A Night to Remember

Sterling and I went to bed last night about midnight, planning on a decent night’s sleep. Didn’t happen.

Sterling woke me up (unintentionally) about 3 a.m. this morning. He was curled up in bed, clearly in pain.

Initially, we thought he was just having stomach or intestinal cramps, but the pain intensified. He could hardly move, but he finally made it to the bathroom. Once there, he didn’t know which end he should take care of first, and he finally just laid down on the floor, writhing in pain.

I felt helpless. I had no idea what to do. I took my laptop in there, desperately searching for some kind of information that would help. (Like the Internet is the best place to go for credible medical advise—I know, I know.)

Finally, we decided we had better head to the hospital. Sara and Sean and their kids are staying with us for a few days, and so I went to wake them up and tell them what was happening. Sean asked Sterling where the pain was, and almost instantly said, “Dude, you’ve got kidney stones.”

He made the diagnosis from his own experience—he’d had his own run-in with kidney stones less than two months ago. He started having sympathy pains just thinking about it, and so I figured I’d better get Sterling out of there as quickly as I could.

Sterling and I spent the better part of this morning in the hospital, and sure enough, Sean was right—Sterling had kidney stones.

After several hours, they sent us home with a fistful of prescriptions and strict instructions to stay on top of the pain. “Don’t be a hero,” the nurse said firmly. “If you do, I guarantee you’ll be back here!”

The pain is excruciating! I’ve talked to several people who compare it to childbirth, only contractions at least ease up once in awhile! It was sobering to see my sweetheart in such intense pain. There were moments at the hospital where he looked almost dead—pale, lifeless, terrible! It made me realize how grateful I am for him and how much I love him!

I brought him home, and the girls gathered around in deep concern. None of them can remember their daddy ever going to the hospital, or even really being sick. Sterling has always been incredibly healthy, and his tolerance for pain is pretty high, so it was scary for all of us to see him like that.

Needless to say, I’ve set my alarm around the pain meds and I’ve given him explicit instructions—if you have an ounce of pain, you let me know! We do NOT want a repeat of this morning.

Once the meds kicked in, he was feeling much better, and the girls gathered around to give him snuggles before he went to sleep. We’re just hoping that this passes (in more ways than one—smile) as quickly as possible, and that we can have our healthy Sterling back soon!

Comments

[Terry Molineux]

Sterling....so sorry to hear you aren't feeling well. My thoughts and prayers are with you for a speedy recovery!

[Candy Diaz]

Thank God you passed it! Mine lasted a week, with 2 trips to the hospital, one to the urologist and finally surgery. I did not respond to 2 shots of demerol or morphine by IV, so on the 6th day the dr. blasted them and found I would never have passed them, let me tell you it is worse than child birth because after 6 days of pain, I had nothing to show for it, no beautiful baby, just a torn up ureter and that wasn't much fun, but better than the stones. Drink lots of lemonade, that is what I have been told and so far, knock on wood I have not had another one. It was Nov of 2000 that I had mine. Hope to see you at convention Sterling. Hugs, Candy

[Melanie Evans]

I love that you blogged about this. The day to day (hopefully, no recurrences of THIS particular event) things are always fun to look back on.

I'm glad Sterling is on the mend. He is a very special person and I'm sure it's tough to see him in pain. BTW You look great in a ball cap and I'd say chocolate is definitely Sterling's color!!! He looks fabulous in that rich brown!! Continued wishes for a speedy recovery!!

[caz]

so happy Stirling has passed the pesky stone. Loved the photos. The one with the girls and their Daddy made me cry. How I'd love to hug mine.

Glad all is calm again.

Cazx

[Kim Mullin]

Thinking of you all. My heart goes out to Stirling. I have had kidney stones and they are not experiences that I enjoy. Although I have to say, the first one is the scariest because you don't know what is wrong with you. Hopefully, this will be his only experience with them. He looks like he is in good hands. Take care and know I am thinking of you all.

[Jann]

I just wanted to mention that too much spinach can cause stones.Perhapse there are other foods as well. It may be something you want to look into. I believe it is the iron that causes the problem. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[Tandra Boyer]

Oh OUCH!
And what a trooper!! Letting you tell the personal story AND post pics of him!!!!

I read the 2nd post, SO glad it passed!!

