Copycat

Over the last ten years, I have noticed that when I get an idea, DH typically decided he wants to do it, too. For instance, I began grad school (although b/c I got laid off I was never able to finish), then he decided he should go, too. I went to chiropractors, he went too. I had a baby, he had a hernia.

Now, apparently, he is dissatisfied with my impending surgery on some level. I have gallstones, so Senor Copycat now has a kidney stone. But of COURSE he does.

I mean, the poor thing, I know it hurts like hell, because my gallstones do, and because he quite nearly passed out yesterday before I got him to the ER. It all started when we were at church yesterday. We had sat through the sermon, sung the songs, and gotten our snacks for coffee hour before going to join our parenting class. After about fifteen minutes in class, DH got up to go to the bathroom. I didn't think anything of it - he's on medication that makes him pee a lot. Five minutes later, though, he came back into the room pale as death and said, 'please, take me home'. We have a CNP in our class, who took one look at him and said, 'you've got a kidney stone'.

So, we came home, and some good friends brought our kids home when Sunday School was over. About ten minutes later, poor DH called from the bathroom that it was time to go to the ER. We sat in the waiting room for about three hours, maybe a little more, and of course in that time his pain abated, but the CAT scan he finally got seven hours after we arrived showed that he had a stone that had moved out of his kidney (thus the abating of the intense pain) and was on its way to his bladder. So, when he finally came home last evening, it was with a script for percoset and a ridiculous paper strainer that he's supposed to pee through to try and catch the stone as it comes out. Apparently there are several different kinds of stones, and if he can catch it the urologist, who he was instructed to see in the next day or so, will find it easier to diagnose what his problem is. I guess when I'm at the store tonight I'll see if I can find him a better strainer that we can keep in a little bowl of bleach or something in the bathroom, and then throw away when the ... um... deed is done. YUCK.

Of course, the urologist can't see him for two weeks. No surprise there, really, I suppose, but I thought doctors were supposed to leave appointments open for people who are actually in the throes of something rather than booking solid with scheduled appointments. Sigh. Anyway, I suppose I should be glad he got in at all before the end of time.

DH stayed home today, of course, and is in varying stages of discomfort. The stone is supposed to pass within 24 - 48 hours, so he should be good by this time tomorrow, I imagine. It's a small one, so it's not supposed to really hurt when he pees it out, just while it's making its way to his bladder. Isn't it amazing how much something so tiny (1-2mm) can completely screw you over?! I mean, if you stepped on something that small, you wouldn't even notice it. He won't feel it when he pees it out, supposedly. But, in these few locations, hew, boy! You would think the human body would be more... elastic than this. I mean, we're made to bend, twist, and, stretch, and women can accomodate entire watermelons in their abdomens, but one seed-sized doohicky in the wrong spot, and we're totally undone.