What a week... what a month even!

Hey blog-reading friends :]  I'm home on the couch while Matt and a bunch of our friends load everything from Joy's one bedroom apartment in Cary into a 14' UHaul and unload it here in Durham.  (Joy is my sister-in-law for anyone that doesn't know that).  This weekend marks the end of a pretty hectic, stressful month(s).  Summers are always a little busy with weekends being extra packed, but Matt spent much of this summer's free time and weekends preparing for a presentation he gave at Rutgers a little over a week ago.  Getting on the other side of that definitely took a load off of us stress-wise.  His presentation was last Thursday and his 30th birthday was that Saturday, a week ago.  I put together a surprise birthday dinner for him that included over 40 of his favorite people.  Juggling that and keeping it a secret while also supporting him in his presentation prep-work,  and preparing for Joy's move this weekend was just a lot all at once.  Joy has been taking public transportation from Cary to Durham for 4 weeks now.  I know, she's a rockstar, but starting Monday she'll be minutes from us and minutes from work with a car reliable enough to drive herself around town.  Woo hoo!!

So, why am I home while all of my friends eat Bojangles chicken biscuits and load a UHaul on one of the first brisk mornings we've had this season?  Because, since last Sunday, I've been having symptoms that indicate a UTI, and for the past 3 days (today will be the 4th) the truth that I am passing kidney stones has become quite apparent.  So I'm home alone, a bit scared, because the pain is like nothing I've ever experienced or imagined.  It's a dull pain, and I definitely think dull is better than sharp, amen?  But it feels like I'm laying on my stomach and someone is pressing their palm into my right kidney with as much force as possible (actually, it feels like more force than would be humanly possible) and that constant pressure doesn't let up for a couple of hours.  This leaves me laying on my right side stretched out, laying on my left side stretched out, laying on my back and moving my legs like the bicycle motion you might have done regularly as a kid, laying on my back with my knees up swing them open and closed, laying curled over my knees, bent over the countertop, you name it.  Meanwhile I'm literally moaning like I'm in labor.  Unfortunately, for the past 3 mornings this has happened, it has lasted about 2-3 hours, and has involved a couple rounds of vomiting mixed in there.  Really awful stuff.  It wasn't until yesterday (after 3 mornings of this) that we went back to the dr adamant that it was not a bladder infection and that (despite no evidence in my urine and no fever) it had to be kidney stones.  An ultrasound confirmed 1 stone in my bladder and "a couple more small ones" in my right kidney.  Apparently 4 mm is small.  Hopefully this morning will be a little different than the last few, because this morning I'm armed with Tylenol 3 (can't imagine this is going to do much of anything once an episode comes on however) and medicine for the nausea (I think I can handle it if I'm not also fighting the urge to puke in the middle of the pain).  TMI?  Hopefully I haven't just lost half of my blog reading friends with this story...

It's crazy though!  And I'm scared.  I feel way too young to be having kidney stones, right?! But I guess 29 isn't that young.  I've missed almost a full week of work over this, and how can I possibly go back until all of the stones have passed??  There's no way I can be flailing around the office floor moaning for 2 hours.  We do have an onsite nurse though... the school nurse, if you will.  I suppose if this weekend shows that the medicine really does help me handle the "episodes" then I could always go into the office and plan to sit with the school nurse for 2 hours if I have to.  Wee.

Alright, well... I guess I'm going to go pee... wish me luck.  And send up a couple prayers please.  Gratzi!