Kidney Stone

Well, so much for the last blog where I was excited about my beautiful garden!(It has been SO HOT here without any rain) so we're having to water every day just to keep it alive. It's doing ok, just not as beautiful as it was 3 weeks ago.

It has been a hard last couple weeks with lots of unexpected happenings. That's probably why I've put off blogging for the past few days because I knew it would be a long one. I'll try not to give every detail though....

On Friday the 30th, we headed out to my parent's ranch for the weekend. I packed really quick since I knew it would only be a 48 hour or less trip. Everything was going good, enjoying the country life, Charlie doing the things he likes to do when we go out there. Saturday afternoon, after Charlie had been out most of the day in our HOT, dry TX heat, we were all sitting out on the front porch, drinking some iced tea, chatting with our family, when... I notice Charlie get up and start stretching his back out.. leaning from side to side. I may have been the only one to notice because we all just kept talking. Then, I noticed he must have gone inside. I go in to fill up my tea glass and thought I should go check and make sure he's ok. Well, he wasn't!! He was back in our room, stripped down to his underwear, hunched over barely able to talk. I ask, "What is going on"? "I think I have a kidney stone", he groans in major discomfort. "Do we need to go to the hospital"? He called his cousin who is married to a doctor and talks to her. They're always giving each other a hard time, so she thought he was pulling one over on her once again. I finally got on the phone and told her he was serious. "Get him to the ER" she said. I guess he just needed someone other than me to tell him we should go?! It was really scary b/c he was hyperventilating to the point his hands got stiff. My Dad rushed him to the nearest ER, 30 mins away (I think it only took them 15 mins). Charlie doesn't know if it was the speed my dad was driving or the pain that made him puke on the way there.

They got him feeling comfy and then diagnosed him from the CT scan with an almost 5mm stone lodged in his ureter. Probably not passable but Charlie was hopeful!! Also, how do we get back to FW, to a normal size hospital, to his regular doctors, to what we were comfy with??

They were collecting his urine (looked like a really strong sweet tea) for almost 2 days, straining for the stone. By Monday, Charlie was tired of nothing happening and still pushing the morphine button. The only urologist in town took him in to remove it around 2:00. In the OR for almost 2 hours (included recovery), the stone was GONE!! but now he had a stint in his ureter that would have to stay for a few days. Supposedly it would help to keep the ureter dilated if there were any other particles that needed to pass?!?

To say the least... this was all traumatizing to my poor hubby. We ended up back at my parents for several days, including another visit to the ER (he was having severe pain again on Wed. night) but finally getting the courage to make the 2 hour drive home on Friday evening.

During all this, I had to stay away from my baby Eli overnight for the first time ever. I did go home both nights to put the boys in bed before going back to the hospital. Hopefully he didn't even know I was gone! I just wanted to be there for Charlie and since my parents were there for my babies, it all worked out great!! It really was a blessing in that respect that we were at my parents if something like this had to happen. Thanks so much Mom and Dad(Nana and Pappy)... Don't know what we would have done without all your help this week!!

Results of being gone for 7 days instead of the planned 2 days:
1. buying more diapers/wipes
2. washing clothes or borrowing my sister Becca's(for myself)
3. unpaid bills at home that I was going to pay on Monday
4. mail stacking up in the mailbox (thanks to wonderful friends for checking it for us)
5. the GARDEN!! and my flowers- Thanks to another set of wonderful friends for watering
6. missing the zoo member day on Monday and then the Library Kick Off day on Thursday (oh, well.. the boys love being at Nana and Pappy's better anyway!)
7. Charlie taking a week of unexpected vacation time.. YUCK, what a way to vacation..in PAIN!

So.. we got home on Friday night around 9:00. (He had taken the stint out on Thurs. night and everything was good during the day Friday so we thought it was time to come home.) The trip home was surprisingly unpainful, with few stops made. YEA!! No pain in a while and things getting better, right?! Oh, not quite. Around 11:30 when we were getting in bed, Charlie starts having severe pain again. I'm like, "You are kidding, right?". He was able to get it under control with extra pain meds and then it happened again on Sat. night around the same time. OH GREAT... Now we're home, without parents to help, and we're going to have to go to the ER??? He was able to stay somewhat comfy until Sunday a.m. when he insisted he go. A friend was kind enough to come take him for me so I could stay with the boys. After another CT, nothing was revealed in the ureter but 3 tiny stones up in the kidney. That's not what would be causing this pain though. They said it was just the ureter spasming from the damage of the stone he had removed and that it would get better in the next couple days. Home with more pain meds!! Ughhh...

He did go back to work on Monday, taking it easy, not working a whole day. And now it's Friday and he's made it all week. Still having to take some pain meds at night for the back discomfort but otherwise He is doing WELL!! I'm a little reluctant to say that since I said that almost every day last week and something always came up. I'll be praying that this NEVER happens to him again or anyone that I know!! I am still exhausted from the whole thing and I wasn't even the patient.

I'll be attending some much needed CE tonight and tomorrow so Charlie will have the boys to himself. I'm actually looking forward to some time to myself, even though it will be educational. That's how desperate I am right now... ha ha. An hour drive over there tonight (by myself), a 3 hour CE, wine and cheese afterward, then a 3 hour drive home. Maybe just a half glass since I'm driving home, huh!!

I'm going to try and do better at writing more often. I just got way too behind and have probably missed blogging about things I otherwise would have. Not many pictures from this trip either.

OHHHHH, How could I have forgotten. On Thursday, while at my parents, Charlie got a call from the VFD saying that our little hunting house on our land was burning down. Charlie was real calm on the phone and I couldn't tell who he was talking too, just that they were talking about the house at our land. He gets off the phone and says, "Our house is on fire". "WHAT??" So, we get in the car and drive 5 mins. over to see and YEP, it was already burnt to the ground!! It was really sad seeing it gone. Wow, how fast FIRE can destroy something. It was just a little white wooden house that the guys stayed in when they went to the land but it was CUTE and had potential. Charlie and Will had painted it and built a front porch on it and had other plans to make it better. Charlie had just put some donated items from a friend in their on Saturday that would be great additions for the "hunting cabin". We had also planted some peach trees close by, about 1-1/2 years ago, that were destroyed. Charlie took Will over there later and showed him what a fire could do. He said, Mommy, "The house was all squished". I do have a picture of the burnt house but you can't tell much so I may not even post it.
We were just so thankful it wasn't our HOME house that burned. And so thankful it was just a kidney stone and not cancer!!

To all getting better...
Jen