I Don’t Recommend Kidney Stones

I really thought I’d be feeling better after my kidney stone surgery, but I underestimated the ‘discomfort’ of the stent in my ureter. The doctors all told me it would be ‘really uncomfortable’ and is not pleasant to have, but they really undersold the pain factor. They warned me about the constipation too, but I must have been too loopy from the pain and all my medications to actually understand what it meant.

I’ve been back to work for a week now, and it has been the hardest week of massages in my career. I handled being 8 months pregnant and doing five massages five days a week better than I did the four days of three massages a day (one day was four appointments) I did this past week. I’m glad I’ve had years of practicing being ok even when I’m not because those acting skills really came in handy for work.

I’m also incredibly grateful for the therapists I work with. They are all such amazing people and so supportive. They know exactly the kind of pep talk a massage therapist in pain needs to get through their day. When I had a couples massage the other therapist flipped and cleaned the room for me. Their acknowledgment of my obvious improvement (I finally realized I really did need to keep taking certain medications to alleviate my suffering) worked like a spell and my final day was the easiest and most normal one so far.

Our front desk staff (there has been only one plus the owner until recently and now we have one more person on the front desk) has had to do a lot of rescheduling for me due to needing three weeks off last minute. Then I went and changed my permanent schedule after the cut-off because I really have to accept my limits. It wasn’t a huge change, but I know what it takes to do it and that’s why I work where somebody else does it for me and I am always so grateful for them. Our long time person, whose been with us since we reopened after the only close-down we’ve experienced, could recognize my struggle and did her best to help me out through this week.

And I just can’t sing the owner’s praises enough. The amount of thought, time, and energy she puts into the place to give us therapists the best environment possible is way more rare in this industry, and all work forces honestly, than it should be and is incredible. By taking care of almost everything for us and paying us commissions that actually have us seeing real worth, she allows us to be our best. Thus lots of people love what we do and her business has grown and been able to keep steady through this all.

So I’m adjusting to my new, but temporary, normal and am so grateful for everyone where I work making it as easy as possible for me. The rest of the time I’m focusing on rest, or restful activities. With any luck, I’ll only have this thing in for another three weeks. I don’t really see it coming out any sooner. If that becomes possible, I would be a very happy me. Drink your water, and get some citrus in regularly. Kidney stones are the worst.