I’ve spent the last 2+ days chugging water and trying to pee. One of those days was in the ER. Peeing was hard. It hurt. I could barely squeeze out a few drops even though I’ve been drinking 100+ ounces of water each day. My bladder is so full but I cannot get any relief. I’ve been miserable.

Once again, in the middle of the night, I was awoken with a kidney ache that had turned into full blown pain.

ER or home?

I did a quick pros and cons list in my head:

• the ER has nurses and doctors

• my kids wouldn’t hear me should I start vomiting and crying

That was about all I could put on the ER pro list. The ER con list was much more robust:

• they couldn’t give me any good meds anyway
• all those germs
• crappy beds with crappier pillows
• figuring out how to get there or childcare options so Aaron could drive me
• all that bright light and the noises

I opted to stay home and ride it out. I drank a couple more bottles of water and waited. I waited for the pee that wouldn’t come and finally relaxed enough to doze off.

The morning light was pouring in through the cracked window when George opened the door to say good morning. He popped in to tell me he poopped then quickly ran back out. The ache was still there but I felt like I could pee. I actually felt like I was going to burst.

I quickly made my way to the bathroom and let loose.

relief

All that pee that wouldn’t come out in the middle of the night finally came pouring out of me. I reached back to flush when I thought I should check to see if the stone had made its way out, too.

And there it was. That fucking bastard was just sitting in the bowl as if it hadn’t been tormenting me the last few days. I tossed on some gloves to retrieve it…so gross, I know.

McKenna was mesmerized by this tiny thing that had put her mama down for the count for so many days. She looked at it for a while and asked where it came from.

My kidney made it. That’s inside my body right about here…pointing to my aching lower back. Then it had to travel down a tiny tube and into my bladder. Then I had to drink and drink and drink a lot of water so it would come out when I peed.

Her eyes widened with a combination of fascination and fear.

It spiky. Like a stegosaurus. A stegosaurus is the meanest, spikiest plant eater. I’m gonna call that thing a spike-osaurus. It’s the meanest, spikiest thing living in your bladder.

She speaks the truth.

I am writing for the 2020 Slice of Life Challenge.