Thursday, June 30, 2011

ON A PERSONAL NOTE: Friends, if you've got sharp, uncontrollable pain on the side of your lower back, radiating to the front where it feels kinda like constipation and mostly like you'd like to die, and the nausea and pain has gotten to a point where you're wondering if you should go to the hospital—go to the hospital.  You might have a kidney stone, as I learned two nights ago.

I say this not to attract your sympathy, even on the apparently-I-can't-drink-so-much-iced-tea-anymore front, but rather to relay a simple message: being macho is overrated. Doctors and nurses are good. They have morphine. It gets better.

29 comments:

  1. The Pathetic Earthling8:16 PM

    I still expect that when you are fully on the mend, you will take the children over to see the historically significant kidney stones over at the Mutter Museum.

    ReplyDelete
  2. bella wilfer8:29 PM

    Yikes! So scary! Hope you're feeling better now, Adam.

    And I second the "don't be a hero" advice - if you don't feel well, go to the doctor. Better to have an annoying bill than a life-threatening situation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jim Bell9:12 PM

    You lucky bastard.  I mean as to the morphine.  They wouldn't give me any good drugs until I had the lithotripsy.  I feel for you my brother, that is easily one of the worst pains I ever had.  Tore apart my knee in sectionals in the 11th grade, no comparison.  The only thing I can think of that hurt worse was dry sockets after a botched wisdom teeth (all of them) extraction.  Hope you feel better.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Meghan9:30 PM

    I will suggest the same remedy of hospital and morphine if you have a headache where light, noise, standing, and moving your eyes reduces you to whimpering like a beaten animal. Meningitis is no fun. Try, if you can, though to stay in a hospital that has enough hot water for it's patients to shower.

    Adam, sorry for your ailment and wishing you a speedy recovery, never to be experienced again.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Meghan9:30 PM

    Damn you, autocorrect. Its.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Adam C.9:46 PM

    Feel better soon. Been there - twice. I've been lucky in my life not to have undergone a great deal of physical trauma, but I feel the same way as Jim: kidney stones are the worst pain I've ever suffered. Enjoy the painkillers.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Emily9:58 PM

    I knew a guy who passed a kidney stone half way through the marathon leg of Ironman a few years back. No, he did not finish; he wisely accepted help from the medics. Feel better, Adam.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Stevie10:14 PM

    Feel better soon, Adam!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Leslie10:32 PM

    I second that don't be a martyr stance.  Although I have not had a kidney stone, I have heard that its extremely painful, my brother had one, and he has a pretty high tolerance for pain, but had his wife rush him to the hospital. Glad you are on the road to recovery.

    ReplyDelete
  10. First, I am sorry and hope you feel better soon.  Second, as one of the world's leading consumers of iced tea, I am now terrified.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Drink less "darker" beverages and more lemonade, apparently.  My brother found that out the hard way.

    I had a former student who had a kidney stone while pregnant.  After having the baby, she said kidney stone was worse.

    ReplyDelete
  12. J.O'Connor12:11 AM

    My best wishes as well for a speedy and well-narcotized recovery.
    And, having now just realized from Adam's illness and Jim and Adam's comments that there may be some sort of kidney stone epidemic among Philadelphia lawyers, I'm off to drink several large glasses of water.

    ReplyDelete
  13. slowlylu1:28 AM

    Get well soon Adam.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm at about 80% capacity now. Just a bit weakened and draggy, but the pain is gone. (And if it isn't, I have a prescription for that.)  Ultrasound yesterday said there's nothing else coming soon.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ugh, kidney stones are the worst (as I discovered last Labor Day). (On a positive note, I discovered that going to the ER on the Sunday night of a long weekend is a good time to go--there was pretty much nobody there.)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Watts9:27 AM

    Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Adam.

    Doctors and drugs are definitely of the good.

    ReplyDelete
  17. victoria9:40 AM

    Ow! Feel better, and enjoy the drugs. You've earned 'em.

    ReplyDelete
  18. My sincere sympathies and best wishes. Are you still in hospital?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oh gosh, no.  I was in at 2am and kicked out at 8am.  I had apparently passed the stone before I got there.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Ouch -- sorry!  I hope you're feeling better soon.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Just saw this. I'm so sorry you had to go through that! Feel better soon!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Prescription: lazy long holiday weekend with beer.  And beer.

    Feel better!

    ReplyDelete
  23. littleredyarn5:18 PM

    Can you drink herbal tea? If you can, try Celestial Seasoning's "Red Zinger" iced. I know it sounds really hippy-dippy but it's wonderful iced.

    ReplyDelete
  24. <span>Oh, God, is that darker beverage thing really true?  I drink almost no liquids other than coffee, diet cola, and beer.  Oh, I'm so screwed.</span>

    ReplyDelete
  25. Welcome to the club, Adam.  Passed mine at Jefferson over Fourth of July weekend twenty years ago.  And like J.O'Connor I'm going to go get a nice big glass of water. 

    ReplyDelete
  26. genevieve8:44 AM

    Oh, Adam, that sounds horrific. A speedy recovery to you.

    ReplyDelete
  27. La Binsk1:19 AM

    IIRC, Percocet helped through that dark period. I've been lucky in that I haven't had any more kidney stones since then. I wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone. Feel better soon, Adam.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I really hope you're feeling better. Those sound painful! And yeah, machoness is overrated. 

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous4:03 AM

    Yοur oωn post provides pгovеn benеficiаl to myself.
    It’s really informatiνe and yοu really are сertainly νery κnowledgeable in this aгeа.
    Yοu get οрened up my oωn ѕight to be ablе to ѵаrious thoughts abοut this specific subject with intriguing and
    solid written content.
    My website :: Uexcite.us

    ReplyDelete