3rd update on my dad's rocks, er, stones

pled for continuity report on my dad's kidney stones.  p.s. my mom is really hilarious, i mean let's not leave her out of this story!  she sent me the most recent update on his condish and i must tell a little back story for it to make a bit more sense to you wonderful friends: my mom is really progressing in her internet savvyness and when i first started this blog up last year, i checked in with her, challenging and reminding her to check it (she is a big fan.  not just because she is my mother, she insists upon this detail.) and one such conversation went like this:

me: "so mom, have you checked my recent blog posts?"

mom: "uh no honey, i haven't logged on it for awhile."

me: *guffaws and gasps for air for more than a moment.  howls might be a more appropriate description of this noise*

mom: *silence.  small chuckle.*  "uh, melissa what is so funny?  what?  what are you laughing about?"

me: "mom *gasp* oh    my    goooosh !  that is soooo hilarious!  'logged on'?  ohh my gosh!  mom-"

mom: "melissa, well isn't that what it's called?  i mean, what else would you say?"

me: "*snort* uhhh, you don't have to log on to my site, mom, you just have to type the address in and it'll take you there.  anyone can read it."

mom: "well *huf* OK.  no, i haven't visited it recently.  i'll look at it this evening.  gracious!"

ok so that was lengthy, but most of the time my mom manages to totally crack me up for something i might deem hilarious and others would simply glide right on past.  i just can't resist it, she's too cute.  she writes me e-mails sometimes regarding the things i have written (which are letters i will always treasure.  she is a builder, my mom.) and following is just one such note:

"Thanks for mentioning your Father's kidney stone.  We were just commenting this am (over blueberry muffins and tea*) that it was 4 weeks ago today that we spent the night in the ER.  He has only taken 2 pain tablets in the whole month!  He continues to take the herbal product, drink lots of water, and hangs upside down.  Isn't he a riot?  We cancelled the lithotripsy appointment because he is doing OK for now and we need to give the herbs time to work.  Except for getting up three times in the night to go to the bathroom, he doesn't give it much thought.  Keep up the prayers!  We know they are helping!"

 

*= my mother loooooves tea and has tea time as often as she can reason.  my dad joins her now that all the girls are out of the house.  it makes me sad, imagining them sitting there at the kitchen table by themselves, lonely.  perhaps they actually love this time and the silence in between all the kids coming in and out for reading lessons, but i, being one of their daughters who wishes the distance were mere blocks instead of thousands of miles, feel sad that i am not there as well. 

-update on my dad-

thanks so much to all of you who have asked about my dad, he is doing well!  here is an e-mail excerpt he sent recently:

"I thought you'd like to pass along to your friends the results I've had with "hanging upside down" to stop kidney stone pain. It works! Two times today when I was teaching the pain started to come on, so at break time I went downstairs to my Soloflex machine and hung upside down on the chin-up bar, hanging by the back of my knees for a minute or two. 

The pain came back again within an hour of the first trial.

For the second trial, I drank a glass of water about 15 minutes before hand and I also gently swung back and forth a little. The pain seemed to go away more quickly and it hasn't returned (as of four hours later), so adding water seems to be beneficial. I'm really excited that when I am home I can do this and thereby avoid having to take the tylenol #3 with codeine tablets.

For a long term solution, I've ordered an herbal product that appears to be capable of slowly dissolving the kidney stones and helping to improve kidney function at the same time."

he did get this product in the mail and is going to give it a try.  as i mentioned before, he does have several kidney stones and while i am hopeful that this product will in fact do great things to reduce the size of the stones, i still have some reservations.  he is on the waiting list for the lithotripsy procedure and i will keep ya'll updated, but thank you again for all your generosity, thoughts and prayers.  i cannot express how deeply it has affected me.  incredible!

My dad has several kidney stones. This is not a joke.

It all started a long time ago when my dad, David Filkins, was born. I mean, a looooong time, well ok, I guess he's not that old. =0) Anyway, for some strange reason, he is prone to kidney stones.  He had one in '96 and it was awful.  This time the doctor has confirmed he has more than one in his kidney, with the largest and most irritating stone measuring 1cm. You read that right, MAMMOTH.  One cannot pass a kidney stone that large, so my father has to have it lasered with a process called lithotripsy into smaller, passable pieces. My dad has the highest pain tolerance of anyone in our whole family (and perhaps anyone I know otherwise), but he was in severe pain for 2 days before we all convinced him late Wednesday night that this was not going to disappear and he really needed to find out what the problem was.  No matter the cost.  Especially because you don't have the money dad, you're all we do have. Loving and being loved by you (and mom) is and has been the most influential aspect of my life.  My entire family's.  GOSH!  So my mom took him in.

  My parents don't have health insurance, haven't since dad was employed by a company with benefits.  Currently my parents work as reading tutors out of their home and they cannot afford it health insurance, so this is a huge burden financially.  One that may take them the rest of their working lives to pay off.  My dad is on the waiting list for the lithotripsy procedure (aprox. wait time: 1 month) so I'm praying he doesn't have too many intense bouts of pain in that timeframe.  Poor guy.

  If you think of him and are a praying person, please pray for my father.  If you want to take it a step further, my older sister Vanessa, who is an amazing photographer has set up a special deal on her incredible photos and all proceeds are going to pay the hospital bills.  She will send our parents a check on 3/30/09 with all the money she has gathered.  I am planning on having a car wash in the next couple weeks, so if you live in Austin let me wash your car!  Or, baby sit your children, or do chores or spring cleaning!  I'll do anything, within the law.  =0)  There is also a donation button here through PayPal (it is not required that you have a PayPal account to donate) if you'd like to just give.  Our parents have no idea we're doing this, I know they will see it as a miracle.  Thanks for any and all thought you have given this.