I had in my head a very different idea for this post when we arrived in France a couple of weeks ago. Little did I know that the relaxing holiday with my family that we planned was actually not going to go to plan... At all.
I mean, it's been kind of terrifying at one point, but to be completely fair, by the end of the holiday, it felt like we were finally relaxing with this horrible experience out of the way.
I usually don't talk too much on this blog about my personal life, but sometimes it's good to share a little bit more. Plus, I wanted to write a post about our holiday like I always do, so why not do it anyway? It shows that sometimes our life is not as perfect as our Instagram photos would lead you to believe.
After a couple of days being in my family home, Jason started to feel a dull pain in his right kidney. By lunchtime, he was urinating blood. Even though he was telling me that it would pass and that he felt ok, to me it was clear that he needed to see a doctor as soon as possible. So I took an appointment for the following morning.
When he woke up to get ready to see the doctor, I could see that something was definitely wrong. He was white, shaking and started to complain that the pain he felt was much stronger. My dad decided to come with us and by the time we sat down in the car, Jason was in agony. Unfortunately, we arrived at the right time at the doctor but it took him a little while to see us. My dad and I were getting really worried as we could see that Jason's state was getting worse every minute. Just before we saw the doctor, he went to the toilet to vomit as the pain was too strong, and I found him on the floor, incapable of getting up. At this point I was feeling so useless because I just didn't know what to do and it's such a horrible sight to see someone you love suffering so much. My dad decided that if the doctor was taking longer we would go directly to the A&E. Fortunately, the doctor finally saw us and understood the situation and what Jason was suffering from really quickly. After 5 minutes, he was phoning the closest A&E and writing a letter to take with us in order for Jason to be prioritised when we arrive there.
The 10 minutes in the car to get to the hospital were even worse, as I thought to myself "what if he passes out? What if we don't make it?", but I was trying to be strong for him. The moment we arrived at the A&E desk, the nurses took charge and Jason was put on the bed with painkiller drips after literally 10 seconds. At the beginning I felt heartbroken because I couldn't stay with him and had to wait to be called. I was wondering how he was getting on with the nurses as he doesn't speak French very well. When they finally called me (felt like hours but was probably just 15mins), Jason had had several blood samples taken and they were asking loads of questions. The most important thing to me was to be close to him, and to be honest, everything went so quick that I didn't get the time to fully realise what was happening.
After his scan and a lot of painkillers, the main doctor looking after him came to me in order to explain everything so that I could translate it to Jason. He told me that Jason had a "Collique Néphrétique" on his right kidney, caused by a stone stuck in his kidney. But he didn't stop here. He also added that his situation was really severe as the urine stuck in his kidney got infected, turning into poison in his body. If we waited longer to take him to the hospital, he could have lost his kidney.
My face dropped when I realised how bad his condition was. They were getting him ready to have emergency surgery by lunchtime and told me that he might stay 3 to 4 days at the hospital. Unfortunately, they didn't allow me to stay during his surgery and I had to go back home. Going into my bedroom, it suddenly hit me and I started crying and hating myself for not saying I love you to Jason before he went for his operation. Jason later told me that he didn't want to make me worried and so made sure that the 'goodbyes' before his operation were as brief as possible.
Later that day, me and my whole family went to see him in his hospital room and we were so relieved to see that he was safe and recovering from it all. By the next morning, the doctor called me to give me the amazing news that Jason had completely recovered and that he would be able to go later in the day, once he'd received all the papers and results we needed. I couldn't believe it! Such a great feeling.
So we took him back home for a few days to relax before flying back home, and it was great. Yes he was under strong painkillers, sleeping a lot and not able to walk too much, but god it was so good to have him with us. And I have to say that being with my family that week helped me so much. They were really supportive and they made the whole situation a lot better to cope with. I took these photos during the afternoon when we managed to go to the beach for a couple of hours and enjoy the sunshine. My brother and his friend came with us and it was great fun. Jason mainly stayed on the towel, taking it easy.
So now we're back home, and Jason still has a 28cm tube in his right kidney that they've had to place during the operation in order to make sure that everything will 'flow' perfectly. We should get a letter soon from our local hospital telling us when he can have it removed.
It's been an eventful holiday, far from being boring but definitely nerve wracking. And I wanted to get this story out there for everybody that had to live something similar to this and show that when you feel pain somewhere, or you don't feel completely like yourself for some reason, don't wait to see a doctor. I'm so glad I didn't listen to Jason and got an appointment straight away. The consequences could have been way worse than that.
Take care everyone, and enjoy your weekend :)
Carole
