Lessons learned from being rescued in a sleeting storm from the AT

[Rhughesnc]

First off, if you have ever wondered if there are good people left in this world, there are, they are on the AT. Last night, in a sleeting storm with 38 degree temps, I began to pass a kidney stone at the Wayah Bald shelter. Needless to say being hypothermic and passing a kidney stone are not a good mix. The Tramily at the shelter who didn't know me from Adam, sprang into action. Someone had cell service, called Zen from Gooder Grove Hostel, (highly recommended) got Zen to meet us at the fire tower, packed up my gear, AND Rocky, a 5'2" 110lb amazing person, carried my pack, the mile back up to the fire tower while supporting me to push on. PS, I am 6'5" 250lb person, and my pack is sized accordingly. Rocky, Zen and my hiking partners got me in a car and down to the hostel into a bed and off the trail. I woke up this morning in less pain, but still hurt quite a lot. Nothing I could do about the kidney stones, but I could have done more careful planning and more realistic mileage. Once I saw it would be raining in near freezing conditions, I could have rescheduled. I need to pay closer attention to water consumption.

All that said, thank you to Rocky, Care Bear, Sparky, and the rest of the crew. I hope you stop in at the Rivers Edge and find the beers I left for you. I hope you have an amazing hike, and I hope that karma is as generous with you as you were to me last night.

[tiptoe]

Wow. I'm glad you got help when you needed it. AT hikers are the best.

[jgillam]

Humans can be quite wonderful. I'm glad you weren't alone and that you are okay now.

[Rain Man]

Inspiring.

[dudeijuststarted]

Hell yes. That's how we roll.

[Uncle Joe]

Wow! Glad you're okay and hope you feel better.

[rocketsocks]

I never passed a stone but I hear its damn painful. Glad ya had some folks to help ya out...now that's! "trail magic"

[MuddyWaters]

Its not the passing if the stone thats painful, thats a misconception. You never know when you pass a stone. Happens all the time.

Its the "not-passing " of a larger stone thats painful. Urine flow is blocked and pressure builds in kidney, causing it to swell. And yeah, its horribly painful. It will make you curl up on floor and cry. And vomit. Quite disabling. Although most simply resolve themselves after a few hrs of agony, sometimes repeated a few timed till it finally passes.Many end up in ER, iv drugs, monitoring stone with CT scan. Its just pain treatment with a feel good confirmation that its a passable stone 99% of time. I hate to say waste of money...but most time it actually is. People are scared into pursueing care by the what-if aspects. That and it hurts so bad youll pay anything for the pain to go away.

My daughter is college athlete and has had several instances of hospitalization for stones, linked to not drinking enough water suposedly. Last one was deemed too big to pass so they did scope surgery to break and remove manually. Wife also needed surgery for them after pregnancies. So sometimes, seeking care IS necessary and not a waste. Its prudent if you can afford it.

An xray for another issue revealed my daughter had few more kidney stones last yr. Just knowing she had more made her cry .

Glad op is ok. People can be great given chance.

[rocketsocks]

Its not the passing if the stone thats painful, thats a misconception. You never know when you pass a stone. Happens all the time.

Its the "not-passing " of a larger stone thats painful. Urine flow is blocked and pressure builds in kidney, causing it to swell. And yeah, its horribly painful. It will make you curl up on floor and cry. And vomit. Quite disabling. Although most simply resolve themselves after a few hrs of agony, sometimes repeated a few timed till it finally passes.Many end up in ER, iv drugs, monitoring stone with CT scan. Its just pain treatment with a feel good confirmation that its a passable stone 99% of time. I hate to say waste of money...but most time it actually is. People are scared into pursueing care by the what-if aspects. That and it hurts so bad youll pay anything for the pain to go away.

My daughter is college athlete and has had several instances of hospitalization for stones, linked to not drinking enough water suposedly. Last one was deemed too big to pass so they did scope surgery to break and remove manually. Wife also needed surgery for them after pregnancies. So sometimes, seeking care IS necessary and not a waste. Its prudent if you can afford it.

An xray for another issue revealed my daughter had few more kidney stones last yr. Just knowing she had more made her cry .

Glad op is ok. People can be great given chance.

yikes!!!!!!!

[BuckeyeBill]

I've been shot a couple times and kidney stones hurt a he}} of a lot worse.

[rocketsocks]

I've been shot a couple times and kidney stones hurt a he}} of a lot worse.

I'm just gonna take your word for it

[JC13]

I've passed a stone before and as for it not hurting, I almost ripped a urinal off the wall while passing it.

[BuckeyeBill]

I'm just gonna take your word for it

Aww where's your spirit of adventure?

[Maineiac64]

Glad your okay. I've had 3 kidney stones, not fun.

[MuddyWaters]

I had one.
Morphine helped a lot
Kidney to bladder was hard part. It was there by time CT was done.
I had never had one, woke up at 3 am with slight backache that wasnt affected by changing position. In about 2 minutes I knew what it was. 30 min later my wife took me to ER because I was being a baby ( in her words). Just a few hrs of relentless pain .

[RangerZ]

You guys are making me hurt just sitting here.

I have a friend that had one, left work to go suffer at home. He was passing the hospital so he turned into the ER. The security folks had to come find him to get his keys to get his car out of the ambulance bay.

Saw him the next day and he was doped to the gills. Eventually they had to cut him.

[JPritch]

Yeah buddy, I will always have a healthy respect for kidney stones. Had one in my late 20's (poor diet choices apparently). Caught me out of the blue...began with a dull backache and a few hours later I'm curled up on the floor thinking I must have ruptured an appendix or something. Lo and behold ER says it's just a stone! And yeah, that part was the most painful. I was dreading actually passing it, but it didn't even hurt and it was a decent sized one.

[rafe]

It's a problem that afflicts middle age males especially. I had a bout of it, ten years ago, and even hiked through some of that pain. Doc says the best thing (to avoid a recurrence) is to make sure you stay well hydrated. Fruit (citrus) drinks especially recommended, eg. lemonade.

[hikehunter]

I had a stone a few years ago. Holly hell it hurt. The doctor used a sound probe thing that busted it up. Helped some but it was a few hours of "kill me now please" pain.

[Rhughesnc]

CT scan today. Almost to my bladder. Only threw up 5 times with this one. Hopefully the last. Very grateful to the folks who helped get me down and my wife for hauling me around to doctors today.