BLOBBY'S BLOG

Like a Stone

I feelin' bad for one of my sisters and brother-in-laws. They can't seem to catch a break when it comes to their kids.

You might remember me mentioning my nephew's thoracic surgery in December. Well, his sister went back to college and on day three of the new semester, fell out of her bed - which happened to be the top bunk.

Unfortunately, she was asleep when it happened (and no, she was not drunk), so she didn't know to try to break her fall - and didn't.

The description of it made me cringe - I can't imagine it actually happening to me. Well, I guess I can, which is why I cringed.

That in itself would have been bad and painful enough, but it doesn't end there. In the fall, she dislodged a kidney stone. Can you believe that?

She was so incapacitated when it was realized, she had to be taken by EMTs from her class the next day. From the school infirmary to the hospital. With a week of being no better and with the stone around 5mm, she was back in the hospital yesterday. A stone that size is too big to pass.

The doctor and staff have been great and did extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy on her. Within an hour, she was back in her dorm. The stone hasn't passed as of this morning, but probably will in the next 24 hours.

I feel bad for her for any number of reasons. One is that she had to go through this alone, basically. Her RA and friends at school have been with her throughout most of her ordeal. My sister owes them big time. iTunes gift cards and cookies/brownie packages. I know the head of Residence Halls got a nice letter about the RA.

In a way, it's a good thing. She has learned to deal with something like this on her own. She's growing up fast and in touch circumstances.

The second reason it sucks is that she will have kidney stones all her life. This is just the first go-round. Her father has them and I have seen him in excruciating pain. When one stone passed, it is amazingly no larger than a grain of sand. Stone, my ass! But you'd think someone was stabbing him over and over.

Unfortunately, Katie has seen her father in this state too, so she knows what is to come for the rest of her days. That's a horrible thing to live with.

But she's good....or will be. She's surely better than she was.

And now she has the bottom bunk.


Song by: Audioslave