Day 28 (four weeks post op)

Well, I went to the ER today. Not for anything jaw related. My jaw was actually feeling kind of normal today. So heres the story:

I woke up at 6:30 (the perfect time to take a shower in the single stall bathroom) and got ready for class no problems. I took my Turmeric and drank a protein smoothie and got on the shuttle to go to class. I got there super early so I helped the professor set up and talked with her about taking another one of her classes. All was going great until around 8:15 when I noticed a rather uncomfortable cramp in my right side just below my rib cage. I ignored it thinking I probably just needed to sit down for a while. Well it got worse. So I left class to go sit in the hallway and take a few deep breaths. Nope, definitely getting worse. I decided I needed to leave class and go to the health center on campus just in case. Well I was waiting for the shuttle when the pain suddenly became unbearable, luckily my friend John came along and helped me to the public safety desk where I nice public safety man called an ambulance for me. In the ambulance the paramedics asked me to rate my pain on a scale of 1-10, I told them 6-7 because I'm a tough guy. I gave them the whole schpeel about the jaw surgery and what medications I have become allergic to blah blah blah. We get to the emergency room and they put me on a bed in the waiting room FOR 45 MINUTES. By then I was writhing in pain and yelling "Please! please!" and crying. Finally a nurse came and took me into an exam room where low and behold all my symptoms sound like kidney stones! JOY! They gave me some narcotic pain medicine called Dylodid or however you spell it (the same stuff I got at the hospital after the surgery) which thankfully I am not allergic to. Hannah came and sat with me until my mom got there and that was a huge relief and comfort. After about 4 more hours of "ow this fucking hurts" and "yes I want more pain meds" I passed one tiny stone and my pain basically disappeared. The urologist wanted to keep me over night but honestly Mount Auburn Hospital is kind of a hot mess and I really just wanted to go home with my mom. So they discharged me and gave me strict instructions to get myself immediately to an ER if my symptoms return.

My mom seems to think that this could be a result of my funky diet recently and not being hydrated enough. Probably true. So I emailed Yale again to let them know what was going on, I was vomiting so much while passing the stone that I snapped a band off and I didn't have any extras on me so I just had to be really mindful of not opening my jaw too much.

I never ever want to do that again. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I never ever get another kidney stone.