while i was in austin a couple of weeks ago, i had an incident where my stomach and back hurt at the same time. i took a swig of pepto which did nothing. it didn't feel too bad at first but it started to flare up while i was on the way to bball at the gym. i couldn't sit still in the car, my body kept involuntarily repositioning itself in reaction to the pain. i was thinking of going back home right away. but since we'd made the trip out, i tried to play bball. it was really tough at first. but by the end of the first game, i was starting to feel normal again. since i felt normal again, i thought nothing of it. fast forward to last night. i was just surfin the web on my bed when i felt that same discomfort in my stomach and back again. i remembered it immediately and also thought it may have been food related. unfortunately as time passed it got progressively worse and worse. i could find no position in which i could rest and grew very agitated. my sister eventually woke up and freaked out as i was pretty much just constantly moving around wincing in pain. it got to the point where i just wanted whatever was causing me pain out of my body. i took rolaids, alieve, and pepto. nothing worked. i tried to emtpy out my bowels several times. dry as a bone. i got so desperate i tried to make myself vomit. dry as a bone. i was miserable and running out of things to try. my sister started talking about taking me to the hospital (it was 4am at this point and the pain had been going on for well over 3 hours). that was the last place i wanted to go. i'm the guy who never gets sick. 10 years of perfect attendance. i started to run around in the apartment. my theory was that exercise from bball got rid of it for me before. i actually felt momentarily better after i worked myself up to a sweat. but after a few moments, the pain kicked back in. i gave up. threw in the towel. and went to the hospital. here's the sad thing. as the initial nurse was checking my vitals, the pain dropped sharply. it was still there but had significantly weakened. granted, i'd gotten teased before during my 3 hour tour but something was telling me that this was for real. it took about 45 mins for the first doctor to show up. by that time i was feeling pretty good (i could lie down without fidgeting). when the next doctor came, i could have gone home. it was frustrating. as glad as i was to no longer be in pain, i felt like the boy who cried wolf. we were there for a good 3 hours or so. they tested my urine and gave me an ekg. as a side note, i've always had problems with urine tests. it's like some kind of performance anxiety. every time just a couple of drops come out no matter how much i drink beforehand. i always return the sample in shame. i swear nearly every person in that er dropped by for something. they were all very friendly and cordial which was nice. but i ended up being in the er for about as long as i'd been in pain. it was 7am when i was finally discharged. unfortunately, there was nothing conclusive. they do want me to have my urine tested again to make sure it's not something kidney related. they just gave me a pepcid and some maalox. that was it. so now i'm just waiting for the ginormous bill that's coming to me, the uninsured unemployed student. | 
