Everybody must get stoned...

if you're just now starting my blog, you missed a lot.

in a nutshell, i've got kidney stones. had my first attack about 3 years ago, and i thought i was going to die. honestly. my gut felt like it was exploding, and i had no idea what was wrong. i ended up going to the ER, they told me i had kidney stones, and a few days later, with much trepidation, fear, and Tylenol-3 (acetaminophen with codeine), i passed two stones at once.

flash back to this past summer, and BAM, hit again, although the pain in my gut was much less severe, to the point it took me a few days to realize i was having another kidney stone attack. i passed a few more stones in the following week, and that was that.

until about 2 weeks ago, when i passed another stone. and then, last week, another - both of these with the help of Tylenol-4 (acetaminophen with EVEN MORE codeine).

it was time to do something about it, and yesterday i had extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy to break up this motherfucker of a large stone (larger than any of the 7 or 8 i've already passed) in my right kidney.



that's pretty much what they did to me, although the waves broke up the stone while still in my kidney (ya know, the thing that looks like a kidney BEAN in that image), and my knees were raised with a pillow-like thing, almost like i was giving birth.

at one point, the technician squirted water on my side just before i passed out, and said "water. that was water. i don't want you thinking it was something weird or something," which provided me with a good laugh until the anesthesia took hold, and i went out like a light.

the pre-op sucked. my procedure was at 2:30 pm on Thursday. Wednesday night, i could have no solid food after 5 pm. no liquids, including water *and* caffeine, after midnight. which meant, the day of my procedure, i'd be dehydrated, *and* cranky.

and of course, all of that on top of having to drink a 10 oz bottle of Magnesium Citrate, which, basically, is laxative to, err, clean one out prior to a medical procedure...

later, some of the post-op, including why the nurse's comment of "it'll be perfectly normal for your urine to look like Cherry Kool-Aid for a few days" wasn't *exactly* right...