The Cruel, Crippling Irony of Kidney Stones

So my good friend Dr. Beadle confirms that the pain will be intermittent and intense - nothing on Monday, yesterday sucked, nothing so far today - until the stone finally reaches my bladder, at which point I will be “home free.” Hooray! But that leads me to several of this ordeal’s great frustrations.

Passing the kidney stone hurts a lot. It’s the movement of the tiny stone from the kidney through the ureter and down to the bladder. The best way to try and speed the process up is to drink a lot – A LOT – of water. But speeding the process up also means making the pain a little worse. In theory, one could lessen the pain by drinking less, but that would ultimately only prolong the process.

Now, the pain of the stone makes me lose my appetite, which makes it hard to drink water. The painkillers do take the edge off the agony, but they also make me a little nauseus. So then I don’t want to drink or eat when I’m doped up, even though drinking is good for me.

Choices, choices, all of them bad. And I’m still working on the stubborn stone’s own schedule. Hurry up, little guy!