Thursday, October 27, 2011

Any day without a kidney stone is a great day

Monday was a great day this week. Because I didn’t have a kidney stone on Monday.

Of course, there are many, many days I don’t have a kidney stone. But Monday was especially sweet.

Why?

Because Sunday I had a kidney stone. And Monday I didn’t.

Sunday: Pain. Monday: No pain.

Sunday: Wondering if I should go to the ER. Monday: Not worried about the ER.

Sunday: More pain. Monday: No pain.

Sunday: Lots of ibuprofen. Monday: No ibuprofen needed, thanks.

Sunday: Eight glasses of water in two hours without any, er, relief. Monday: Water (and relief) when I wanted it.

Sunday: Grumpy dad. Monday: Dad's back at work so no one at home can see if he's grumpy.

Sunday: Worrying if this is ever going to end (even though I know it will). Monday: No worrying. (Being happy.)

This was my third kidney stone in nearly 15 years. Fortunately, I know it when it happens thanks to a patient doctor’s instruction (and corroborating evidence on WebMD and the Mayo Clinic website) the first time around. I had no fever or nausea, so there was no need to go to the hospital. Just lots of fluids and waiting. I know that I’m luckier than some who have a much tougher time of it.


Lehi had it right when he said

For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility (2 Nephi 2:11).
All those things I wrote about Monday were also true on Tuesday. But Monday was something special because it was juxtaposed to the misery of Sunday. The way things are can be defined by what they are not. Comparing and contrasting is the way we see things, the way we learn things, the way things show up in life.

Yes, any day without a kidney stone is a great day. But the next day after the kidney stone passes is especially sweet.

4 comments:

  1. Ugh. I have shared your pain.

    For me, it's usually the morning after a horrendous headache. Those few instants after waking, before moving a muscle, and I become aware of the absence of pain, are more of a relief and pleasure than almost any day of normal good health.

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  2. Ardis,

    I hate my headaches. And they come more often than kidney stones! My sympathies when yours strike.

    And bless those days of relief.

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  3. That sounds awful. And I relate too--I find that days with chocolate are better than days without chocolate. Oh life lessons...

    Sorry about the kidney stone, though. That sounds like it was awful!!!

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  4. I've been through the kidney stone thing, once, a bunch of years ago. They eventually decided that the stone was too big to pass on its own, so I did the lithotripsy (sp?) thing where they knock you out and then put you in a bathtub and send shock waves through the water to break up the stone inside your body. After I woke up, the next few hours were NOT fun.

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