What was something you thought was grossly exaggerated until it happened to you?

General Anesthesia. Three, two, one, and suddenly I'm being moved to the recovery room.

I always thought it was kind of cool how a six-hour surgery can feel like two seconds went under

anesthesia. The only time I was old enough to remember going under general anesthesia was to get

my wisdom teeth out a few years ago.

I was freaking out and one nurse had to console me as I was getting the substances put in my system.

I started to feel it and it made everything feel better, kind of like the initial effect of morphine,

and I remember doing a little dance on the chair and going, yeah, let's get this party started.

And then it was two hours later and it was over. I always thought I could fight it. You cannot fight it. This was the scariest thing. I'd always imagined it would be like being asleep or being passed out, where you wouldn't feel anything or even be aware of sensory stimulation. But you would at least have some sense that time was passing. Nope, it's like a light switch. Off on. Kidney stones,

there for real. I was out of the country and on an excursion, if you will. Actually, when I felt

something weird about three inches up and to the right of my belly button, I didn't have back

pains until later. When I got back into town, the pain had gotten a little worse and I thought

nothing of it.

The next day I woke up, and it was more sharp pain, so I went to the local hospital, and they did a sonogram to check me out.

Spleen, appendix, and whatever else they checked for, came back fine. while I took a jolt which nearly brought me to my knees, but then went away.

Fast forward to coming home, was on the plane back and started having sharp pains again, went to the restroom and peed what looked like cranberry juice,

had a small panic attack and went back to my seat and took the Vicodin, still had six hours of flight time left, was freaking out the whole way home. Back in the States, I went straight to the hospital, and they couldn't figure it out.

Told them about the son-o and no kidney infection.

I could see the concerned look on my doctor's face.

So they did a CT scan.

A couple of hours later, my doctor calls,

I have good news, it's only kidney stones.

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