The "$.78 cent Pain" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just got back from the doctor’s office after a follow up visit from earlier in December when I made a visit to talk about the sudden illness I developed from a pair of kidney stones which was the cause of my #10 pain.  He told me he wanted to see me in about a month so I could give them time to pass through my body and avoid having him have to remove them.  Week after week I remained pain-free once again and earlier this week I visited a local lab and presented them with a paper which told them to X-ray my abdomen to check and see if the stones remained in my body.  I no sooner got home from that early morning lab visit when I got the intense #10 pain back once again.  My wife loaded me in the back seat of the car and off we went to the emergency room once again.  Same thing as before: IV in the arm and narcotics to relieve the pain with a cat-scan to check once again for the stones.  I told them I had been given an X-ray a few hours before in one of their facilities, but that didn’t matter.  After an hour or so of waiting on a litter in the ER, the #10 pain came back once again.  Another shot of pain killers and a visit from the emergency room doctor.  I was told they couldn’t do anything more and I would have to visit my urologist.  “What about the #10 pain,” I asked.  I was given a prescription for strong pain pills and told it was time to leave.  They actually told me I was worse off in the ER since there were so many other things I could get by staying there.  So, Carol pulled the car up to the ER door, I climbed in the back seat once again and we stopped at the pharmacy for the pain pills before heading home.  Now the only good news from this entire day was the fact that the  twelve #10 pain pills only cost 78 cents.  I popped the pills for the rest of the evening and all night hoping the pain wouldn’t return.  Early the next morning my stomach felt terrible from all the #10 pain pills and the narcotic shots from the ER.   After a call to my urologist, another drug store trip was needed for something to settle my stomach.  Stopping the pain pill and the stomach relaxer seemed to make me feel better, but the dread of the #10 pain returning was working on my mind.  Well, it’s been three days and I managed to get to the urologist’s office without anymore pain to see what was my next move.  He showed me the stones were still in place and he would remove them a few days later.  He was scheduled to hop a plane to Orlando after my visit so he could speak at a conference.  Guy is a fantastic urologist!   All has been going smooth since the #10 pain subsided, until NOW!   An historic snowstorm has been dropping snow now for two days.  Will my doctor return in time for my procedure?   I sure hope so!   The saga continues ....  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.