Well, it's safe to say that this year has not started out quite like we had hoped. Chris has already had a trip to the ER, an overnight hospital stay, and a surgery, and this was all before January 12th!!! The culprit? None other than kidney stones . . . AGAIN!
Kidney stones are unfortunately not an unfamiliar struggle for Chris, although it's been about 7 1/2 years since he's had any trouble with them. You can read all about his experience with kidney stones in the summer of 2016 here. And, even before that, Chris has had several instances of kidney stones dating all the way back to when we were in college and lived in Tahlequah in 2004.
So this time . . .
Back before Christmas, Chris was experiencing some pretty severe back pain. In fact, he purchased a back massager/heat thing to attach to his office chair to try and get some relief. He would struggle with the back pain for a few days, then it would go away, then come back again, and so on. I even asked him if the pain was possibly kidney stones, and he said no way. It didn't feel like that at all.
The pain continued on and off after Christmas, but started to get more severe about January 6th. Chris insisted that it wasn't kidney stones, and I figured with all the past experience he has had with them then he would know. On Monday, January 9th he went to bed feeling pretty bad, and woke up about 4:00am on Tuesday, January 10th in excruciating pain. He had the telltale symptoms of kidney stones at this point, and we were pretty much sure that's what we were dealing with. I gave Russ a nice early morning wake-up call and asked if he could take Chris to the ER and stay with him until I could get the little girls off to school. He and Lisa are down to one car right now, but she offered to find a ride to school for her and Chloe so Russ could come get Chris. I was so thankful to have someone to call and who could help us out again. Chris and Russ have shared more than one ER experience together!
While Russ took Chris to the ER, I got the little girls off to school and dropped the big kids at Grampy and G-Jo's house. By the time I got the ER, Chris was comfortable and officially diagnosed with kidney stones. While waiting to be sent home, I called Chris's urologist's office (the same one who did his kidney stone surgery in 2016) and got an appointment to be seen at 9:30am. The big kids had co-op that day since it was a Tuesday, so I picked them up from Grampy and G-Jo's house and drove us all to Chris's appointment in Owasso. I'm not really sure why I decided to do that except I thought that maybe I could drop the kids at co-op after the appointment, get Chris home, then go pick them up.
Whatever it was that I was thinking is not how things ended up working out. Dr. T took one look at Chris's ultrasounds from the ER and at the shape Chris was in and immediately sent us next door to Bailey Hospital for him to be admitted. I was pretty shocked by this because this is not how things played out last time. I hadn't really considered that Dr. T would admit Chris to the hospital.
While we were waiting for a room, Tia came and picked up Brianna and Brenson and took them to co-op and to lunch. While they were gone, I was able to get Chris settled in his room. He was on some pretty good drugs and was still comfortable at this point.
As soon as I got Chris settled, Tia brought Brianna and Brenson back to me at the hospital. Then, the kids and I went home to coordinate all the other things that needed to be done so I could go back and stay at the hospital with Chris. I packed a bag for myself, helped Bri and Bren pack a bag, and wrote down a basic schedule of the kids' activities for the week. G-Jo agreed to pick the little girls up from school (who had no idea what was going on at this point) while Grampy took the big kids back to their house. I headed back to the hospital prepared to stay the night with Chris.
I made it back to the hospital just in time to see Dr. T and have him go through things with us. Back in 2016, he had determined that Chris has a large mass in his right kidney. This mass is caused by a congenital malformation of the kidney, and while it is mostly stable, a piece of it had broken off and was trying to pass through Chris's system as a kidney stone. Additionally, somehow he also had a stone on his left side, as well. Dr. T was waiting on the results of some bloodwork, but had tentatively scheduled surgery for Chris for the next morning.
Dr. T's crude drawing of Chris's kidneys
Chris's parent came by to visit for a little while in the late afternoon, then Russ and Lisa brought us dinner and visited for a bit after Chris's parents left. Chris was feeling pretty loopy on the pain meds, but he was feeling good enough that he wanted to get up and walk. Russ walked with him up and down the hallway a few times.
The things we have to do for some alone time, haha!
The hospital wasn't very busy, so it was mostly very quiet during the night. However, at one point we could hear a newborn baby crying, and Chris woke up and was very upset about the "cat" disturbing his sleep. He kept saying, "Why is there a cat here? Can't you make it shut-up?" Another time, he woke up suddenly and grabbed his phone. I was sleeping very lightly and awoke anytime he woke. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he was going to send some work e-mails. Ummm, nope! I promptly took his phone away from him!
At about 5:00am on Wednesday, January 11th, a nurse came in the room and told us it was time to go to pre-op. I was surprised but also thankful that we didn't have to wait all day. Chris was in surgery by 7:00am, and we were back in the room by 9:30am. Everything went really smoothly, and Dr. T felt like he was able to remove all the things that needed to be removed. He also didn't see any other areas of concern, which was good.
Chris slept the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon. We were pretty sure he would be discharged that day, but we had to wait for Dr. T to come by and officially release him. The nurses kept telling us he would be by within the hour, which just kept turning into another hour and another hour. Finally, at 5:30pm, Dr. T came by and said Chris could go home! Hooray!
We arrived home just as Grampy, G-Jo, and the kids were getting ready to walk out the door for Wednesday evening Bible study. Rebekah P had brought dinner - which was a huge help to G-Jo - and we are just so grateful for all the ways people have helped us and continue to help!
Chris currently has a stint in each kidney, which is uncomfortable, and an appointment for a follow-up visit with Dr. T in a few days. He thought he might be able to work the Thursday and Friday after he was in the hospital, but he mostly just rested (which is what his body needed). He did work yesterday (Monday) and is very anxious to get back to his normal routine and life. He's not exactly a great patient, so I think we're all ready for him to be feeling healthy and good again! Interestingly, he said earlier today that he didn't realize how bad he was feeling prior to all this until he started feeling better. His kidneys were working very hard to do their job, and Dr. T said that his right kidney was actually only working at about 20 percent. He didn't realize what his body was going through just to function!
While I realize that there are much, much worse things that can happen than what we've just experienced, it's still crazy to me how life can turn upside in an instant. I can't say enough how grateful we are for all the people who just dropped their own things to step in and help us manage the kids, schedules, co-op, basketball practice, etc. We are truly thankful to God for His bountiful blessings!
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