One Week!

I survived week one of Clayton being gone. And boy was it a rough week. Clayton left Saturday the 5th at around 11pm. We enjoyed the day just hanging, playing cards and watching a movie. Here is the picture that was taken right before we had to say our good byes.
On Monday we were supposed to get a light dusting of snow. Well, around 1pm it was a snow storm with no visibility. Our parking lot at work was completely covered within an hour and a half so we closed the clinic and went home. I don't like driving in the snow. I have done it twice now and Monday was the worst. I couldn't see five cars lengths ahead of me and it was so cold everything was sticking to the roads. What typically takes me 15 minutes to get home was well over a 45 minute drive. I finally heard from Clayton and they made it Ireland and were stuck there due to weather. They would be leaving to head to Manas in a few hours. Well, the week got even better. Tuesday I woke up and was getting ready for work and checking the weather to see when I would even be able to get to the clinic and I started having really sharp pains. I call the doctor to see if I can come in thinking I might have had a bladder infection or something minor. Within 15 minutes I was doubled over in Kidney pain and I knew instantly I was passing a kidney stone. I had all the same symptoms as when I passed one in 2005. I call my doctor back, while driving on the icy roads and told her I was coming in so they needed to find me someone to see. I got to the doctors office at 9:34 saw the nurse who then got the doctor who in return made the nurse give me a shot for pain. Thank GOD! If you haven't ever had a stone I hope you don't. It is the worst pain I have ever felt. Sitting, standing, laying, walking - I was unable to find a position that was comfortable and I was shacking from the pain. They move me to the imaging lab's waiting room for a CT scan and then nurse didn't even have to call my name. It was pretty obvious that I was girl passing the kidney stone. It was AWFUL! By the time I was done getting the CT scan the meds and kicked in and my body was finally relaxing. P.S. also while driving in the worst pain of my life not even paying attention to how fast I was going I called Mom and told her to get here now! Well, within 15 minutes my Doctor had the report from the radiologist and the scan showed I indeed had a Kidney stone, it was already out of the Kidney and on its way to my bladder. He said it was roughly 2-3 mm which typically passed without any problem. Up my water intake, take my pain meds and hopefully I was to pass it soon. Since this was my second stone they wanted me to strain my urine (a lovely experience) in hopes of catching the stone. In the meantime, none of the snow from Monday had melted because we never got out of the 20's. Mom arrived and I passed out due to the cocktail of drugs I was prescribed. I heard from Clayton again Tuesday evening. They had made it to Manas and were now stuck there. The plane that was going to take then into Afghanistan had broken down twice. Looks like they would be staying there until the plane was fixed. Wednesday I had every intention of going back to work. I got up to get ready and fell to the floor trying to walk to the bathroom. The pain was even worse than the day before. I yell for mom who brings me the pain pills and helps me back to bed. This was Tuesday time 10! I was nervous because the scan also showed that the stone was causing an obstruction in my ureter. The doctor said if I was still in pain in 48 hours come back because my urine may be backing up back into the Kidney and that will be real bad. Great I thought. Is that what is happening now? We call the dr office and speak with the nurse. She said it was to soon to come back in to basically wait it out. So, no work for Guinn. I took my drug cocktail and passed out until around 1pm. While I was sleeping its began to snow AGAIN! By the time I woke up we had already gotten another 2-3 inches. By the time to snow stopped we had 8 inched total at our house. Clarksville received the highest amounts of snow in TN from the past 2 snow storms. We are so over the snow! However Bailey doesn't seem to mind it. She has fun playing in it and it means the Mommy gets to stay home.

Fast forward to Friday - this was the first day back to work due to snow and the stone, who I have since named Spikey due to the spike that was ripping out my insides. I go to work with no sign of Spikey. I have not spoken to Clayton since Tuesday so I am a little worried at this point. One of my patient's dad flies with Clayton and they informed me they heard from him Thursday. So naturally I got upset. Well not even an hour later my computer bings and its Clayton IMing me. Turns out they were stuck in Manas for two days and got to Afghanistan on Thursday. My patient's dad was one of the only ones that made it in time to get his internet hooked up so Clayton was in his room using the internet. It was so good to finally hear from him and know that he made it in the country okay. So back at work, Lynn, our office manager along with Amanda Dowdy told me to drink a beer that they have heard it helps pass the stone. At this point I was willing to try anything. After work two other therapists and myself go grabbed dinner and I had a beer. As soon as I got home and went to the restroom - BAM, there was Spikey. Maybe it was his time, maybe it was the beer. I'm going with the beer. God for bid if I ever have another kidney stone, I'm drinking beer as soon as I leave the doctor's office. So here he is, Spikey!
And back to the 2-3 mm, judging by this I think he is more like 5-6 mm.

I heard from Clayton Saturday morning, his night and was able to fill him in on Spikey. He was in good spirits and was already going to be flying on Sunday. I hope week 2 is better than the last!