Thursday, January 24, 2008

Bad Stones!

Sarah snuggling with her sick daddy

Ed woke up last weekend on Saturday morning at about 4 in the morning with horrible internal pain in his back up to his stomach area. When I came downstairs his whole body was quivering and that's just where it started. I asked him what organs were on his right side and he mentioned his kidney. I don't know much about kidneys, but my first guess was kidney stones. We looked up the symptoms online and they seemed right on. We waited it out a bit until the pain got much worse and he started throwing up. Finally at about 5:30am we headed into the ER. By the time we got there Ed's pain was at the top of the charts. He continued vomiting and screaming in pain. I was reminded of my labor. He looked somewhat similar. :( The hospital finally gave him some pain killers and anti nausea medicine, followed by a CT scan and some x-rays. It turned out just as we had suspected...a medium sized kidney stone. After 6 hours of being monitored in the ER we finally went home with some pain killers and a little filter for Ed's pee. :) He had to filter his urine until he passed the stone so that when it finally passed he could go see a urologist to examine the stone and tell him what to do to prevent him from getting any more stones. Kidney stones take anywhere from hours to a month to pass! Ed obviously couldn't work on pain killers so we were hoping his stone would pass soon. After seeing a urologist and discussing surgery as an option, getting some Flomax and drinking cranberry juice (we're not sure what did it), Ed finally passed the stone on Wednesday morning.

The stone was the size of a grapenut. :) It's amazing to think that something the size of a grapenut could be so painful...and expensive!! So far the ER visit is totaling around $16,000!!! We're praying that insurance covers a large portion of that. What causes kidney stones? You're welcome to do more research but it's basically a mineral imbalance (calcium, potassium) and not enough fluids. We/Ed learned the hard way. I'm hoping this post will help you all. Drink more water!!
Happy Ed after his stone passed, just getting ready to take it in to be tested

7 comments:

Courtney said...

WOW! 16K that's a lot. I had the same thing happen to me a few months ago. Our bill came to $3200 and we thought that was a lot!

Unknown said...

My family all gets kidney stones. Okay, well my mom, Justin and Dane so far. My mom went as far as to say they are more painful than child birth. (I think it had been over 15 years since having a baby when she made that comment. Like she can remember!) But yeah, I hope I never get one! OUCH! My birthday is coming up too, so I have to renew my license. Luckily for me though, I can do it over the internet or mail. It has been forever since you posted last! Sarah is getting so big! So cute.

Heather said...

That SUCKS!! I am so sorry Ed, and I will totally pray they cover a large chunk of that moola for ya. ER's are spensive :) I hope he is feeling so much better and I'm glad it's over with.

jularun7 said...

poor, poor ed!! glad that's done. sheesh.

..::k.toms::.. said...

How sad!
I never knew what caused them- thanks for the info! I will now drink tons of agua to prevent them!
I can't imagine how painful they are- freaking passing STONES OUT OF YOUR URETHRA! Holy cow, the human body is very odd!
Linds- your baby girl is so beautiful! She looks so much like you! So neat to see everyone and their kids and how much they look alike!

..::k.toms::.. said...

Post Script-
I love Coach. Where'd you get the blankie the hubby is using? So cute!

..::k.toms::.. said...

Another P.S.-
I do have more than HALF a brain, I think? I'm just noticing they are FLOWERS- not the C's from Coach....
Yeah... I'm retarded.
Sorry for all the comments...