Ouch!

[bjarvis]

I was awakened at approximately 5:30am today with some minor back pain. Over the next half-hour, the pain in my lower left escalated from a minor nuisance to OMG-someone-please-kill-me.

My first thought was kidney stones: I've had bouts with those three times in the past, beginning in 1986 but the last major round was about 15 years ago when I was still in Canada. I don't remember it hurting this much though and the generalized pain seemed most intense in my left front rather than my back so I also wondered if it might have been something even more serious like an intestinal blockage.

The pain ebbed & flowed over the next hour as I dithered over what to do. If it was just kidney stones, I should drink lots of water and let them pass as quickly as possible; there was little point in going to the hospital. If, however, it was something worse, well...

I drank water. Lots. And when the pain spiked again, I started vomiting and lost the lot. Then I drank more.

By 7am, I realized this was a losing battle and I needed help. I called the front desk who summoned the ambulance. I was called by the San Mateo 911 who kept me engaged in conversation and collected key medical & personal data until the EMTs arrived. The EMTs did a quick check of my vitals and took a brief history, agreed it was probably kidney stones and then we discussed hospital options. Based on my medical insurance, they recommended going to Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, not the nearest hospital but in their professional opinion the place I would get the fastest attention. And off we went!

I was placed in an ER bed immediately and the nursing staff did what they could to make me comfortable while collecting a history and other such information. Dr. Barbie Barrett saw me shortly thereafter and ordered routine blood tests from lab tech Lolita and a drip of Toradol, Diluadid and Zofran from Jenny. While the meds were being arranged, Matt wheeled me to Imaging where Keith & Eric performed a CAT scan of my abdomen.

Luck is never entirely on my side though: shortly after I arrived at the hospital, there was a power failure. The backup generators kept the basic systems running but the newer, faster CAT scanner required more power than the generators could supply. I had to settle for the older CAT scanner and a 20 minute imaging process. Before I got my painkillers. Ouch.

Jenny was waiting with the IV meds as soon as I was wheeled back into the ER. And what wonderful stuff it was! Within a few minutes, I was feeling waves of warmth over my skin and a slight sense of dizziness. Minutes later, the pain was gone. Yay!

Dr. Barrett dropped by a little later to do an ultrasound of the rest of my abdomen to confirm there were no abnomalies masquerading as a kidney stone issue. Blood work came back exceedingly normal (as was my blood pressure and pulse, all things considered) and there was a high haemoglobin content in my urine, lending more support to the kidney stone theory.

The CAT scan results found two larger stones (that is, 2-5mm in size) and smaller bits in my kidneys which may indicate future stones forming. Much drinking of water is in my near future to see if we can flush these puppies. They also revealed a number of small cysts on the left kidney which I'll have to have checked soon. They could be nothing at all; indeed, I could have had them practically my entire life and never knew it. Still, we won't know until a detailed ultrasound is performed, along with a possible biospy.

After an orange-flavoured drink to boost my potassium, I was told to drink lots and avoid dairy for a while, then discharged and sent on my way with a prescription for Flowmax to help flush the kidneys and Vicodon in case I have more pain before I get back to DC. The prescriptions are at the local CVS Pharmacy even as I write this.

I'm back at my hotel currently and am in desperate need of a shower and a fresh change of clothes. My run of luck continues: housekeeping is preparing my room right now so I'm using a lobby terminal. Shortly, I'll be back at the office to catch up on the day's work. I'm still feeling somewhat exhausted from the day's events but it would be prudent to be around other people for a while in case there is some subsequent issue.

Comments

[danthered.livejournal.com]

Ohgawd. I empathise, having had too many K-stones myself—the last one a 7mm triangle with pointy corners and sharp edges, which on several occasions cared not a whit that I'd taken double doses of Vicodin and whatever the other oral painkiller was they'd given me, necessitating trips for IV morphine at the ER in cabs wherein the drivers were not entirely sure my head wasn't going to explode in a shower of alien babies, just going by my noisemaking and writhing. Whew. That sentence was way too long. Once that last one was done (i.e., had moved so as to be targetable by the ultrasonic lithotriptor) they sent me round to a dietician who taught me some very interesting and counterintuitive things. So far so good (knock wood), but they say the only certain thing about K-stones is that he who gets them once will get them again. Hooray for us. :-( Be well!