kidney stone: episode 2

two years ago - or was it 3 three? - i taught english in china and i loved {almost} every minute of it.  ever since i left, i've wanted to go back and hopefully me and tanner will be able to someday soon.  also in case you didn't know, i had kidney stones in china...and that's where the {almost} comes in of the "loved every minute of it."  well, the past couple of days have reminded me of those restless nights in chinese hospitals because i am 100% positive that i am passing another stone (two days ago i was pretty sure, but a doctor's visit this morning confirmed my suspicions).  ever since i got back from china, i've had similar, though not nearly as severe kidney pain from time to time, and i've had two CT scans that confirmed the presence of stones.  in fact, the last CT scan i had in the fall said i still had about five stones in my right kidney, though none of them were very big.  well anyway, no need to panic yet, the pain so far is not even close to the severity of pain i felt two years ago, but the past couple of days have been the closest since.  i'm crossing my fingers it will pass quickly and painlessly!

so i broke out my journal i kept in china and sure enough i found my chinese kidney stone experience written in detail and so i thought i would post some excerpts here because it is still one of the more interesting stories i have to share in my life so far.  I cut a lot out but it is still pretty long, but i figure no one wants to read five whole pages, right?  anyway, feel free to scroll down to the pictures if it gets too wordy for you.

Sunday - November 23, 2008
Brighton in China (as suggested by Dad)

I just experienced 3 of the most intense & miserable days of my life.  I came home Wednesday night from Kate's apartment feeling completely normal.  I had seen another friend, gone to "English Corner" at the school, and hung out with Kate.  I was changing into clothes to sleep in when I felt a sharp pain in my lower left-side back.  I laid down & the pain was bad, so I asked {my roommate} Shelby to get me water & tylenol.  She thought it was just a pinched nerve & I agreed so I tried to sleep.  But anyway I positioned myself, the pain would not decrease at all.  For a while it was okay, but the pain came back even stronger and this time accompanied by nausea.  I kept changing my position, but I could not escape the pain.  I turned on my computer to listen to music to try & help myself relax and take my mind off the pain, but at 3am, I was desperately pacing our apartment hallway and I called Travis, one of 2 boys part of ILP, asking what I should to do &  for a blessing.  I decided I would wait till the morning, but an hour later after continuously vomiting, I knew something was really wrong.  I called a driver's number that I had (Huang) & with my broken Chinese and coughing into the phone, he somehow knew I needed a ride to the hospital.  

Tara, Shelby, my translator Mary, and I got in the car with Huang (me with vomit bucket in hand) and went to the ER at the People's Hospital in Shiqui, Zhonghshan.  It was dead.  We had to wake up the receptionist to check in and I saw a doctor who sent us to the 2nd story.  So my friends wheeled me up to the 2nd floor and once there, there were no doctors to be seen, no lights, and the hallways were gated and locked closed.  So we rushed downstairs and I was livid.  This time a nurse came upstairs with us & she was walking so slow.  I was screaming in pain and yelling at her obscenely.  She called through the gated door/hallway for a doctor and the doctor walked out groggy & slowly as if she had just woken up. I could not believe this - was this not the emergency section of the hospital?  Why did no one care that my body was in extreme pain?  She brought me to a room to have an ultra sound and I learned I had an 8mm x 5 mm stone.  Kidney stones the size of a grain of rice are supposed to be extremely painful to pass, so this seemed unreal.  I really wanted to escape my body, but what else could I do but just feel it?

They put me in a room full of people, gave me two shots for pain killers & hooked me up to an IV with water & sugar.  My bed probably was not clean but I didn't care.  I was glad to know what it was & to have something finally be done about the pain.  I fell asleep for an hour at most and I woke up feeling significantly better.  I had to go pee so Shelby came with me to carry the IV bag & there are of course nothing but squatters.  So she stood in the squat-hole-stall with me holding the bag as I squatted.  And there was no toilet paper or soap to be found anywhere...comforting.

I had to meet with another doctor and walking through the hospital, I felt like I was in a Chinese train station.  it was noisy, overly crowded, and chaotic.  There were lines of people to the reception desk that looked like where you buy train tickets.  I saw 2 parents holding their bottomless toddlers over the floor to poop.  America sounds so good right now.

***Skip to Lithotripsy Surgery***

They laid me on a bed over this bubble thing (which I now know was just an ultra sound) They gave me headphones and strapped me to the bed.  The dr stood in another room and started zapping me with the laser, it killed.  It lasted an hour & a half and the laser zapped me exactly 1000 times. The dr was so excited when he crushed it that he came to me to give me a double high-five - i guess that's the closest we could get to crossing the language barrier, which i thought was pretty funny. Unfortunately, I was too weak to even move, I really couldn't focus on anything or anyone.

The rest of the afternoon I was really in and out of consciousness.  Conscious when I was throwing up...unconscious when I wasn't.  The drs noticed and wanted to know if I wanted any nausea medice.  Are you kidding?  Do I want nausea medicine?? Do I?? I've only been throwing up  constantly for 3 days!!  I have no idea why they waited so long to offer it to me, China is so weird.  

I woke up the next morning feeling feeling significantly better and despite everything, I still love China.

***Back to Teaching***

I went back to teaching this morning.  I still feel sore & tired, but the kids were so cute.  Big-headed Michael saw me through the window & bolted out the door yelling "teacher Brighton!" & gave me a big hug.  I didn't have much of a lesson, but I had fun playing with the kids.  I was telling Michael (who speaks English pretty well on his own) about being sick & when he finally understood what happened completely, he started translating to Eric, who is not as good with English as Michael, and Eric looked at me so concerned and said, "Teacher, you happy...or sad?"  I thought it was sweet that this was the only way for him to communicate his concern.

and to make this blog post complete, here are some photos of why i really love china.

the beautiful scenery, those kids, the hilarious and interesting cultural differences, fruit markets (yes those are mangoes!!)...but no, not their hospitals.