I’ve been looking forward to this day for six months. After half a year of pains in my right side caused by a 10 mm kidney stone, today was the scheduled date for my shock wave lithotripsy procedure to blast that stone to smithereens.
Who knew that afterwards I’d look back upon the initial pains with fondness in the aftermath of the procedure?
According to the doctors the procedure went well. I arrived before noon and was done by 3PM. I vaguely remember the sharp hammer-like pounding of the treatment. But that may have just been the drugs. My brother-in-law drove me home and I remember enjoying supper at 5 with the family. But the pain came back after supper. In ever-increasing intensity. I recall lying on the floor on my back and breathing deeply while watching cartoons with the kids at 6:30. As Aline put them to bed I started feeling worse and by 7:45 I took an old expired Tylenol3 pill. Moments later I was shivering and feeling light-headed and couldn’t decide if it was the pain or the medicine causing the chills. So I packed for a trip to the emergency unit of the Ottawa Hospital and had my next door neighbour drop me off. By 8:20 I was huffing and puffing. By 8:30 I was in tears. By 8:40 I had a wonder drug drip coursing through my veins providing relief. I was released at 11PM and I took a taxi to a pharmacy to get my painkiller prescriptions filled. The doctors said the pain medication prescription was stronger than the drip I had been on . . . .
