Stone me, it’s a miracle

I’m in St Andrews for a few days, although I almost didn’t make it.

My wife and I were due to stay in Harrogate on Sunday (we’d even bought tickets to see Wuthering Heights at the local Everyman), but that leg of the journey had to be abandoned because on Sunday morning I found myself in A&E after a very uncomfortable night.

I’m not sure how much I should disclose but, put it this way, when you have a long-standing swollen prostate, a urinary tract infection (UTI), and wake up in the night unable to pee, the advice on the NHS website is … get yourself to hospital pronto, which is what I did.

As often happens, by the time I got there my symptoms had eased slightly, although I was still in a bit of pain. Nevertheless, I was seen almost immediately, ahead of almost everyone else in the A&E waiting room.

Within minutes I had been transferred to the emergency GP department (which seemed a bit of a downgrade) where a nurse took my blood pressure (raised) and the on duty GP prescribed some antibiotics, to be taken four times a day for a week. She also told me to drink lots of water.

Disconcertingly she suggested the underlying problem might be a kidney stone and I should see my own GP who could arrange for a scan. Older readers might recall that I’ve been here before - in 2008 when I ended up in St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, being given suppositories to relieve the extreme pain of a kidney stone before I discharged myself at midnight because I had to return home in advance of a Forest event we were hosting at the Polish Club in Kensington the following evening. (It’s a long story.)

Anyway, my visit to A&E on Sunday may have delayed our departure by 24 hours, but we arrived in St Andrews as scheduled yesterday afternoon, albeit following a supremely uncomfortable eight-hour drive with numerous loo stops. (Too much information? Apologies.) Moreover, within minutes of arriving the pain got considerably worse.

And yet, a miracle has occurred because this morning, for the first time in two weeks, I am (fingers crossed) pain free. So what happened? Could it be the three bottles of water I drank overnight? Or the Naproxen tablet I took late last night that was originally prescribed for gout? Or perhaps it was the mixed grill and two pints of Cobra I consumed before retiring to bed.

Either way, if it was a kidney stone it seems to have passed in the night … hallelujah!

Below: The West Sands at St Andrews this morning. Note the relief on my face.