we started our drive to nc the wednesday before and spent the night in nashville, tn as we always do on our way there... the sheraton music city is a very nice pet friendly hotel that is right on the way. stephen wasn't feeling that great and he and the dogs crashed pretty early but i stayed up with friends who were nice enough to come to the hotel to visit with me.
the next morning, thursday, steve still wasn't himself. he had some weird things happen in the weeks leading up to the trip but had been to see his regular doctor and been to the minute clinic at cvs and had been given a clean bill of a health. i asked if he wanted to go to a walk-in clinic in nashville but he refused. we started out on the next leg of our trip which would take us to maggie valley.
steve only drove for a short time before he asked me to take over. he was having some sharp pain in his abdomen and in his back and was having a hard time getting comfortable. as we rounded curvy roads and went through tunnels and trees he began moving around in his seat. he unbuckled his seatbelt and looked as if he might jump out the window.
he was muttering things and i tried talking to him to find out what he needed and when he stopped responding, that is when i got really worried. i had to get him to talk so i pulled off the highway. he was upset because there was no hospital... it was a white water rafting exit. before i could even pull over to the side of the road, he was out of the car pacing back and forth. soon after that, he was curled up in fetal position on the shoulder. i waved down a car passing by (there weren't many!) and to my surprise, there was a nurse inside. she and her husband pulled over and talked with us about steve's symptoms. almost immediately, they determined he had a kidney stone and encouraged us to go to the ER. they believed the nearest hospital would be in asheville, nc (we were still in tn at the time) and guessed that was about an hour away.
steve got into the back seat where he could lay down and rhodie and dr. mookie got up front with me. we started driving. i used sprint gps (thank god for technology) and learned there was a hospital closer than we thought in waynseville, nc. as i was nearing that exit i connected with my sister via phone. i'd been trying to call our families but a cell phone signal is hard to come by in the mountains! i was happy to have someone else know what was going on besides me, the dogs, and my quiet, pain stricken passenger in the back seat.
we made it to haywood county regional medical center and i dropped stephen at the er. he was there about 5 hours or so. somewhere during that time period i had my dad come to the hospital to drive me and the dogs to our cabin (which we hadn't checked into yet) and stephen's dad came to sit with him. i was still getting adjusted to my surroundings when he showed up at the cabin with a funnel and some pain killers. he was going to have to pass that kidney stone on his own time.
i settled in for a bath while he relaxed. only his relaxation didn't last very long. we (mostly he) had a long night... about every 10 or 15 minutes he was repositioning himself, trying to get comfortable, feeling nauseous...you name it! i began having visions of our wedding day which was supposed to be outdoors in the wooded cove and imagined we'd be at stephen's bedside with him vomiting into a trash can as we said our vows.
thankfully, in the wee hours of the morning, he passed that sucker. immediately he seemed more peaceful, so much happier, and (nearly) pain free. it was friday, it was pouring down rain, we were supposed to be getting married the following morning. aaaaaah! after getting a few hours of sleep, we were up. the rain was still coming down but we had to get our marriage license. time was running out.
we made it to the register of deeds in a neighboring town (not too far from the hospital!) and the grocery store. because of the rain, we cancelled the rehearsal. instead, our minister (and new friend) met us on our front porch and went over what the ceremony would look like. because of exhaustion, we cancelled the rehearsal dinner. instead, we both spent quiet time at our families cabins. it was needed... we were getting married the next day! and that is a story for another post.
first, here is a picture of steve in the er... don't worry, i wasn't being cruel. he asked me to capture this on film.
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