How it looks to sit in someone elses chair

January 11, 2010

How it looks to sit in someone elses chair!

Something surprising happened a few weeks ago. I was diagnosed with a kidney stone. For those of you who have ever personally, or seen a family member deal with kidney stones, it is not fun. As a physician I have helped many patients through the ordeal, but until recently have never had the experience myself.

And an experience it was!!

Let me tell you, it is not something you would wish on your worst enemy. I ended up admitted to the hospital over the weekend for treatment, and while there had plenty of spare time to write down my thoughts.

While lying in my hospital bed waiting for the stone to pass, I wrote down some thoughts, and also took some pictures to make the presentation a bit nicer. And No, I was not on any pain meds during these thoughts. Unfortunately, this is how my mind works on a regular basis ; )

There once was a doctor named Steven,
Whose kidney decided to get even,
He developed a stone,
Called the ER on the phone,
and said "This pain is so bad I think I'm dyin"

He arrived at the ER in pain,
treatment he hoped to attain,
the insurance was payin,
as they filled him with saline,
and the meds made him feel like he was flyin.

One day later the stone was gone,
in a plastic jug, instead of his kidney, it belonged,
his pain went away,
good riddance he say,
And back to work in a day he is eyeing.

Yea, I know, I am no Dr. Seuss !!

This was my first hospitalization as an adult. While my hospital stay was uneventful, it still reinforced my views on prevention of illness, the hallmark of The Institute For Medical Wellness.

Do anything you can do to not ever develop a stone, as its pain is said to be worse than childbirth. Luckily for me, Childbirth pain I will never experience. The most important thing you can do to prevent a kidney stone is to drink plenty of fluids. So drink, and drink some more, until your urine is fairly clear with only a hint of yellow.

Click below for a link on dietary prevention of kidney stones.
From WEB-MD, diet recommendations for prevention of kidney stones.

With round the clock hospital care, you develop a special type of closeness with those around you.

Let me introduce you to a few of my new friends whom I shall never forget:

Please enable picture viewing.

First there is Sally the saline bag,









who kept hanging around with Ivy the IV pole.










In fact they never went anywhere apart from each other, or me!!

Wally the water pitcher was my friend who was always by my side,




but not as close as Rennie the TV remote.






I was not able to get pictures of Lana the lab tech, or Louie the light cord.

And no one got closer to me than my Urologist, who shall forever now be known to me as "fingers".

Enough said.

I look forward to being back on the job on Tuesday January 12, 2010.

To Good Health!

Steven Horvitz, D.O.
Board Certified Family Practice
Founder of The Institute For Medical Wellness
128 Borton Landing Road, Suite Two
Moorestown, NJ 08057
Phone 856-231-0590
Fax 856-294-0311
http://www.drhorvitz.com/