I said I was going to discuss my hospitalization back in early December and I feel now is the time that I’m ready to talk about it.
It was a Saturday and what began as a normal morning, took a turn for the worse after I went to the bathroom.
I did my early morning bathroom routine around 7:30 am and when I went to work on my blog, I started to notice a pain on my right side.
I started to feel pain and then it gradually got worse. I took a warm shower, just in case it was muscle related, I laid down on the bed, on the sofa and then I knew it wasn’t getting better. It was worsening and I had to be taken to the hospital.
But I noticed the pain was traveling and it was now going lower to the center of my abdomen and towards my groin. Did I pull my groin? Is it in my stomach? I tried to fight off going to the emergency room and decided to look online.
But it was too much. I had to get checked because I’m not getting any better. Within two hours when I first started happening, it went from 0 to pain level 8.
Once I arrived to the hospital, I was able to walk in and as a person who is typically good with pain management, this was pain that I never had imagined. The pain immediately shot to 10.
I couldn’t sit and the security and the nurses kept looking at me and knew something wasn’t right. I was sweating profusely and they got a wheelchair for me and next thing you know, I’m on a gurney but even then it was too tough to lay down.
I was in agony.
I told them, “I think its my appendix”. Of course, I didn’t know, it could be my gall bladder or anything. But the right side of my body, I never had any pain.
I went through many tests, EKG, Cat Scan, for hours I was pumped with pain killers because the pain was too much to bare. They didn’t know what the problem was.
They said it was not appendicitis and the tests were not showing anything. So, I told the doctor where the pain was and she was hoping it wasn’t a hernia but because it radiated towards my middle area towards my genitals, she thinks it could be kidney stones.
Kidney stones? I never had that.
But as I was told what could cause it and while I was in the hospital bed, I started doing my research.
As most of you know…I have eaten healthy and have done meal plans. I rarely deviated, ate my spinach, ate my almonds or other nuts, ate my tofu, my veggie burgers with soy, beans or spinach. Healthy right?
I learned that is not necessarily the case. Healthy food can be bad if not done in moderation or in my case, probably eating it everyday with hardly changing my routine because for those who suffer from kidney stones, one of the things you have to stay away from is foods that are high in oxalates.
Using the Oxalate List from KidneyStoneDiet.com, I realized that things I’ve eaten are high in oxalates.
I ate a lot of spinach, almonds (and made almond flour pizza), I did partake in miso soup, baked potato, soybeans, soy flour, bran flakes with raisins, wheat and bran, occasional french fry, cashews, raspberries, shredded wheat, stevia, bagels, cranberries, pineapples, mashed potatoes, oranges, avcocados, celery, olives, brussel sprouds, burritos with beans.
All of these are high on the Oxalate list (in red). But the worse was spinach, almonds and soybeans.
My family and family before me never suffered from kidney stones. And here I am suffering from it because of my eating habits, which I thought was healthy.
Six hours later of being in pain and waiting for the pain killers to kick in, nearing the seventh hour, they told me to urinate and after I urinated, I started to feel a bit pain in my rear back area but not so bad, and after another hour, the pain threshold was like 1. I was able to get back up and I felt almost like normal with that little feeling of discomfort. They told me they think I passed a kidney stone, but I saw nothing. So, they sent me home with only a three Norco pills and said I’m ready to go back to work.
But I asked, “What if I’m feeling OK, because of all the pain medication. What if it’s just hiding the pain right now?” and they said, if it comes back, return back to the ER.
As I left, a person was there asking if I can pay an upfront cost for the hospital visit, which was a lot and I told them to bill my insurance first.
When I got home, it was fine for the first hour, I could walk but barely. But as I tried to go to bed a few hours later, the pain threshold shot back up to 8. I wasn’t going to go to the emergency room again, because what will they do, give me another pain medication and who knows how long a kidney stone can pass. I read online of people who suffer from kidney stones and they bare it and do whatever they can to pass it.
If this is what I’m suffering from, then I’m going to do just that. I have good medical insurance but not 100% coverage. I can’t afford to be hospitalized and be in debt for years, considering I’m a person who has been blogging about putting my money towards retirement.
I posted the following on my personal social media account at 3:00 am Sunday because I couldn’t sleep but bared with the pain with Ibuprofen until I could see my primary car physician on Monday morning.
Pain shot back up again. Appendix is fine, no hernia, not the gall bladder. But they think its a kidney stone. One on the left and one on the right. Which is the one that hurts. Never had this before. I have a high tolerance of pain but when I first arrived to the hospital, didn’t have to wait long as they felt I was about to pass out. Never had to go to ER for myself. Yesterday, they felt it passed as the pain decreased but I asked what if it was because of all the pain medication, the reason why I was feeling better. But i am still in pain… So, I don’t know. So, reading at 3 am of how to deal with the pain, what to expect. Spent Sunday trying to learn about this, prevention and lifestyle changes needed. Learned keto related diets can lead to kidney stones. So, looks like I would have to change my life. Even fruits and veggies I enjoyed, certain ones I need to cut out. Even certain vitamin supplements. Meanwhile, hospital was asking if I want to pay now, this is excluding all the tests I took. Wow… That bill is high but I don’t want to think of the medical bill right now. I hope I can get some sleep. For those who deal with this their whole life, I can’t imagine. This experience really sucks monkey ass. They didn’t know what was causing the pain until the final test, which was urine. The pain shot through the lower back and that was the giveaway I guess.. Didn’t have it before. Nor was it gradual movement from belly button to the right abdomen. For me, I was fine early Saturday morning and then it felt I got kicked in the nuts and then the pain went throughout the right abdomen. Sorry if this is long, its helping take my mind from the pain. I appreciate everyone’s concern. If anything, I worried about my my family, esp. my mom, after losing my father earlier this year, the last thing is for me to go. Ok, im going to find a way to deal with this pain. Try to sleep.
So, this is part 1 of my adventure, and I will discuss more in part 2.
