All The Cool Kids Get To Leave the Museum of Science in an Ambulance

That's true, right? Please tell me that is true!!!!

Why do I want that to be true, well, let's back up a few hours.

It's the 4th of July around noonish. The Hubbums and I are sitting on a great concrete bench built into the side of the train station patiently waiting the arrival of the 12:40 into Boston. I've got my camera, so we shoot a few shots with the tracks because, well, train track shots are just cool.

Click photo for source.

Yup, that's the station. It works as far as train stations go.

SO....

...we boarded the train and read our respective choices in print media along the way. A nice, smooth, fairly uneventful ride. Well, unless you consider the teen who was sitting with a friend and her friend's parents and decided to spend the ENTIRE hour showing photos of her recent trip to somewhere in Europe and talking NONSTOP using words like 'whatever' and 'or whatever' and 'and whatever' every ten seconds. Thank the LORD for Somerset Studios and their ability to capture my mind and allow me to drown out most of my surroundings! Just say'n!

We arrive in Boston around 1:40ish. Seeing as we had to pick up our tickets (ordered online) for the fireworks event on the roof of the MOS garage, we debated going to the MOS first or eating lunch first. Our stomach's won that debate, so we took a quick walk over to the area around the Garden where we knew there were options. We found a Quiznos and had a decent lunch in a wonderfully air conditioned building. This mattered as it was FREAKING HOT outside! Just say'n.

So far this all sounds like a fairly run of the mill holiday outing, wouldn't you say? Why, YES! Jingle, it DOES sound fairly run of the mill. Actually, I am wondering at this point why I am reading this and why you are sharing it.

WELL....don't stop now! There's more to come, my friends, there is more to come!

So, we start heading back in the direction of the museum after lunch to pick up the tickets around 2:30ish. At this point The Hubbums looks at me and says,

"Don't freak out or anything, but I just want to let you know that I am in a considerable amount of pain. It is here in my side. It might just be a cramp or something, but it is pretty bad."

The thing is, as calmly as you probably read that statement there sitting at your computer, is as calmly as he spoke it. The Hubbums doesn't do calm unless it is quite a bit of pain. You see, the Ingle boys have a habit of laughing, giggling, even, when they are in pain. I've watched him laugh after slicing his finger with an Xacto knife and I KNOW you crafters can relate to THAT! I don't laugh. Just say'n. SO, I knew it was beyond laughing stage, which concerned me, but I figured he could walk it off. I also knew it wasn't the heat because that man hydrates more than anyone I know! For reals! So, we kept walking.

We got to the draw bridge, which, of course, was up. Again. (It was just up when we were over there an hour ago!) So, we had to wait with a large crowd of oddly assorted people who had made their way into the city for the 4th. There was a lovely British family with children speaking in adorable Harry Potter accents, a Jewish family, Hasidic, some random soon-to-be-drunk-if-not-already young twenty-somethings, et cetera, et cetera....

We waited. The Hubbums crouched down because it hurt. I thought that was odd. He doesn't normally do that. It must have really hurt.

When the bridge finally went down we walked across and I actually walked on the part that you can see through - the grated part. I NEVER do that, but I was worried about The Hubbums and so I just did it despite my fears and aversions. I figured he wouldn't notice since it was crowded and he was in pain. He noticed. HA! He mentioned it later that night.

So, we get to the MOS and he tells me he is going to the Men's room because he has to pee really badly and he is hoping maybe he can rid himself of this cramp. He goes quickly to the nearest one, also the busiest one, and I wait in the area right outside the simulator with the musical stairs to the side.
And I wait.
And I wait.
Half an hour later he comes out and tells me he is having a REALLY hard time peeing, but it feels like he is going to wet himself even though he JUST went! I remind him that there is a more private bathroom (well, as private as one can get in a public building on a national holiday) downstairs and he decides to go down there and see if he can work through this. We also took a moment to look up kidney stones online, as we started feeling like this *might* be the problem, but neither of us had ever had them before, so we didn't know what to expect. Oddly enough, the description seemed to be exactly what he was experiencing. Hmmmm....

