Kidney Stone

I had another kidney stone last week. About halfway through Wednesday morning, I could tell I had one and started drinking tons of water. I figured if I could drink enough, and keep it down, I could flush the stone out... but not this time.

Friday morning the pain was finally so bad I had LuAnn take me in to the ER, where they eased the pain and did some scans and found a stone they said was big enough that it may not pass on its own. So on Saturday, I had surgery to remove the stone. It's been a painful week or so.

I've done some more reading on what causes kidney stones and how to prevent them and haven't really found anything conclusive. Lots of "secret" home remedies that I can get in on for $37 or $17 or... whatever. It's frustrating. People are in pain and don't know what to do... let's make some money.

You can't sell hope. It's discouraging to know that for the rest of my life, I'll probably have kidney stones - and maybe the only thing I can do about it is take drugs every day that don't really do anything to change the root of the problem. I want to know why my body has become a rock factory and what I can do to shut down production.

Maybe chugging olive oil will do the trick. Maybe I need to drink lemonade everyday. Maybe it's coffee... no don't drink coffee. Here's a special kidney bean concoction to try. Cranberry juice... stay away from salt. No, it's your thyroid... try this secret mix of three common grocery items... eat more basil... don't eat kelp...

The frustrating thing is the 'just hand over some money and we'll help you out.' attitude. Conditional assistance. I wonder if that's what we offer in the church sometimes. "Talk like us, look like us, arrange your daily schedule like us and we'll share with you the answer to all your problems." As a sufferer, what I'd really like to see is help. Help me through my struggle as I am, and when I've come out the other side, I'm yours because I know it's really me you care about. We need to give the love we've been given - without qualification - and then see real transformation take place.