Turn of Events

I had fully intended on writing yesterday. I had some of it written out already....

"This past week was pretty boring, but the end of the week was full of events.

On Friday, I had gym and we had to run for 30 minutes straight. Of course, my gym teacher wanted us to run outside, and it was 50 degrees and raining. Maybe Belgians are used to the weather, but I thought it was crazy for us to be running outside!!! Saturday was my host sister Louise's 20th birthday, so we all went out to dinner and had tapas and pasta.

Sunday, we had a big family party for Louise. It was a lot of fun, and I really felt like part of the family. It was a great way to exercise my French, and I totally felt accepted by everyone. I even invited my host aunt and her family over for Thanksgiving dinner... I think they're making the turkey which is great, because turkeys are very hard to make...."


So I had that written out, and I was going to write more and then post it. Then I started feeling weird. I woke up with a bit of back pain on my left side, so I figured I just slept a little weirdly. My school had Conseils de Classe, so I didn't have to go to school. After an hour or so, the pain got worse. It was excruciating, and I finally decided to call my host mom. I waited earlier because I didn't want to get my dictionary out and I didn't know what the word for "pain" was (it's douleur). She called a doctor, and the doctor gave me a shot, but it didn't do anything really. I was writhing in pain, and then I threw up because it hurt so much. Then we decided to go to the emergency room....

I was hooked up to an IV and given fluids and pain medication. I waited for a few hours and had an ultrasound. The doctor said one of my kidneys was definitely "under pressure" from something. Of course, I started asking him all kinds of questions until I realized that he actually hadn't found anything yet.... So I waited. He finally found a 3mm stone already out of my kidney on its way to my bladder. Which really sucks........

I got more pain medication and ended up staying the night. I slept pretty well, was really comfortable, and the hospital did a great job making sure I wasn't in any pain. I'm at home now, drinking 2L of water and waiting for it to pass. One moment I'm writing about how boring the past week was, and the next I'm in the ER! It was my first time ever having to be admitted into a hospital, and I had to stay overnight! Oh well, c'est la chance!

My host mom took a picture of me in the full getup: the patient robe, laying in bed, the fluids next to me, but I don't have her camera so I'll upload it when I can!