kidney stones and dog hair dye gel

Shortly after coming home from work two Friday's ago I started to have pain in my abdomen. I often get sick to my stomach, but this pain was different. It was severe and sudden. I was very uncomfortable and kept wiggling around on the couch to see if anything would help. I curled up in a ball and dozed off for 30 minutes. Then I awoke to the pain coming back and it was intense. I called my mom and told her about the pain. The pain was on my left side so it wasn't my appendix (unless I am one of those very rare people who have all of the organs on the opposite side of their body). She suggested taking some advil and putting a rice bag on my side. That helped...for a little while. I was able to feel more comfortable and then I fixed me something to eat in hopes that the pain was gone for good. I wasn't that lucky. The pain came back and felt worse. I told my mom that I thought I could wait until the morning and go to a doc in the box. I really didn't like the idea of being so uncomfortable and in pain while sitting with sick people in the emergency room. Plus my er co-pay is $150. Note: in times of extreme pain and illness being thrifty isn't the smartest idea. The pain got worse through the night. I would doze off for 30-45 minutes at a time before waking up in pain. I would thrash around in my bed in severe pain. I left my bedroom door open and a lamp on so I had a clear and direct path to the bathroom, because as if severe pain isn't bad enough I felt nauseous and kept feeling like I was going to throw up which I did around 5 A.M. Each time I woke up the pain seemed to be worse. I thought about calling my mom and asking her to take me to the emergency room. During the night I had decided that my pain was severe enough that the emergency room would be a better plan than the doc in a box. I really hated the idea of waking her up and asking her to take me. Since the knee surgery she hasn't slept well and er trips seem to take a minimum of 4 hours. Also, being exposed to all the germs and sickness of an emergency room. I can handle the germs of sick kids at school a lot easier than random sick strangers in the emergency room. I realize I need to overcome my fear and aversion to germs and sicknesses in the emergency room. I finally gave in and called my mom around 6:30. She is still slow moving so it took her 45 minutes to get up and get ready before picking me up. I told her about how my night had gone. She wasn't happy that avoided calling her and waking her up since I was in so much pain. I arrived at the er 13 hours after the pain began. Note: the emergency room is rather calm and quiet and empty at 7:45 on a Saturday morning. I actually ended up in a hospital gown on a bed before finishing all the paperwork. The nurses quickly started tending to me and the doctor was in shortly after that. I gave her all of my symptoms and how life was for the past 13 hours. Severe abdominal pain could be a symptom of a lot of different things so she quickly ordered a lot of tests including blood, urine, c-t scan, and an x-ray. She offered me pain medicine which I quickly accepted. I told her that I don't handle pain medicine well. It makes me nauseous. I had already thrown up during the night and I didn't want to do that again. She said she doesn't give pain medicine without nausea medicine. She was definitely my kind of doctor. She also gave me the choice of a pill (30 minutes to take affect), a shot (10 minutes to take affect), or an iv (immediate relief). I am not a fan of needles, but I knew they were going to draw my blood so I figured they might as well start an iv. I wanted the pain gone asap! The nurse had a difficult time finding a vein to start the iv. I started to get nervous, but luckily I only got stuck once and he finally got it in. I felt A LOT better after getting the pain meds. The guy from radiology actually arrived before my nurse with the pain meds. The doctor said that if that happened I could tell him to come back later and that I was waiting on the pain meds. I really liked my doctor. The radiology guy came back to take me to the c-t scan before passing me off to the x-ray girl. Truthfully, I didn't care what was going on after I got the pain meds. The doctor came back in to tell me that I had a kidney stone. I had never had one before, but I knew that it was a likely option given my symptoms. Luckily, there was only one stone and it was small enough to pass without any intervention. She offered me some more pain medicine before I left through my iv since I had a driver (mom). At first I was hesitant and told her that I thought I would be okay. She said she would recommend the extra dose of pain meds so I agreed. When the nurse came back with the Demerol I went from feeling the burning of the medicine in the iv to my head swimming. I immediately had to lay down and close my eyes so that I could remind myself that I was lying still even though my head felt like one of those weeble wobble toys. The longest waiting time was waiting for the last pain dose and the dismissal papers. I don't mind waiting when I am not in pain. Mom was kind enough to take me to Shaggy's for lunch and cvs to pick up my meds. I spent the rest of Saturday in a drug induced haze. I really have no tolerance for pain meds. I did back off on the pain meds on Sunday so I could go up to school and get things ready for Monday with a  sub. Mom was also kind enough to pick me up some things from the grocery store so I wouldn't have to go. I decided that Monday I would only take the medicine for inflammation not pain. My head was a lot more clear that way. I finally passed the kidney stone Monday night. I have been told that the pain of a kidney stone is similar to that of labor pains. Since I haven't had a baby I can't confirm or deny the claim, but I will say that it was the worse pain I have ever experienced. Within 30 minutes of parting with my kidney stone mom was checking the bank account online. She informed me that I only had $46 in my account. I told her that couldn't be true. Then we noticed 3 charges that were pending that were not made by me. I was immediately on the phone canceling the card and freezing the account. Someone tried to treat themselves to $1,085 worth of tires and $158 at an online store, Wayfair. There was an extra charge of $1.00 because the amount exceeded what was in the account. The $1.00 and $1,085 charges never got processed although they hung out in pending for several days. The $158 did get processed. Luckily, mom was able to contact the company before the product shipped and they refunded the charge. She found out a James Nord had ordered $158 worth of dog hair dye gel to be shipped to a UPS store in Auburn, California. Mom talked to Bridget at the bank about the whole fiasco. She covered the checks I had written so I wouldn't get penalties for returned checks. I filed a police report and went today to pick it up. The bank refunded the $72 in over draft charges. I got my new debit card this week so things are finally back to normal. I am very thankful to have my mom to help me with everything. I don't know what I would do without her.