I had a very bad night......

So yesterday turned out to be one of the worst evenings in my entire life, pain-wise, that is.  I was ready to write my blog entry on a completely different subject, which I fully intend to do at a later date, when I decided to have a light dinner.. and then it all began.

I was probably halfway through eating my Lean Cuisine entree when I felt I needed to use the bathroom and the way my body works is that when I have to go, I have to go NOW.  I went and after nothing much happened, I figured it was just another MS thing in that it was not allowing me to have a movement, so I was not concerned.  I returned to my meal and I was hit with stomach cramps again, so off to the bathroom I went.  This went on for a few hours only the pain became more and more intense and left me crying.. SCREAMING, actually.. for even as much as a fart, but nothing was happening.  And all the while, my kitties were outside the bathroom door meowing to let me know they cared and all I could do was yell at them to shut up.  Ugh.. the things we do without thinking!

The pain I was having was localized in my pelvis and hips, where I've been having most of my MS spasms for a few years now, so you can imagine the fear I felt that the MS was attacking me at full force in a way I had never imagined it could.  I was petrified beyond belief and finally decided to try to get some rest around 9pm but soon realized that laying down only brought worse pain to my aching hips.  Then I thought to myself that I hadn't been able to urinate most of the day so I searched for a catheter, since there was a time when I could not pee on my own.  Luckily I found one, although it had already been used a few years back.  At that point, I did not care!  I washed it thoroughly, applied K-Y jelly to it, stepped in the shower to make insertion easier and was able to empty my bladder much easier than I thought possible.  I was hoping this would take some of the pain away, but no such luck.  Fuck.

I found that the only less painful position to be in was sitting in my computer chair, so this is where I returned to and sat and cried.  The pain I felt was so excruciating that I was doubled over in my chair, drenched in sweat and tears.  I finally decided to call my parents around 10:45pm and I had already been wracked in pain since 6:30pm or so and it was only getting worse with each passing minute.  Being that my parents know me quite well and are fully aware that I'm not one to complain too much about pain and rarely tell them about it, they knew it was bad.  They came to my house as quickly as possible, during a dreadful thunderstorm that included hail, and took me to the emergency room.

Everyone who waited on me at the Trinity Hospital 7th Street Campus was amazing last night.  From the front desk staff to my nurse Tammy, to my E.R. Dr. Lemon.  OMG, I want to give all of you a million hugs!  It turns out that I was not having a major MS exacerbation.. I had a tiny little 5 millimeter kidney stone.  I could not believe the pain this tiny stone was causing me!  But thanks to Morphine and anti-nausea medication in an I.V., I wasn't feeling a thing within a few minutes.  Ahh, it felt good to only feel MS discomfort and not that damn stone.  Who would have thought I would celebrate having ONLY MS pain in my life?  Insanity, I tell ya!

I was prescribed an antibiotic, due to the old catheter I had used at home, along with Hydrocodone and an anti-nausea medication.  It seems I won't need to take anything but the antibiotic since I am no longer in pain and the stone probably passed when I used the bathroom early this afternoon.  The ordeal of last night is just a distant nightmare and all I can is thank goodness it's over!  If childbirth feels anything like what I went through last night, all I can say is that all of you ladies who have children are my HEROES and those who have more than one by choice were, most likely, on exceptionally good drugs at the time of labor because I hope to never EVER go through that pain again.  And many women get pregnant on purpose!  I admire your strength more than ever in my life and I already thought you were amazing.