The Saga Continues.....

Well, I thought the whole kidney stone story was over, but, alas, it wasn't. In my last post I was a day away from getting the stint removed and moving on with life without kidney stones. Well, I did get the stint removed on Friday and had a pretty good day. I got some housework done, had a friend over...all was going pretty normal. Later that night I was feeling a bit of pain and figured I had overdone it. Around 11:30p.m. I got up to take some pain meds, but they never kicked in! The pain became completely unbearable!! I finally gave in around 1a.m. and let Jon take me back into the ER. (My AMAZING friend, Laurie came right over to stay with my sleeping kiddos!) Thankfully, the ER was not busy again and I never even had a chance to sit in the waiting room. They took my right in, got me scanned again and on morphine. Unfortunately, the morphine didn't work like it had before. The pain wasn't going away. It didn't take long before the doctor came in and told me that there were still kidney stones in there and that they were going to admit me into the hospital. I guess the plan was that they would put me on a Demerol pump and lots of fluids in hopes of flushing the stone out. If that didn't work, we would talk to the doctor in the morning and see what his next plan would be. (Possibly surgically removing the stone?)

After a fairly sleepless night and lots of waiting for the doctor on Saturday morning, the doctor said that he would like to wait the day out and see if I could pass the stone on my own. Due to the size of the stone he thought that was a definite possibility. I spent the day in the hospital completely drugged, slept most of the day and made FREQUENT trips to the bathroom. Unfortunately, no stone. My friend, Laurie, stayed at my house with my kids all day!! I know they had a great time, but at the same time, I felt awful that she had to spend her whole day at my house. Jon talked to his parents sometime that afternoon and they offered to come down and help out. NICE!! My family got to have a nice home cooked dinner that night! I was so thankful!

Another crummy night of sleep and still no stone. More waiting for the doctor.....

Finally, the doctor came in and gave me a choice. He could send me home with pain meds and I could see if I could pass the stone at home. Or he could take me into surgery and remove the stone. Hmmm...Not much thinking had to go into that one! TAKE ME IN!!! Within about half an hour I was back in surgery for the third time this year!! I, obviously, didn't care! I just wanted this whole thing to be over! As I was laying in the recovery room coming out of the anesthesia the nurse told me that the doctor had removed TWO stones and had shown them to Jon. She then asked if I would like to see them. Heck yes I wanted to see them!! Those things look just as nasty as they sound! They looked like little pieces of gravel with jagged edges and all. NASTY!! I asked if I could take them home, but unfortunately, she said they had to be sent in. I would love to share a picture with you! I know, you are probably glad to not see them! It wasn't too long after returning to my room that I was released to go home. Crazy!

This is the banner that all the kids made for me! Ben and Abby were disappointed when we tried to come in through the garage when we got home. We had to re-direct and come through the front door so I could see it as soon as I came in. So sweet! Thank you, Laurie!!

Ben's humor...

I asked Ben if this was what he was going to have tatooed on his arm. He didn't think it was very funny...

A bit of love from Abby.

Luke' artwork.

I came home to my three happy, smiling, adorable children, a clean house with the laundry done (My father in law and Ben took all of the laundry to the laundromat because the pipes to my washer were still frozen!), groceries bought and homemade chicken soup simmering in the crock pot!! It was amazing!! I don't know what I would have done without all of the help! THANK YOU KEN AND JEANIE!!!

Yesterday was a great day for me. I did absolutely nothing, at the demands of my husband, and felt very little pain! I was able to make it through the day without taking any pain medication! I slept great last night! I am feeling a little bit sore today, but still haven't taken any pain medication! I actually made it to the grocery store today! I am due to return to the doctor's office on Friday to have my stint removed. (He put another one in on Sunday just to make sure everything was draining and to get rid of any remaining kidney stone residue that was left.) Please pray with me that there will be no more stones and no more issues! I am a little bit nervous about getting the stint out, but I'm sure everything will be just fine.

I would be a complete loser if I didn't say what an amazing husband I have!! He is truly AMAZING!!! Jon has taken care of SO much while I have been out of commission! He has run the kids wherever they need to be, done laundry, taken care of meals, cleaned house, sat with me in the ER, waited for me in surgery, sat with my in the hospital through my awake times as well as my sleeping times. Everything! There are so many things I can't even name them all! Jon you are the BEST and I love you SO much!!!

I can't thank everyone enough for everything!! From watching the kids, to bringing meals, to taking care of things at home, even all of the well wishes on Facebook.... I am truly blessed!! THANK YOU!!!