So, I went off to give him time and I wandered the museum, where I took pictures of the gnomes. An hour later (4:30ish) I get a phone call from The Hubbums, still downstairs, telling me that he CANNOT do this! The pain is INCREDIBLE and I need to come down there.

I was shocked.

He isn't the type to just go off to a doctor for any little thing, but he wanted one now!!! I met him downstairs and saw my husband, on the floor, writhing in pain. It was BAD! I called 911 and told them to come pick us up. I then called his mother to see if there was a history in case I needed it. There was. Of course.

Before the paramedics arrived a museum employee asked if she could help, as it was evident that he was in INCREDIBLE pain. She called the first aid team, which consisted of three men and a big 'ole box of bandaids and guaze. They couldn't really do anything, but they talked with him to try to distract him from the pain and stayed with us. Fortunately, they also had radios so we knew EXACTLY when the ambulance was arriving. I also discovered that men are VERY sympathetic to other men who have pain that has moved from their side to the general groin area. It's like an instant brotherhood or something! They just KNOW!

The ambulance arrived very quickly and they put The Hubbums on a stretcher and loaded him up. He was crying out in pain the entire time! It was scary, but for some reason, I kept my composure through this whole thing. I think I went into "fix-it-now-be-emotional-later" mode or something. Anyway, several nice people visiting the museum had asked if they could help and everyone was super sweet, so that helped. They loaded him into the ambulance and let's just say he was LESS THAN HAPPY to hear that they couldn't give him anything for the pain! It took about 3 1/2 minutes to get to Mass General. They said it would have been faster if it weren't for the holiday traffic. REALLY? 'Cause that's pretty quick, if you ask me! LOL! The Hubbums asked me to tie his shoe.

Really.

He is in crazy intense pain and he is worried about his shoe. Mind you, he is on a stretcher and not walking, so it's NOT like he is going to trip, but I tied it before they unloaded him since it was bothering him. It's funny the things we focus on when in pain!

Well, after The Hubbums asked (in a loud I'm in pain cry) if he was going to have to wait an hour and a half in the ER, I explained that you generally don't wait when they bring you in on an ambulance. Just say'n. They got him into a room and pumped Morphine into him as soon as they could.

We were right. It was a kidney stone. Kidney stones SUCK!

Oh, and it totally helps when everyone along the way keeps telling you that they are the most painful thing other than child birth. Incidentally, The Hubbums now knows even more than we did before that we should adopt. He doesn't want me to go through that much pain! HA! (I love that man.)

So, they pumped him full of drugs, did the scan, and kept an eye on him. After a couple of hours, the pain was managed fully and they brought him dinner. A turkey sandwich, apple sauce, graham crackers, juice, and gingerale. He was thrilled! HA! I think that is his favorite lunch! LOL! The went ahead and tried the oral meds (Oxycodon) to see if he could manage the pain with those, and that worked and he didn't really want to spend the night, so off we went.

We had to find a 24 hour pharmacy on the 4th of July at around 9pm to pick up a drug with a street value that is INSANE. Yeah, that was fun. Then we walked through the city, rode the T, and in general did things you don't want to do carrying that particular drug on a night when every reprobate in the entire state is in town! Fun stuff, folks. Fun. Stuff.

Now...our story lands at 10:20pm. The fireworks were scheduled to start at 10:30pm. Where were we at 10:20pm? Yup. On the roof. Right where we planned to be! We watched the show after all of that and then made the crowded insane trip back to the train station and rode the train back home. We walked through our door around 2am with medication, some fun little strainer things to catch the stone, and an adventure to top all 4th of July adventures!

Oh...and yes, for those wondering, it has passed. And he had been off pain meds for a day and a half when it did. The man is nuts, I tell you! NUTS! But, alas, he is back to normal. He even managed to fall out of a tree yesterday. And yes, that injury caused laughter.

Just say'n.

So....how was your 4th?