We talked about it for a bit and decided to go to the emergency room at the Kahuku Medical Center. The hospital is about ten minutes at the most from here and is the closest hospital. We got to the ER about 5am and by that time I was in excruciating pain.
It took a bit, but they finally did get the pain under control. A couple of CAT scans later along with blood tests and urine tests, they determined that the problem was a kidney stone. They sent me home with pain killers, nausea medication, and a pill to help the urine flow. They gave me some screening material, a paper funnel with a very fine screen at the bottom, into which I was to urinate so as to catch the kidney stone when it finally passed.
A couple of hours later, a tiny stone showed up in the screen. I didn’t need any of the medications, just the screen.
As we were wrapping up at the ER, Dr. Bamber told me that I now had an inkling of an idea of how painful child birth is. Thanks, Doc! I don’t want to do that again. I’ve captured the stone and will take it to my primary care doctor Sandi Uchida at the VA Medical Center on Wednesday when I have an appointment with her. The lab can apparently analyze it and determine if any lifestyle changes are warranted.
It’s still amazing to me that a kidney stone the size of a grain of sand could cause that much pain.
UPDATE! I wrote this earlier today before we went to the Visitors’ Center for our afternoon shift. Around 3pm while we were there, the pain returned. I took four aspirin and the pain subsided somewhat. Next bathroom trip yielded two more small grains. There might still be more to be delivered.
I talked previously about the Iosepa double-hulled canoe that was recently launched for it’s summer tour. It’s back in the harbor having capsized over night. I’ve no other details at the moment. The seas are pretty rough at the moment with strong westerly winds. As far as I understand, no one was hurt in the capsize.