Friday, February 08, 2013

One Week in the Life

On Saturday night I had a Wii party with Willie, EmJ, and Luke.  We danced and played baseball and enjoyed ourselves.  A few minutes after I sent the kids to bed I was struck with the most intense, blinding pain in my left side.  Knowing that it wasn't my "attendix", I immediately put Luke to work playing doctor online and researching kidney stones.

(I probably had a couple of other warnng signs that went ignored.)

While he was researching, his outlook growing dimmer with each passing "after three days I asked my mother to kill me" blog post, I was writhing on the bathroom floor.

Writhing.  Literally could not be still.  Especially while vomitting.  For 20 solid hours.

I spent some of that time on the phone with my sister-in-law hoping that she'd give me a magic cure, when I know she just wanted to give me a lecture about the importance of seeing a DOCTOR once in a while!!  Talking to her was a good diversion, though, and informative as always.

Anyway, I had a four hour reprieve while Luke and the kids were at church on Sunday...the pain abrubtly stopped and I went to sleep for four good hours and then woke up with my abdomen screaming again.

I called Luke and said I couldn't take it any more, it was time to swallow my pride and go to the ER.

And so we did.  Thankfully, the waiting room was empty and within 20 minutes or so I was hooked up to what I like to call the "magic juice."  I wish I could have stayed in that bed, hooked up to that juice, forever.

Forever was only four hours, at which time the doctor came in and said, "You have one honker of a kidney stone.  Here's some medicine (not as good as the magic juice, but passable).  Call your doctor (I still don't actually have one) if the stone doesn't pass in a couple of days.  Goodbye!  Have fun!"

So, you can imagine, this week has not been fun.  I am under house arrest because the medicine clouds my head something fierce, and makes me sleepy (I actually LOVE that part!).  I haven't eaten anything, which has translated into major problems for not only my digestive system, but for poor, undernourished Kaylyn.  And worse than being under house arrest is that I haven't actually gotten anything done...no reading, no pointless hours on facebook, nothing!  I've just been surviving.  I had finally begun to feel on top of things again, post-Christmas, just last Friday, but this week has set us back again.  Next week I'll resume, "running after my life trying to pick up the pieces."  Luke and I exchanged the following set of texts a few days ago:

Luke:  I love you and hope you feel better soon!
Kirs:  Thanks, I'm fine...I just hate feeling useless.
Luke:  Sometimes it takes being useless to help us recognize what's really important.
Kirs:  If I could think clearly, I'd make fun of you for being too philosophical.
Luke:  I knew you were going to say that.

Really, though, being useless does teach you a few things.
1.  The world goes on without you.  Somebody else will fill in on those things that you fancied yourself critical for...including caring for the kids.
2.  You feel so loved.  Willie went ahead and told his entire class and everyone at the bus stop (including my visiting teacher) about my plight, so I've had well-wishers and help being offered.  I've had pizza and soup brought over when I said, "I'm fine!"  Among other helps.
3.  Luke gets major brownie points for taking care of me for an entire night and day, and the kids for two entire days...and most of the before and after-school time the entire week.  And for not saying a word about how much the ER visit is going to cost us.  (But we're well into that deductible, so now would be a good time for me to break my leg, get my eyes checked, start seeing a chiropracter, get carpal tunnel surgery, have a baby, etc.)
4.  The kids get to spend some quality time with grandma, get out of the house, eat a home-cooked meal, and learn their 11s times tables.
5.  We really can survive on two weeks without a grocery trip....I think the budget will be better this month because of it.  And the gas budget....but I think the car has broken down anyway, which is another story all together.

Here's to hoping that your week was more productive, though quite a bit more boring than mine!

1/13/13

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