What can I say...

I can't find the words to express the amount of gratitude and respect I have for a very special friend of mine. See, Friday was a great day. Blake and Brandon went to the Father/Son over night camp out 2 1/2 hours away. I took the opportunity to have a girls day with my three girls. We had a blast...I took Abby and Maddie shopping after I dropped Cailee off at school. We had a good time, went and got Cailee from school, relaxed for a bit, then went and got pizza and took it to the park. Everyone was happy and we had a great time. That night, my friend Mindy and two of her kids came and we had a movie night since our husbands were at the camp out. It was fun...we watched Princess Diaries and had some good, fun movie sweets. We chatted for a little bit and then left around ten. I got my girls all in bed. I have a hard time getting to sleep when Blake's not here, so I think I finally fell asleep around 1:30.

So what does this all have to do with my special friend...I'm getting there. Some of you know that I have a history of having kidney stones. Well, Saturday morning was no exception. I woke up at 3:30 am with severe pain in my left lower "flank" (as they call it) or back area. I knew what was happening due to having my fair share of kidney stones in the past. I didn't know what to do since Blake was gone and I had three sleeping children. I tried my best of occupy my mind for the next hour, but just couldn't take it any longer. I knelt down and prayed...I wasn't sure what to pray for exactly...what I wanted was for the pain to go away, but the answer I got was to call Annie. I knew her husband was most likely home (okay...so I was really hoping he would be). I wasn't sure how it was all going to work out, but I knew Annie would know what to do. At this point all I could think about was how bad I hurt.

So at 4:30 I picked up the phone and called. Annie answered and she and her husband S.A.M. were at my door in no time. S.A.M. stayed with my sleeping girls and Annie took me and Madie to the hospital. Now I have to tell you what a true friend will do for you because this is Annie:

She let me throw up in a JCPenny bag she had in her car and kept driving instead of stopping when I told her I was losing it.

She ran stop lights and stop signs to get there faster (if you happen to be law enforcement reading this, she was the safest driver and it was early in the morning with little traffic...she was helpin' out a friend in pain.)

She wheeled me into the hospital with Madie in the other arm until a gentlemen took over.

She stayed with me while the nurse got me started with an IV and the first dose of Morphine.

She took Madie for a walk when she got fussy, changed her diaper since that was the last thing on my mind just an hour earlier.

Once I was settled enough, she took Madie and came and got my three girls ready and took them to her house for the day.

She called up to Rugged Mountain to get a message to Blake to come home to be with me...that's right...to be with me, not to take my kids so she could be free to have her Saturday.

Once my whole saga was over (I will explain all that later) Blake rolled back into town and was able to pick me up from the hospital. We got home and Annie took Brandon to her house so all we would have was Madie.

She and her wonderful husband kept our kids and took them to McDonalds or "old McDonald" as the kids put it for dinner.


I can not tell you how grateful I am to have Annie and her husband (click to go to Annie's blog)for friends. You both saved me...I am forever grateful for you. I've always had a great respect for them...it just got even greater. Last night they stopped by to bring some of Madie's stuff back over and I was still having a tough time with my stomach settling. Annie, being the wonderful person she is, asked if I wanted a blessing. Blake and S.A.M. gave me a blessing. I have to tell you. It' exactly what I needed. It not only was what my body needed, but it touched on other things I needed right now in my life.


Annie...you are classy in every spectrum of the word and I don't know what I would do without you! Thanks for everything!

What happened at the hospital you say (or maybe not say...but I'll tell ya anyway)?
At the hospital they were really quick to get me back to a room. The nurse (who was a guy-BTW) got the IV going and a little later got anti nausea meds and the first dose of Morphine going. The morphine took the edge off a little, but man did this kidney stone ever do some damage. I was still hurting pretty bad and throwing up which is always a vacation. He left the room and a little while later, after ignoring me for a while, I pushed the little call button. I nicely informed him that I was still hurting pretty bad. He gave me a second dose of the Morphine, which didn't do anything again and left the room. When the bag of saline ran out he walked in the room unhooked the tube from the IV...I asked if I could have some ice chips (at this point I was extremely dehydrated and my mouth was so dry I could barely talk) and he informed me I couldn't have anything more until the doctor saw me and walked out the door. Anytime I tried to make small conversation he ignored me and went about his business. I thought...how rude. Here I was the one in pain and trying to be really polite and say thank you, ect. even for putting the IV in I said thank you. Zero bedside manners for this one. I wasn't impressed. So I layed there with my knee's pulled up to my chest till the doctor came in.

The doctor saw me and said, "You look like you've got a bit of side pain." To say the least. I could barely talk since by this point my mouth was REALLY DRY. He jumped into action... I had the new nurse after the shift change (BTW-a guy) got the IV hooked back up to fluids, got more anti nausea meds and stronger pain meds (can't remember the name...just remember they worked a lot better). The only problem with the new meds is that it slowed my heart rate down a bit and my oxygen level kept dropping. The new more attentive nurse (with awesome bedside manners) noticed and put oxygen on me. New nurse was friendly and kept a closer eye on me. He carried on more of a conversation, which made things less awkward.

The remainder of the time I spent sleeping and throwing up once in a while. Closer to the end I had to share the room with a "most interesting" person. I think in the 20-30 minute span I heard every swear word in the book and at one point got really worried that something was going to be thrown through the curtain that was separating us. I know he punched something, but not sure what. After the punching I decided to call for a nurse. She went and told him he was next to be seen by the doctor and as she walked out a whole new slew of words flew from him mouth.

A few minutes later the radiologist gal came and took me to get a CT scan...Thank you nice radiologist gal. Once I was out of the room I could actually talk to her and let her know what was going on. She told me she'd see what she could do to get me moved to a different room. On the way for the scan I threw up, once again. The scan went well and by the time we were done, so told room guy decided to leave...OOOhhh I was not sad to see him leave. I was finally starting to feel relief from the back pain at this point. Went to the bathroom and must have passed the stone then. The radiologist said he saw stones up in my kidneys, but that the one had passed that caused all the chaos of the morning.

I called Annie and Blake came and picked me up. Unfortunately my stomach was still not doing so hot and throwing up continued into part of the night. Today is a new day. I'm a bit exhausted from the whole thing, but grateful to no longer have such pain.

So there is the tale of wonderful friends and my night/morning with the attack of the kidney stones.