[sailchef]

I flew down to St. Croix for a few days to look at an investment I made over the winter. Return flight was from St. Croix to Puerto Rico, and then direct Puerto Rico to BWI (Baltimore /Washington). 20 minutes after the plane took off from Puerto Rico to BWI, I felt that sharp pain in my side and knew exactly what it was. I had kidney stones 15 years ago and recognized the pain immediately. I figured I could man up and deal with it if I didn’t move around too much. There was no way I was going to ask the plane to go back, we were already at 38,000 ft. and cruising. The first Hour was uncomfortable but bearable. The next two or three hours the pain was coming and going and getting worse, but by this time I was stretched across three seats in the last row of the aircraft. I was actually going from the seats, to laying on the floor, to standing, back to the seats etc. The flight attendant had notified the captain earlier and had even asked if I wanted the plane to make an emergency landing in Atlanta. I felt like a fool for being all bent up but declined the offer. I just wanted to get home to BWI. I spent the last 2 hours talking to a lady who was a nurse and the talking seemed to ease the pain, or at least take my mind off of it. The flight attendant had recommended that I drink water to help flush it thru. Wrong! Don’t ever do this. I couldn’t pass any urine and after 2 bottles of water my bladder felt like it was going to explode. So now I’m standing, sitting, laying down and trying to use the head every 15mins. The pain at this time next to unbearable but I just kept trying not to think about it. I was also chewing on Advil that I had brought with me which seemed to help. We finally got to BWI and it had to be all the fluids I had taken in because as soon as I stepped onto the walkway leading from the aircraft to the terminal and the cold 20 degree air hit me I felt pain like I had never felt before. I made it into the terminal and that was it. I collapsed on the floor and curled up like a baby. Paramedics were called after I explained to a security guard why I was on the floor and what was going on. It was 10 PM and the terminal was practically empty. I negotiated with myself and the paramedics whether or not I wanted to go to the hospital or try to drive home to the beach. The paramedics were very professional but said the decision would ultimately be mine. After 20 minutes going back and forth and the pain not getting any better I crawled up onto the stretcher and off we went to Baltimore Washington Medical Center. The paramedic kept asking on a scale of 1 – 10 how bad is your pain? I was laughing and practically crying at the same time. By now it was a good 12. It was the worse. It felt like I had a long spike being stuck into my side. I had spent the last 5 hours bouncing around on a plane and now I was bouncing around in the back of an ambulance, and still had to piss like a race horse, but couldn’t. I thought I was going to pass out. Once we got to the BWMC they took really good care of me. I thought for sure I would be lost in a long line or left in a hallway somewhere but they got me in and took care of me pretty quick. They took my vitals and admittance information on the fly. I passed thru the hands of several nurses and the doctor finally came in to watch a nurse while she gave me a pain killer, an anti- nausea medication, and I believe a third medication to dissolve the stones. After a half hour I felt great and fell asleep on the ER bed. Around midnight the doctor woke me up and asked how I felt, I tried to stand up but was still a little groggy and had to drive 2 hours from BWI to the beach so he said he was going to keep me in the ER and let me sleep for a few more hours. It was the best rest I had in years. Around 4:30AM a nurse woke me up, I took my luggage into the restroom , took a very long awaited piss, brushed my teeth, changed my shirt, checked out, and drove home. I don’t ever want to go thru that again. It was a very long day.