Kyle and his trip to the ER....

Poor, poor Kyle!! I am a little late in posting this -- but about a week ago, Friday Nov.30 to be exact, Kyle had a KIDNEY STONE! NOT a fun experience!! Here is the full story -- and my stories are NOT short so prepare yourselves for a LONG one... Kyle woke up as usual at around 6:30am and started having some pain in his lower left back in the shower. When he got out he woke me up and said that he was worried that it might be a kidney stone. Kyle's dad and brother have both had them before so Kyle knew some of the tell-tale signs. Plus he does NOT drink enough water (I always give him a hard time about it) and a couple days before had not had anything to drink for almost the whole day.

After I was up, in a matter of about 15 minutes the pain was so severe that Kyle could hardly carry on a conversation. He was rolling around on the couch in pain and was also throwing-up because the pain was so bad. I was in a panic on what to do. I jumped on the computer and looked up Kidney Stones and all of Kyle's symptoms matched up. WebMD said to go to the hospital if you think you may have a kidney stone and so I went running downstairs and told Kyle that we needed to go to the ER. He was in so much pain that he didn't argue and off we went -- me in my P.J.s and all.

They admitted him fairly quickly once we were there and got him started on an I.V. to get fluids in him to try and flush the stone out. They didn't give him any pain meds right away and the first picture below is what Kyle looked like in his pain and suffering. The picture quality is bad because I took them with my phone. I know that it is TOTALLY SICK that I took a picture of Kyle like this. It is horrible, but while I was sitting there watching Kyle suffer the thought came to me to take a picture for the blog! You know you are a little too "blog-obsessed" when you start having thoughts like this during a time like that. So, I mentioned to Kyle while he lay there in pain that I had the most horrible thought and explained about the thought coming to me to take a picture for the blog and he said "Go for it". So with a little hesitation knowing how demented it was I took a picture.

Shortly after I took the picture the pain got so bad that Kyle didn't think he could handle it anymore and the nurses came with the blessed pain meds! The second picture is of Kyle post-pain-meds. It was nice to see him more relaxed and out of pain. It is SO HARD to watch a loved one suffer and not be able to do anything. About 15 minutes after he got the meds he started writhing in pain again and said that this pain was even worse than it was before. The stone must have been on the move and the pain-meds weren't helping anymore. So the hospital staff came back and gave him some stronger stuff and that seemed to help. He was more than a little out of it -- but at least he was comfortable.

Kyle got a C.T. scan and it was confirmed that he had a kidney stone -- a 3mm one to be exact. They said that with the help of pain meds and I.V. fluids he should be able to pass it by himself. So they before they would let us leave they wanted to make sure that everything was working properly and that Kyle could us the bathroom. Well it took 4-LITERS of I.V. fluids before he could "go". Even the Doctors were astonished at how much fluids it took. They said that Kyle must have been pretty dehydrated and needed to be more conscious of drinking fluids through-out the day. I decided to hold back the "I told you so's". :)

So eventually Kyle did what the Doctors wanted and we were able to go home. The third picture is of Kyle all dressed and ready to get outta there. It was about 4:30 by this time, so we put in a nice long day in the ER. When we finally got home Kyle curled up on the couch while I went to the Pharmacy to get his pain meds. After a weekend of rest, relaxation and pain meds -- Kyle was back to himself again -- a little sore, but up and going.

Needless to say Kyle drinks LOTS and LOTS of water now. And I am drinking even more than I was before too. I DO NOT want to experience what I watched Kyle go through. So... all of you out there DRINK YOUR WATER -- and make sure your spouses and family are drinking enough water also!!

So there you have it... the WHOLE long story of Kyle's Kidney Stone experience. Spending the whole day in the hospital with him has really made me start to dread my upcoming "hospital experience". I told Kyle this and he said "Well, at least you get a reward at the end of it"... Which is true... but I still have a bit of apprehension about the whole ordeal. Especially now that it is just around the corner! Anyway... I still need to post about Thanksgiving and chopping down our Christmas Tree -- so hopefully in the next week I will get to that. :)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Kyle BEFORE the pain meds...Kyle AFTER the pain meds...
Kyle all ready to get out of the hospital...