Things I've learned (about myself) this week.

1. I'm not cut out to be a single parent
2. I'm not cut out to be a nurse
3. I eat (lots of crap) under stress

So, last week (Thursday) Steve had a kidney stone 'blasted'. This is a description of the procedure:

Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL)

Procedure - The patient lies flat on the lithotripsy table or partially submerged in a water bath in older models. The lithotriptor is then targeted to the stone using fluoroscopy, a low radiation energy. The stone is fragmented by high-energy shock waves that are generated outside of the body. Shock waves travel through the body very much like sound waves. The energy of the shock waves is delivered to the stone in focus and not to the surrounding tissue. The stone is fragmented to particles of a size that can pass spontaneously. An incision to remove the stone is thus avoided.

Sounds simple and painless ect right? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. They don't tell you that it's like being beat up. It's just 'shock waves' which are like 'sound waves' and it doesn't hurt. um, right. Also the anesthesia just might make you puke for 5 days. Lovely. Fabulous. So Steve's been out of commission for days. They told him that he'd be back to normal activity in 24-48 hours. At 48 hours he could hardly sit up without help. The dr. is concerned and ordered an ultrasound, which Steve had done today. Then they called and ordered at CT scan after seeing the results of the ultrasound- that's comforting. Really. Steve was finally able to go back to work today, but still is pretty weak and out of it.

I've tried really really hard to be a good wife and a good mom this week. I really have. I'm now ready for a vacation. I am terrified that they're going to tell us something really bad tomorrow. The dr. kept insisiting that there couldn't possibly be any fragments of the stones left. That if there were that Steve would be in extreme pain- but then he ordered the U/S anyway. So who knows, I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

So that's our crappy week in a nutshell. Steve went upstairs after the procedure on Thursday and didn't come back to the first floor until Tuesday when he went to work long enough for his boss to take one look at him and send him home. I've gone up and down our stairs more times then I'd care to remember- although my butt and hips definately needed the exercise- especially since I broke my until Valentine's day goal of no 'treats'. I've still not eaten fast food though (go me!) I'm for sure a stress eater though- no doubt about that after this week. Too bad I'm not a stress cleaner or a stress exerciser though huh?