Kidney Woes

Cranberry Juice Consumed: *twitch* *gack*
Antibiotics Consumed: God bless cipro
Time spent in a hot bath: 2.5 hours
Finally being able to move (or just lay there)
without wincing in pain?: Since 3 p.m. yesterday




Well, thanks to the gods of Cipro, I think I'm out of the woods. Yesterday afternoon I was pounding cranberry juice (*gack* *twitch*) and toasting a bag of rice in my microwave (to use as a heating pad) so often I was certain that it would somehow turn into popcorn - but the pain would not let up. The only way I was able to actually think was to sit in a scalding-hot bath. As soon as the heat hit the right side of my lower back - the pain would ease. It was fine so long as I laid in there and didn't move much.


But then I got a delivery of antibiotics, Cipro. The family keeps a stock of this stuff on hand and when word went out that I might have a stone, they were quick to hand it over. They were also quick to tell me how many of them had also passed stones in their lives and how it's sort of a "family" medical condition. So what do I have to look forward to in my life? Kidney Stones, Diabetes, Alzheimers, and possible some form of Cancer.

Joy.

After about twenty minutes of taking the Cipro, I was laying down on the couch since I had finally found a position that didn't hurt. Then I realized that I was getting more and more sleepy and eventually passed out. At some point, though I was not really awake for this, I got up and went to the bathroom and heard a weird 'clink'. I stared down into the bowl to find that a pebble about the size of a BB was in the bottom. Not saying that I have a high threshold for pain, but my first thought was that there was no way in hell that came out of me without me feeling it. Then again, I had taken about three kinds of pain-killers before I passed out so I was still a bit groggy.

The family doc said that I should collect it since if the pain returns there may be more stones and they would need to examine the last one to figure out what was causing them. One of the more curious questions that I had for the doc was how could this have happened. Most kidney stones are formed by deposits of calcium and I'm not really what you would call a milk-drinker. There is, however, some connection between drinking sodas like Mountain Dew.

Yeah - there was a moment of silence when I was on the phone with her.

So I guess I'm reduced to water, some juice and coffee for a while.

Ugh.