My Existence

So ya, I am “doped up” on a generic brand of percocet, woohoo! The prescription bottle has “Endocet 5/325″ on it, it is some mixture of Acetaminophen and Oxycodone! Flying high, or at least as close as I will prolly ever get, ahaha!

Not the first time I have had them in my system since the Sunday the 17th of August, when I called 911 around 11:25 and got rushed to the emergency room at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center.  I was diagnosed with kidney stones basically as soon as the technicians heard my complaints of pain, where it started and how it moved through my system, with the way I was walking and when I explained to them that I had vomited so much from the pain I had nothing left in my stomach.  That plus the pain had died down considerably and was just a dull sharp ache between my kidneys and bladder.

While on a stretcher being wheeled into the hospital, the technician couldn’t remember the code to the door to get in, which I find to be a HUGE mistake.  Next, while still being wheeled in, the three of them were told to put me in room six.  This same technician goes to room five and as he is steering me towards the door,  me the one in pain, disorientated, possibly with some sort of pain killer going through my system in the IV they put in me, still has the senses to be listening to them and speak up when I notice them going into the wrong room.  Thinking about, I am completely amazed at how much of my faculties were still with me in the position.  I am also very much impressed by it.

While in room six, I see four people.  One person who is taking the notes about admit time, getting my information etc, takes my insurance card( THANK YOU INSURANCE! ) and never seen again.  The nurse, who comes in and asks me what happened, tells me what is going on.  And lastly, a “doctor,” who I see for about..2 minutes?  Asks me the same exact questions the nurse did, and then leaves.  Never got a name.  And lastly, the girlfriend, GF or my favorite “stupid bitch.”  She asked where I was being taken and came on down.  After I told her not to come to the hospital.  She did it anyways.  She “wanted to show her support and worry” she said.  My only concern was why she couldn’t do as I asked.  I told her I didn’t want her there cause she causes me stress just by being in the same room with her.  When I told her to leave, she ARGUED with me on it!  If someone is in the hospital, not dying, and requests to be alone….you do what they ask!!  I can’t believe she had the nerve to argue with me about it, to the point where I had to tell her I would press the little red button on my bed and when the nurse came in I would request she be escorted out of the room.  She left, snapping some nonsense at me.
So yeah, I was in the hospital for under two hours and released with a few urine strainers and prescription for a generic brand percocet, which was suppose to help with any future pain.  I got told to see my PCP and a Urologist as soon as possible, which amusingly wasn’t for eight day, the following Monday the 25th!!  I was told to drink a lot of fluids, at least 64oz( eight cups ) a day to pass the stone. I was released sometime around 13:30 and had the stupid bitch pickup me up.  Surprised she came?  While we were arguing in the hospital room, I told her if she wanted to show her concern she could show it by picking me up.
I did end up seeing my PCP for the first time on Thursday the 21st, but for a different reason:  Ear Infection!  I had it ALL going on apparently!!  While there, Julianne also inquired about my stones, but since I was there for my ear the visit was for my ear mostly!  I did however get a PCP Referral to give the Urologist!
I had ear canal tubes twice while I was younger, and because of the amount of wax build up I had that day, she was unable to determine if in fact I did have an ear infection but she said it was very likely and gave me a prescription of Amoxicillin just in case.  Then she suggested I use Deborox to help reduce the wax build up, which is something I have used in the past to help without even knowing I had an issue with my ears!  She also suggested I try a hot press, to help heat the wax and then flush it with a solution of half water and hydrogen peroxide.

Ah the 25th, the first morning I was woken up by searing pain around my kidney!  I think it was around 2am that the pain woke me, and it didn’t relent enough until past 4am.  I was an hour late for work, but I went into work…in pain, using most of my concentration on just managing the pain.  I still was able to work, thankfully.  Tuesday, the 26th.  Woke up yet AGAIN to even MORE pain, but it was around 0730 this time.  I was not late for work, and yes…I did go into work again.  Wednesday…..on this morning, I took one of the pills for the pain.  Sometime around 6am, which is when I got woken up, and the pain lasted until 0815.  I had to call out because I was not going to be able to drive myself to work after taking a percocet, and by the time I was able to drive almost 8 hours later, the day was already over.  Thursday morning I again had to call out of work, and this time I called the Urologist and told them I was unable to wait until the following Tuesday for the appointment.  Monday was Labor Day.  They said they would call me back, and they did….around 10:15, and told me to get to the hospital for 11am so I could have x-rays and an Ultra Sound done.  Got told the stone was at least 8mm by the Ultra sound lady, I have a picture that I took of the machine with the image still on it, will upload it later!  Saw the Urologist, who said she though it was closer to 2mm and she explained my options:  I could continue to try and pass it orthey could use a catheter and stent to help open up my urinary passages to allow it to move more easily.  I decided to try to pass it myself, and I ended up doing that Friday morning around 11am.  I had called out of work again, this time with a Doctors note!  I ended up going back to the Urologist that day and handing in the stone, finally……and the biggest piece was about 7mm.  It had two other smaller pieces which were about 3mm each.
I think I know why I had very little pain the first week. I was not drinking enough fluids.  To pass the stone, they wanted me drinking 64oz a day, of water.  On average I drink about 32oz of fluid a day, 24 of which is coffee or tea, with lots of sugar.  So the first week, I was still acclamating myself to drinking more fluids…and as soon as I hit a certain point, the stone started moving again.  It makes perfect sense to me!

So, that is my story about Kidney stones.  I am still waiting to hear back from the Urologist, telling me what I need to do to help reduce the risk of getting more, and what caused this one.  And I consider myself a very lucky individual, for my newly acquired health insurance from my very nice job, covered the ENTIRE ambulence bill( $4500+ ), I have a $100 copay for the Emergency Room visit, and while I think it is a mistake, I seem to owe the Urologist ~$190.xx for a “self-referred” visit….honestly?  I’d rather pay $200 than call them up and say there was a mistake and I need to pay $4500 instead!!!