A hospital stay

I woke up at 3 am in the early hours of Monday morning with pain on the left of my abdomen. Thinking I had eaten something wrong, I tried to relieve it by going to the washroom. But no relief and in fact the pain got worse and I began to feel pain all over my left side. The pain got so bad that I could hardly stumble back to bed. By then, I suspected that it had to do with my kidneys - probably a stone or a blood clot dislodged from the many cysts there. My husband and I decided to call my brother who is a urologist. He came over, gave me an injection, but the pain continued. So I decided that I had better get admitted to hospital and at 6.30 am was at the Emergency department of Assunta Hospital, a little more comfortable, after a much stronger analgesic injection and waiting to be admitted.

A CT scan confirmed a small stone at the lower end of the ureter that was making its way down and causing the pain. Anyway, the pain continued, somewhat lesser but still significant, over the next three hours. I had to drink as much fluid as possible to 'wash' it out. Thankfully, by mid afternoon the stone had been passed out. I was comfortable then, and told that I could go home the same day, but I decided to stay overnight. It was a good decision. It was a time of enforced rest, as I had really 'nothing' to do. All I had was my Bible and no other reading material. I also resisted turning on the TV just to while away the time. I had few visitors, except family and one close friend, as I chose not to inform many people.

The experience was a good one, even though the pain was not 'fun' at the time. It gave me time to rest, with nothing other than just 'be'. The many hours I was alone were good for me. I can't say I 'prayed' formally throughout the time, but I was just aware that the Lord was near. An added blessing was the view from my room window (picture above). I had the steeple of a church with a large cross to look at from my bed. No wonder I felt the presence of God quite easily. And this morning, I was blessed by a visit from one of the pastoral care team members of the hospital. It turned out that this Catholic brother was familiar to me. I had met him several years before as someone who also has a chronic illness, so we had a bit to catch up on.

The botton line is that I do have other small stones in my kidneys, because of the numerous cysts there. And they could start travelling out at some point in time. So, I could have similar problems in future. But I trust that the Lord hears my prayers and does 'heal' in whatever way he wishes, sometimes quite miraculously and sometimes naturally, with medical intervention. And so far, he has graciously preserved the function of my kidneys despite the presence of many cysts.

I try to learn psalms by heart these days. I realize they will come in useful at those times when I run out of my own words to pray and these words can 'pray' themselves in my heart. Through my hours in hospital, I managed to finish Psalm 145 which I have been trying to learn for some time.

The Lord is near to all who call on him

to all who call on him in truth.

My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord

Let every creature praise his holy name

for ever and ever.