Attack of the Kidney Stones!

So after finally getting the ball rolling on this new blog I got immediately sidelined with a trip to the emergency room. The best way I have found to describe the pain of a kidney stone is the feeling that someone has plunged a rusty dagger in your lower back, and then occassionally starts twisting it. This is not the first stone for me, but its been several years. It really took me off guard.
Poor Fritz was peacefully sleeping at 7:00 am Sunday morning, relishing the fact that the dogs had also slept in. Then it hit. "Baby, I think we need to go to the ER." And we stumbled down the hill.
I can't say there is such a thing as a pleasant ER experience, but the staff at the Glendale Adventist Hospital sure took good care of me. They have a new ER with little TVs in each patient area so Fritz was able to watch at least 3 football games while I squirmed in between the morpine shots. The doctor was quick to have it administered and then confirmed that it was a couple of stones. He said he had just been through one a month ago, so he knew my pain.
There's a 5 mm stone trying to move along that caused the commotion, and another "sleeper" 6 mm stone. After the pain subsided the doctors decided to let me see if I can pass them on my own before going in to get them. I was admitted to the hospital for a long night of slow drip fluids and pain killers. Of course I didn't feel any pain while I was in the hospital all night, not until about an hour after finally getting home the next day. It has subsided though, and I am starting to ween off of the meds. I feel like a walking drugstore, but know that this will be over as soon as that stone finally finds its way out. How long that will be, is what remains to be seen.
I'm not quite 100% better now, or even close, but I am feeling steadily better. For now I am just happy to have enough energy to get back to work and take care of the house and family. The holidays are not the best time to be feeling down physically, but then again, it has forced me to slow down and really appreciate the few people I have been able to interact with at this time of year.