Kidney Stones

---

Last night about midnight, Bob woke up feeling a little uncomfortable. With time he recognized the feeling, which he had experienced four years earlier: kidney stones. He immediately began to consume liquids and drew a hot bath to sit in. By about 1:00 AM he was in such pain that he could barely get out of the bath. Then he woke me and was in such pain that he started taking Ibuprofen every hour. I called the U.S. Consulate for suggestions as to a hospital but I could not get through to the duty officer. Bob was insistent that we not wake our hosts, and it was not until the Consulate called us back at about 6:00 AM that I woke our hosts. Iraj offered to take us to the hospital.

The Milpark hospital people were all very kind, and he was seen immediately in “Casualty,” which is the name for the Emergency Room here. He was put on pain medication right away and admitted later in the day. I worked with the hospital to get the financial paperwork straight and cancelled the four appointments we had made to see flats. After Bob was admitted, Karin picked me up and took me back to the house to sleep for a few hours. Then I went back to the hospital. They have stated visiting hours, but no one seemed to mind if anyone came or went outside of the schedule. The ward has six beds in it, all men, mostly older. Of course Bob made friends with the ones around him right away.

A CT scan showed two stones, one moving and the other, larger, still up near the kidney. He will spend the night, and we will look in the morning to see if there is progress and then possibly use ultrasound to break up the larger stone. Kidney stones are very painful, but not usually life-threatening; he will be fine when this is over.

I called my parents from Iraj and Karin’s house and spent about an hour on the phone. It was the first time I’d talked with them since we left the US, and we were planning on doing it tonight anyway, but with Bob in the hospital, it seemed even more important.

---