[Betsy Z]

Oh, Shelli! MY husband is in the same process as yours right now, and I can so relate... it's very hard seeing people you love in such pain and feeling so helpless! At least you had such lovely extra family around to support you...

[Carrie]

I'm glad Sterling if feeling better. But I wanted to say that I just love how you are taking pictures during all of it. That's just so funny to me, a true scrapper takes pics of every moment, right... Just made me giggle...

[Sharon Bridwell]

Sterling, I'm so sorry you were in so much pain. So glad that you went to the hospital and got what you needed. Get well, I'm looking forward to seeing your smiling face next week!

[SHH]

So funny that you would think to pull out your camera to document the moment! :) A trait of a true scrapbooker. What a trooper Sterling is to be posing for pictures at a time like that. So glad that trial has passed.

[Zelda]

I'm glad Sterling is feeling better. I hope he had a blessing, they can make everything so much better. I hope your sister feels better. She will be in my prayers, as well as you. With convention next week, try not to overdo. You can't take care of anyone else if you come down with whatever yourself.

[Cindy]

Shelli, love your posts - thanks for always sharing with us. So glad Sterling is better!!! Will miss being at the Conv. this year - it'll be my 1st missed one in 14 years! Lots of fun memories. Know it will be kind of hard for you to be there when you want to be with Leslie. But, stamping always "takes us away" for a while" (in a good way!)

[Katy T]

Dear Shelli, my mother, my grandmother, and many of their friends have been stampin it up for years and I am beginning my own collection. I would like to propose an idea for a stamp set. As a future educator I've learned that many Texas school districts require a font called D'nealian to be taught and used in the classroom. As a result a lot of the alphabet supplies available are not allowed in the classroom or on bulletin boards. This font is very hard to find in stamp sets and "at home die cut sets". I think it would be a great font to consider for future catalogs. Thanks for your time!

[Joan Hajek]

Sterling! Poor Baby! I feel your pain!
I had them a few years ago. Same thing, woke up at 1am and had horrible pains and was nauseted, running to the bathroom, yada yada yada. I had to scream to wake up hubby....he told me I had food poisoning from the crab legs I ate for dinner! NOT! Finally at 6am I told him if he didn't take me to the ER, I was calling 911! I ended up having surgery at 9pm that night. Thank God for good meds! But that is a pain I NEVER want to feel again. Radiated from my back (kidney area) around to the front. I couldn't even sit or lie still! I was pacing! And in the ER I sat there with my bathroom trashcan not caring who saw me and rocked myself in the chair til they could triage me! I feel sick just thinking about it!
Glad to hear you passed it!

[Debbie A]

Oh dear, poor Sterling! I've never experienced that particular pain myself, but my dad had an ongoing battle with kidney stones for years. When he had a massive heart attack eighteen years ago, the paramedics asked him to rate his pain on a scale of one to ten. He rated it a 9-1/2. When the puzzled paramedic asked him "why 9-1/2, why not just 10?", Dad replied, "you've obviously never had a kidney stone!" Glad to hear that Sterling's feeling better, and I hope that's the end of it for him.

[Teresa]

Sterling~glad to know you're better. Great job Shelli keeping him comfortable. I did my bout with kidney stones 9 years ago and spent 3 days in the hospital then a month waiting for the blast machine to make its way back into my town. These things are horrible. I had one with spurs so as it moved it grabbed (4x6mm) and a good size to boot. Glad you are through this....the best thing is to keep your body hydrated and also allowing it to be cleansed when it needs to. Don't wait it can turn painful

[Dawn Marie]

I have had kidney stones many times and they are horrible! I feel for Sterling! Glad you passed them! I would rather have a baby! here are many foods that can trigger more, caffeinated pop,excessive salt, and there must be others because I gave up pop in Nov and are still having problems with them. I was told to drink 3 Tbsp of pure lemon juice in a 8 ounce glass of water 2 times a day and its supposed to help! Hope Sterling's feeling better and doesn't experience them anymore!Many Hugs

[Jan Shaw]

Hello Shelli,
I am an RN (Nurse) and a holistic healer, I have had kidney stones too, Yes worse than any of my labor experiences, I have a recommendation, go to the health food store and get some Marshmallo Root, it is in a pill and cranberry tablets, I take it and I have had no more stone, mine were the ones that would not move, the Marshallow Roots makes them soft and able to move without damage to the tender tissues urine flows through. Just an idea that worked for me.