wore off.

At this point a doctor came in, heard the story, and was pretty sure it was a kidney stone. She ordered another painkiller that's good for stones, and got me scheduled for a CT scan. The painkiller did wonders and I was able to lay flat for the first time all day. I went to get the CT scan which showed two kidney stones. One of them has already made it through the toughest parts and is hanging out just before my bladder. The other's just chilling in my kidney.

I got to come home after 10 long hours, and don't really have to go back unless I vomit, get a fever, or have the severe pain again. It's about time for another pain pill. I'm on four different medications while we wait this out, but it should take care of itself. We're just hoping the second one stays put in my kidney. Jerk.

Thanks to everyone for helping minimize the accident drama from last night. Honestly I've forgotten almost all about it since I didn't get to call the insurance company while in the dungeon.

I've already found a crew shift replacement for tomorrow night, and am going to try to wait it out and attend on Saturday if I'm functioning. I know some folks who are on crew Saturday and I bet someone would drive me (!) if I'm still on all of the medicine.

This has got to be the end of this series of events.

Day 2: Well, you have been running your mouth a lot

I slept surprisingly well last night, considering I'm in the hospital. An oxygen tank got knocked over in the hallway during the night and that woke me up like a mild earthquake might. For some reason, on this floor, it's necessary to come get blood from me at 4:40 a.m., so there's nothing like a needle going into your arm when you're half asleep. When the nurse came to hook me up for my 6:00 a.m. IV, I told him that my mouth and tongue were numb. With a straight face, he said, "Well, you have been running your mouth a lot. Do you think that has anything to do with it?" I laughed and told him I was also very tired....of him. Just kidding, though; he's a favorite!

I think it's safe to classify my PICC line placement as a disaster. In fact, I'm typing lefthanded because my right arm is out of commission. The actual PICC placement didn't hurt any more than I remember, but it didn't take long for me to realize something was wrong. I don't know if it was the excessive blood or the fact that my entire arm was throbbing. It didn't take long for me to start taking narcotics. The pain was truly unbearable and the pain medication really didn't help much. They ended up sending me down to do an ultrasound to see if there were any blood clots near the PICC line. Looks like it's just bleeding internally. WOOHOOO!

Some friends came by and brought some neat presents, most of which involved dinosaurs! I got these awesome dinosaur figurines that roar. I was thinking it would be fun to page the nurses' station and have one of the dinosaurs roar into the speaker. Perhaps tomorrow. I also got some socks that say SOCK IT TO ME BABY on them! They make me feel so alive. I also got the largest carton of Goldfish ever created. It's gigantic. There were a lot of other cute goodies, too, including some candy, a coloring book, and disposable razors. I got an enormous tube of Dr. Pepper flavored LipSmackers and I keep putting it on, although it is challenging because it is so large.

Honestly, I was so doped up that I'm trying to finish this later, but the entire day was a blur. Thank you, Lortab.

Dee-Rugs

Hi. I am home from work. Ill. It has been a ROUGH week. I ended up having to go to the ER because I literally was almost passing out coughing so hard. Despite all of my home 'remedies,' it was impossible for me to get to sleep. They said it was the worst case of seasonal allergies that a person could have. You should have seen how big of a mess I was.

I was coughing my brains out, and barely choked out the words, "Will you take out some stiches?" So, the doctor took out the stitches in my shoulder. Meanwhile, I am coughing and holding my sternoclavicular joint because it feels like it is dislodging. They were like, "Are you okay?" and my mom told the doctor about the joint incident. You could tell the guy thought I was the most pitiful little thing he had seen.

Regardless, they ended up putting me on some steroids to try to stop the bronchospasms and narcotics so that maybe I could stop coughing temporarily and sleep. Booooooooy, are those relaxing!