Any help, no matter how little it may be, would be greatly appreciated. I know these are hard times for everyone. Whatever you find in your heart to help, I want to say thank you so much, the messages and mental support I've already gotten from those who know of the situation have been greatly appreciated.

For those who don't know on the morning of July 9th, Tuesday, I ended up in the ER with excruciating pain in my abdomen that started on Sunday the 7th. After a few questions, the doctor suspected it was my gallbladder. They did an ultrasound and a CT scan with contrast and found instead it was a kidney stone measuring 2.2 cm or about 7/8 of an inch in my right kidney.

This got the attention of pretty much everyone as I overheard "that's a big honkin' stone" and other variations of the same sentiment.

We learned the stone was trying to make its way into the ureter from my right kidney and of course couldn't, being so large. This caused damage and was backing urine up into the kidney itself, putting me on pace for kidney failure. I was informed my white blood count was through the roof due to the infection it caused.

I was admitted to the hospital that day and told surgery was very necessary but I'd need some strong antibiotics for a couple of days before they could operate.

On Thursday, the 11th I was set for surgery, the urology PA said they were planning "to go in through what god gave me (my urethra) and blast the stone with a laser to break it up and remove it piece by piece".

Unfortunately, the surgery was a bust, it didn't go as planned and they didn't remove any of it. The stone was pushed back into the kidney and a stent was put in place in the ureter near the kidney.

I was in the hospital until the 17th dealing with complications, pain and having to advocate for my care while in the hospital.

The pain hasn't changed much since I initially went into the ER and I'm now waiting for a follow-up surgery I've already been told will have to be much more invasive this time. Earliest follow up I could be scheduled for to allow time for recovery from the first encounter is August 8th, almost a month from my initial ER visit, we will find out more specific details then.

Medical bills from the initial hospitalization have started rolling in of course and the next surgery will be costly, although I don't have an exact figure at this time.

We've had to cancel multiple planned Rock Solid Adventures (our business) and thankfully customers have been very understanding but we aren't sure when I'll be recovered and ready to go again and this is the busy season to be out adventuring!!

If you've made it this far, thank you very much. We would love if you could take a moment to share this, it would really help us out a lot.

Thank you,

Josh and Providence Lively