This morning I peed a rock out of my penis.
It wasn’t fun, and for those of you keeping score at home, it wasn’t the first time that I’ve done it, either…
I don’t know how big my other ones were, but this one clocked in at about 2 mm and I passed a couple of smaller fragments in the days before. I actually went for a CT scan this time and passed something right before I laid down for that, so I had been kind of hoping that it was already behind me, but no such luck.
Everyone says that kidney stones are the most painful thing that you’ll ever experience, and maybe I’ve gotten lucky so far because while they’ve certainly been no picnic, I never had a point where I was doubled over or anything. I couldn’t sleep a bunch, especially last night as this little bastard was working its way through … even on Vicodin … but all I can say now is that I think I’m finally out of the woods.
Also, I need to give up soda for good this time!
Apparently excesses in soda lead to increased acids and whatnot that cause stones to form, or maybe it’s the acids in the soda itself. I don’t know, but I’ve yet to find a doctor who says that Cherry Coke is good for my diet, and the resulting obesity certainly isn’t doing me any favors, either.
I love the taste of soda, but I don’t love the feeling of a 2 mm rock scraping its way through my insides.
For the last year and a half, plus way more before, I’ve used soda as a form of stress relief because life can be very overwhelming, but once you start peeing out rocks, it’s hard to argue the net benefit on your overall health anymore. I know that I’ve been drinking way too much lately … I recall watching a documentary where a couple filled an entire shopping cart with soda as their weekly haul and thinking at the time that it was just ridiculous, and although I’m still not quite to that depth, there are more times than I’d like to admit that I’ve polished off a 2 liter bottle in barely two days.
A liter of soda has about 400 calories to it, so conservatively speaking, 2 – 3 bottles a week is upwards of 2,000 calories just from soda!!!
Plus the kidney stones in the pee…
So I’m quitting soda. Again. Except for in the occasional mixed drink, which is honestly less than one a month, so I think that’s more than reasonable from where I am today.
That is, recovering in sore pain, staring down a tiny stone that all but prevented me from getting any sleep last night as it s-l-o-w-l-y inched its way through my ureter from my kidney to my bladder.
And the second trip out the door was no picnic, either. 😛
Goodbye, soda – it was a fun run. Kind of. But I’d like to actually run with my kids now and you’re not helping.
Also, the rocks shooting out of my penis – those have just got to stop. Nothing personal.