So, I’m sitting on the couch Saturday night, reading a bit after watching the first three rounds of the NFL Draft. Two hours later, I’m in the emergency room, trying to stay upright in an uncomfortable chair. Two hours after that, I’m lying in a hospital bed blissed out on morphine.
So, did something horrible happen? Not exactly, and that is the magic of the kidney stone. While they can be serious, kidney stones are often small, harmless, almost completely benign…and yet, when you have one, you want to bash yourself in the head with a steel chair so you can have other pain to distract you. 
It’s only the second time I’ve had one, and this one was worse than the last. I’m hoping that pattern doesn’t hold true for any future afflictions, although I’ll have to admit a fourteen-year interval between them is not bad at all.
Anyway, moral of the story is, if you’re in enough pain to think about going to the emergency room, it’s not really worth toughing it out. Some things go better with an IV and hard drugs. 
I also have to say, one of the great things about having someone to share your life with is that she drives you to the hospital, makes sure you get treatment, stays with you the entire time, and makes you feel better by just being there. Thanks, Lorrie.
