Sunday, May 18, 2008

Got a Kidney???


If anyone needs a kidney out there, don't come looking for mine! Mine suck! Once again, I was rushed to the ER on Thursday with another kidney infection. This time, it was my left kidney. I had one about 7 years ago right after Jacob and I were married. It started with a pain in my side that started on Tuesday evening. It started getting worse on Wednesday so I called and made a Dr.'s appointment for Thursday afternoon. Thursday morning was fine until about 10:30 when I just hit a wall. My body just couldn't take it anymore and my fever spiked, I got the chills, relized the full extent of the pain I was in and I started vomiting. The worst part was the migrane that my head was swimming in. Then, mass pandamonium started...
My very good friend, Amanda called me for something trivial and discovered that I was not okay. She tried to move my appointment up but we had no luck. Wonderful Amanda pretty much alerted the entire ward and I felt so rediculous because I felt like the whole ward was in an uproar because of me. I pretty much relized what was happening by now with my kideny so we decided to go to the ER because I knew the Dr. would tell me to go there anyway. Amanda came over along with the Relief Society President and then Amanda raced me to the hospital while the Relief Society President watched my kids. This woman (Amanda) has the most tender heart! As I was puking in her car (don't worry, I had a bucket) she was rubbing my back and when I looked up, she had tears in her eyes because she knew I was just misserable. We finally got there and by then I was shaking because of the fever and my heart rate was way high because of the pain. They poked me a lot and I finally got some relief by way of I.V. with some pain killers, anit-nausea medicine, fluids and lots and lots of antibiotics. I was about knocked out for 3 hours (because of all the meds) but Amanda stayed by my side and stroked my hair the whole time unil Jacob arived from his job site in Logan (which is an hour away). They sent me home with some very lovely drugs including some very strong antibiotics. When I got home, my house was cleaned, dishes were washed and the phone immediatly started ringing off the hook with calls of concern from friends and people in the ward begging to bring us dinners. Before I left for the hospital, by the way, my house was a disaster because as I layed there on Thursday morning, the kids sat in a cardboard clubhouse, watched cartoons and got out the rasins and crasins and crackers and ....you can see where this is going. Two of my girlfriends came and brought us dinner and wished Jacob well (because I was passed out until about 8:30).
Notice there are no pictures of all of this because I looked about how I felt. These past couple days have not been fun because I pushed myself too much (Jacob's grandparents were in town and I had bought tickets to the Dave Ramsey Live Show in Salt Lake).
The point of this post is not to get sympathy. I've had about as much as I can take thanks to my wonderful friends and ward! :) My point is to take care of your body!!!! I recieved a testimony of this as Jacob and Amanda's husband, Jeff gave me a blessing. In the blessing, Jacob said that the Lord has blessed me greatly with a healthy body that I will heal from this. He also went on to say that when I did get better that I was to help other people because I was healthy and able to do so. I felt like Heavenly Father was basically telling me: "I've given you this body, so take care of it!! It's not so fun when you don't, is it? :) It's a gift, so use it to do good unto others." I knew I hadn't been drinking enough water and I knew my past history with my kidneys so I should have known better.
I have been given this wonderful body that I begged for in the pre-mortal existance and I need to do all I can to ensure that I take care of it to the fullest. That includes taking time to excersize and also eat the right foods! I had been on a sugar binge for the past month or so with complete disregard to what it was doing to my body because I didn't see it on the scale...yet. We need to be proud of our bodies that our Heavenly Father has given us so generously and not be so hard on ourselves, too. We are a work of art, created by our Heavenly Father, and in His likeness and we need to look in the mirror and tell ourselves that. I think we, as women especially, don't see ourselves as Heavenly Father does our wants us to.
So....DRINK YOUR WATER, put only good foods in your body and be proud of them. They really are a gift that we have been given so that we can go forth and do good unto others.

13 comments:

Shalece said...

What a blessing it is to have a friend like Amanda. And what a fantastic ward. That's what the church is all about. Sorry to hear about being so sick, and thanks for the great advice. I think we all need a reminder once in awhile.. including me :) Glad you're ok and hope you get feeling better quickly!

Nicole said...

I'm glad you're okay and that you had such a wonderful friend to take care of you.

Lauri said...

Isn't it great to have such wonderful friends and ward members. This is truly what it means to show charity.

Hope you're feeling better and keep drinking that water!

Heidi said...

YIKES... thats kinda scary. I'm glad you got a blessing!

I too have just realized how much water I am not drinking... Thanks for the reminder!

Hope you feel better soon!

King Family said...

I am so sorry that happend to you. I hope you are doing better.

everyday katie said...

When I first read your title, I thought you were doing an all out search for a kidney donor. I'm glad to know it's not that. THat sounds awful. IT sounds like you've really been blessed with a great ward family.

Profound advice. Thank you for sharing.

Brian, Emily, Tyler & Kendra said...

Wow! How scary! Glad to hear you are doing MUCH better. =)

Erin said...

I totally hear the loving warning. I have been eating a lot of junk lately, and I am starting to see the mistake of not eating healthy!

I am so glad to hear you are okay and that you have a great support group out there!

Take it easy lady, and I am so starting to drink more water!!

King Family said...

Dinner sounds like fun. Just let me know when. Angela and Chris moved to Arizona a couple of weeks ago.

Johnson said...

What wonderful friends you have. I don't know what people do that don't belong to our church in times of need. I love that we have such a network. I am glad you were well taken care of and thanks for the tip to drink more water, I am horrible at this.

King Family said...

Bethany-
We won't be able to do dinner this weekend, But I definitaly want to get together.

cari said...

I feel so awful that it was almost a week ago and I am just now reading this. I am so sorry that you were so sick but I am very happy to hear that you are in such great hands! I hope you are all better now, and I have no doubt that you will be returning the blessings of service you received to every family in your ward. You are awesome Betheny I knew it here and it seems like lots of people there know it too!

Tolley Family said...

I'm glad you re feeling better! I'm also glad you had so many wonderful people to help you out in your time of need. reading your blog also reminded me I hadn't been drinking enough water and I went got myself a big cup!