kidney vacation

Here I am at the end of my little kidney adventure, which I'm going to start referring to as my kidney vacation, cause let's face it, that sounds so much better than calling it something like 'the tale of throwing up through tremendous pain, while sobbing uncontrollably like a toddler'.  Or, 'my week on IV pain killers'.  Or, 'why my family left me in Bangkok'.  Cause while all those things are true, no one wants the gory details of having a kidney stone...or do you?  Pretty sure I don't want to rehash each moment of the last week of my life.  Just pray you don't get kidney stones.

So this isn't going to be gory details.  This is going to be a small whiff of the wonderfulness of my Father in Heaven.

We have had some changes in our health care coverage, due to some changes in our company.  I was a little worried how this would pan out with the medical bills I accumulated over the past month.  Let me tell you that our insurance covered E.V.E.R.Y. bit of my treatment.  The only part we had to pay for was the price difference of going from a double to single room.  Call me silly but each time I was admitted (I was re-admitted twice after being discharged.  twice.) the thought of puking my guts out in front of a stranger and their family wasn't appealing.  Stan was quite supportive of my decision.

My doctor was wonderful.  It was my first experience with a Urologist.  He was like a Thai granpa that only wanted to help me feel better.  Other than the fact that he's the one that ordered the treatment (twice, I should add) that was basically equivalent to repeatedly punching me in the kidney for an hour straight, I really liked him.  He even joked with me, which if you know me is a necessary coping mechanism.  I felt cared for and listened to and valued as a patient.  The first Urologist I saw did not offer this.  I am so thankful he only works one night a week (must be nice!) and I got someone new when I returned for treatment.

Once we knew Stan and the boys were going to have to hang out a few days before they could get home we called the Guest House run by our peeps to see if there was ANYthing available--they were booked solid due to so many people coming in and out for meetings during the month of February.  When she called me back and told me that all they could offer was a two bedroom apartment through Friday (they day they were leaving) I just about passed out.  The family that was staying there while having a baby got to go home a bit early, so she had that open.  ALL that was available?  Are you kidding me?  Such a huge blessing!

Although we had had hoped I would get to travel home with my guys last Friday, my body just wasn't ready.  Stan decided the best thing for the boys would be to get them home.  Judah was a mess the last two weeks, crying all the time.  He was ready for normal.  Bennett kept asking us when we were going to go back to Earth.  Thailand and outer space are, apparently, the same to him.  I'm beginning to agree.  Kirby was missing his bed, and his toys and done with the heat.  Have I ever told you he is A LOT like his momma in these ways?  So my superman husband packed up our many belongings (three cheers for almost being done with pack n play travel!) leaving my bag here waiting for me at the Guest House, and traveled home with our boys.  Although it's only a two hour flight and then a four hour bus ride, the typical door to door travel time is 12 hours.  TWELVE!  And he did it and you know what he told me when he got home and got the boys in bed...'it wasn't that bad, pretty smooth day.'  This is why he is my perfect match.  He makes everything that I find stressful and a total big deal seem easy and fun.  I. love. him!

And finally after Father had already provided in so many amazing ways through the past week, today HE gave me the greatest blessing of them all.  When I called to get my flight arranged they told me the earliest confirmed flight I could get was for March 27th.  I'm not kidding.  Does anyone else find that completely absurd???  I asked a million questions to find out all my options.  It came down to me getting on the waiting list for a seat on Friday's flight (no flight on Tuesday and the waiting list was 'closed' for Wednesday and Thursday).  The nice--but maybe slightly irritated with me--man said there were Business Class seats available but the only way I could get one was to show up the day of the flight and upgrade at the counter.  So that was what I was going to do.  The extra cost was worth it to me (and Stan).  Then this morning I got a call to confirm I had a seat on Friday's flight.  I was thrilled.  But I decided to ask again about the upgrade option and then Stan and I could discuss what was best.  I don't know what this ladies' tapity tapity fingers were able to do that couldn't be done just 12 hours before but there were now FIVE economy seats open.  OK, so four cause I grabbed one up like it was a free cupcake.  I GO HOME TOMORROW!  Yes, I'm aware that is internet yelling. 

So as we put out requests for each need we had, we knew we had people praying for us all over the world.  And as Father provided, even in the small ways, we praised Him.  We will continue to do so because He is good.  Actually, He is way more than we deserve.

And since I snuck in a few gory details anyway, I'll give you one more.  I now have confirmation of one part of my body that is considered petite...my veins.  Getting an IV in me posed a challenge that some of those nurses were not up for.  It got to the point to where I finally just told them to call in the specialist.  They all started to agree that was best.  I have 7 spots (and 4 still have bruises cause I'm like a peach) of ports of entry, or attempts of such.  It's like connect the dots on my hands, wrists and forearms.