Another Stone Update
Still hasn't passed.

Yesterday was pretty bad. My stomach was upset all day and in the evening I went out to visit a friend and play some cards and I started hurting really, really bad. I waited until it hurt that much before leaving for home because I'm bound and determined at this point to go on with my life as normal as possible while waiting for the stone to come out. I came home and went to bed with the heating pad on my back and it helped a lot.

Today has been pretty good. My stomach has been pretty calm, but I've also avoided eating anything other than a few pretzels and a bag of animal crackers. I'm at work right now and brought the heating pad with me and I think that is part of why I'm doing well. This morning I also just relaxed on the couch watching my Battlestar Galactica DVDs, so I haven't had much time where the heat pad has not been on my back.

I'm not sure why the heat pad helps so much. If the back pain is from the kidney why does my kidney hurt right now when the stone has apparently moved on from the kidney? Is the pain from the muscles tensing up? That makes sense and would explain why the heating pad helps. However, besides the pain in the pack and the upset stomach, I haven't had too many symptoms lately. I'm not peeing as much as normal still, but that should be expected.

I made an appointment with a urologist but he could not see me until February 16th. Hopefully, the stone should have passed by then, but I'm starting to worry about it. The only other option I have to have it looked at is to go to the emergency room, but even with insurance that cost a lot last time we went just to have the doctor shrug his shoulders and tell me that he couldn't do much besides prescribe me painkillers.

My break is in a little bit. I'm debating on whether to try anything more dangerous than the crackers and pretzels I've eaten so far today. I have to eat to keep up my nutrition, but I'm neither hungry nor looking forward to the pain. Even though my stomach is not saying it's hungry, I can still tell I'm craving some nutrients. For the last couple of days, I've really been feeling the urge to eat whenever I see some food, particularly Mexican. However, the bean dip messed me up bad enough Monday night that I'm not eager to repeat the experience.