Griswald Adventures

Summer vacation.  What can I say?  It's possibly the first time I've took an entire week +1 day off for a vacation.  Unfortunately, like previous "vacations", it really isn't a vacation, as family is involved for the majority of the trip.

On Leg #1 of the trip, we drove from Dallas, TX to Grand Island, NE...  A long drive, but one we've made many times before...  We drove up on July 3rd, and on July 4th, we went and watched the fireworks display that the town does and then raced home to shoot off our own.  The one thing I love about the 4th of July in Nebraska, is that Grand Island allows fireworks to be used inside the city limits.  It sounds like a war zone on the 4th.  And, it's damn fun.

Anyways, Leg #1 mileage - 650 miles appx.  Time - 12 hours driving.

Onto Leg #2 - We drove to Ft. Collins, CO to visit my aunt and cousins that I haven't seen in about 3-4 years.  I love my aunt, but we couldn't stay any longer then to eat dinner.  But damn if it wasn't a great dinner.  (Steak!)

Leg #2 mileage - 350 miles appx.  Time - 5 hours driving.

Proceeding to Leg #3, we drive to my wife's family's house in Deer Trail, CO.  We are going to spend Monday through Thursday here.

Leg #3 mileage - 150 miles appx.  Time - 2 hours.

And while staying at my in-laws, the Griswald curse strikes.  On Monday morning, I have a pain in my lower back, which I brush off as a muscle knot from sleeping in a new bed, and sleeping in 2 different beds in 3 days.

I beg off going swimming with my daughter as the knot is painful, and I take a Vicodin.  Later in the day, my back is feeling better, and when my wife returns from swimming with my daughter, I have her rub the spot, which appears to make it feel better.

We are planning on meeting my brother-in-law and his wife and eating in Denver.  So we all hop in the car and start out.  Denver is appx. 45 minutes from Deer Trail, but along the way, my back pain returns, and intensifies.  Then I start getting nauseous and cold sweats.  On the outskirts of Denver, I'm suddenly hit with an overwhelming urge to take a piss.

I ask my father-in-law to pull into a gas station so I can go pee.  I run into the bathroom and when I try to piss...  nothing.  Nothing will come out, yet, the urge to pee is unreal.

Now I'm starting to worry.  I hop back in the car and we go to the area we are going to meet my BIL.  We stop into the local Target so I can grab a few new T-shirts, as my mother accidently ruined almost all of the ones I had by forgetting that she had a tube of lip balm in her shorts.  The vaseline is dried with the load, and all my clothes in that load are spotted all over with oil marks.

Anyways, while in Target, the urge to piss is driving me nuts, and my back pain is unlike any I have ever felt.  I make a couple of trips back-and-forth to bathroom and the pain is intensifying.  Each trip to the toilet is unsuccessful and finally my wife has had enough and so have I as I admit that it is most likely a kidney stone.  I ask my BIL to take me to the ER, and once there, I'm able to get myself in by saying I have to use the restroom really bad (which is in the ER past the Triage area).  The resident asks why I have to pee and my wife gives him all my symptoms.  At which, he grabs a urine cup for me to give him a sample, which, I'm unable to provide.  I'm admitted immediately and an IV is started after the doctor examines me and states:  "We have a saying in the medical field.  If it sounds like a horse, smells like a horse, looks like a horse...  It's not a zebra.  Great.  My pain is killing me and I get a stand-up comedian for a doctor.

The doctor orders a CAT scan and a shot of Fentanyl immediately.  The happy juice hits me almost immediately and takes the edge off me and allows me to relax.  I'm rolled in for the CAT scan, and then back to my room.

About 45 minutes later, the doctor comes in and confirms that it is a kidney stone.  The first I've ever had.  It's only 2mm, but he states, that in the world of kidney stones, it's small, but a kidney stone is still a stone, and hurts like hell. 

He gives my wife instructions and a filter for me to catch the stone when I pass it.  In my drugged state, I really don't listen, but the doctor is going to release me, and soon after, I'm out of the ER and in the car on the way home (with Oxycodone in my pocket).

It's possibly the shortest ER visit for my Griswald family, clocking in at around 3 to 3.5 hours.  Our typical ER visits last an average of 6-7 hours (almost exclusively my wife).

The next morning I'm finally able to piss, and on the second round of peeing, I hear a "click" in the filter the doc provided.  When I rinse the filter out, sure enough, there's a small stone in it.  I bag the stone, so my doctor can examine it when I get home.

*SIGH*  Also, this night, my wife gets sick, and remains sick until this day.  We just can't have an incident free vacation.

Transitioning to Leg #4.  We drive to my sister's house in Arvada, CO and pick her and her children up.  From there, we proceed to drive to Estes Park, CO, where we currently are attending my mother's family reunion.  Woot.

Tomorrow, we are going white water rafting.  Hoping it will be fun for all.

Leg #4 mileage - 300 miles appx.  Time - 4 hours.

(All this, and I still get to drive home on Sunday and Monday.  Yay for me.