A new experience...

"What is that SHARP pain on my left side?" I thought. "Maybe it's just gas. I'll try the bathroom. Ok, that wasn't it!!! WHAT IS THAT PAIN!! Dear Lord, PLEASE HELP ME!!!" FYI here - I have a VERY HIGH pain tollerance!! I gave birth to our 2 oldest children with very little pain med and no epidural. So when I react to pain, my whole family knows it's BAD!! It was 6:00 AM on Saturday, March 26th. I had planned to sleep in and Doug had planned to take a marathon training run, but that didn't happen!!! The shooting pain on my left midsection abruptly startled me awake. After only a few minutes of seeking to deal with the pain, I asked Doug to take me to the emergency room. We called friends and fellow missionaries who came to our rescue and loved on our kiddos. I crawled into the front seat of the car, and realized that that wasn't going to work. I HAD to lay down in the back seat. Doug drove quickly, yet causiously with his hazzards on. Since it was so early and there was very little traffic, he even ran some red lights. He even passed a police car while he ran one red light. As he drove he had to contend with me vomitting in the back seat and telling him to go slower over the MANY speed bumps we have in this city. I have no idea when we actually got to the hospital, but when we did the symptoms didn't improve until another dose of vomiting, many drugs in an IV, and FINALLY MORPHINE!!! After a CT scan they determined that I have kidney stones. (Yes I did use the correct verb, HAVE.) The one that was causing all of the pain was trying to leave my body by scratching it's way out. They saw 5 kidney stones. 3 on the left side (2 still in my kidneys and the one that was trying to leave.) and 2 in my right kidney. OK, so what to do....

1. Check me into the hospital. (Our Blue Cross Blue Shied covers 100% of all in patient stays over 24 hours.)


2. See the doctor and then determine the next course of action.

That next course of action had 3 options.

1. Pass the stone naturally.


2. Take out the stone surgically.


3. Use sound waves to try to break up the stone so it would pass in smaller pieces.

So we waited 24 hours so see if anything would happen and so that I could have meds to dull the pain.

Sunday came with no new results and due to the meds, I felt absolutely fine. So, now back to the options. Because we weren't for sure that any of the medical options would be fully paid for and we're so short on monthly support, we decided to wait again until Monday AM to call the insurance company and get approval for the needed procedure/surgery.

Monday AM - Doug called the insurance company and all would be paid for. Next step, determine whether I would qualify for the sound wave procedure to break up the stones. (The stones have to show up on an X-Ray to be eligible for this procedure.) Well, guess what... NONE of the 5 showed up on X-Ray, so we had eliminated option 3. Option 1 was a painful option and one that with twin 2 year olds really wasn't an option due to the sudden onslaught of pain that could occur with no one here to help me.

Therefore, we went ahead with option 2 and on Monday at 12:00 PM I had the stone trying to exit my body, removed. Was it painless? NO and I did it with very little pain meds. I wanted to stay awake for the process so that I wouldn't have to deal with the anesthesia's after effects, and have the chance of going home on Monday night. However, due to continued pain after the procedure I did have to stay the night on Monday.

Tuesday AM I was able to come home and see my little girls. It took a few more days to feel completely back to normal again and I still have some pain now and again, but for the most part, I am FINE.

I am thankful for MANY things including...

A Chilean friend who came and cleaned my house.

The 8 fellow ABWE missionaries who helped us by either watching the kids, making us a meal, or both during the past week.

Having GREAT insurance that has said they will pay for everything!!!

That for now the count is... 1 down 4 to go!