Posted on 01/04/2014 4:13:13 PM PST by lbryce
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos suffered a kidney stone attack while in Ecuador's Galapagos Islands and had to be airlifted by an Ecuadorian navy helicopter to his personal jet, then flown to the US for surgery, according to ABC News. Bezos is said to have suffered the attack on January 1st aboard a cruise ship, according to local media outlet Galapagos Digital. The helicopter's pilot was quoted by another Spanish-language outlet, El Comercio, as saying he received messages of thanks from Bezo's family and business partners. We've reached out to Amazon for comment on the situation and will update as we learn more.
Bezos confirmed the incident today, with an Amazon spokesperson providing the following statement to Business Insider: "I sent Jeff your note and here's what he sent back: 'Galapagos: five stars. Kidney stones: zero stars.'
This is news?
.
Great leader health in danger...
I’m “blessed” to be a kidney stone making factory. I’ve lost count of how many stones I’ve had now. Passed many, surgically removed others and lipotripsy. Had ‘em all.
The pain is quite intense and there is pretty much nothing you can do to minimize the pain. Even Morphine does nothing more than slightly take the edge off, but that’s about it.
The first time you get one you’re pretty sure you’re gonna die. The next few times you know what it is and you know how to prepare and the steps that you’ll soon need to take, but it’s never any picnic.
My guess is this may have been a first for Bezos and they didn’t know what was happening, and; being in the middle nowhere in addition to being the CEO of a major stockholding company, it’s understandable the steps that were taken. Companies need to take care of their key people and insure them heavily.
Being a wife who has watched her husband writhing on the floor with pain from the stones, I was told by the ER Dr that soda pop causes them.
Eliminating tea is a dietary change that is easy. If you have a history, I'd recommend trying it. Plus getting a KUB X-Ray before a major trip. I was going to Spain from JFK and did not want the Spanish medical system working on me.
The other complication is that I was on baby Aspirin for the heart. They have to wait 10 days before treatment so that can be eliminated, before lithotripsy.
I still drink herbal tea occasionally.
That you are so agog, judgmental over a rather plainly mundane detail is an issue for your therapist to unravel.
I’m 81 and still remember my grandmother saying kidney stones were the worst pain she ever experienced.
Hope your husband is okay now.
.
I can’t imagine living in a world where there was no treatment for kidney stones.
It seems your name as biblical prophet of Obadiah would be better served as Job for being as thoroughly tested as you’ve been.
And....? My sister had kidney stones, but it didn’t make the news.
I had one a year ago. The Dr in the ER misread the CT scan. I was sent home and told to wait to pass it. They thought it was a 3mm.
Two days later I am laying on the floor of the ER. Crying.
Turns out it wad 7mm and I discovered I had a smaller than normal pathway. That sucker was never going to come out on its own.
Two operations, a stent, and a week of feeling like I was getting slammed in the back with a baseball bat and they finally got it out.
And every damned woman I met told me that it was almost as bad as labor. And they would laugh.
Until I asked them if it hurt like this all day for ten days. That was the only thing that pissed me off.
I wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone.
I've had a kidney stone attack that hospitalized me: but when it comes to pain, the gout is worse in my opinion. -Tom
I had a kidney stone once, and I likened it to this:
I used to be a hockey goalie. There were plenty of painful aspects to it, but the worst one ever that made me break out in a cold sweat in pain was taking a blistering slapshot to the big-toe side of my goalie skate.
(More painful than being hit in the bards, but far more bearable, because...it ain’t your bards!)
Anyway, that pain of being hit in the toe like that was similar to what I felt in my back when I passed that kidney stone.
Again, it war far more bearable in my toe, because...it was my toe. I knew what it was.
When it was inside me, it was far more disturbing.
eating too much green stuff like kale and spinach also a cause
spouse got a ks after induging himself in “healthy” kale, fruit and veggie smoothies for a year...he shoulda had a V8!
Good description, though I surely did not have one that bad, though one of the effects it had on me besides the pain was I lost the ability to speak for about ten seconds...
The nurses were giving me the eye and saying: “Are you feeling chest pain?” while I held up one hand (palm-out) to them with my eyes closed and face to the floor! Heh, just couldn’t speak.
I will say, there is something disconcerting too, about being free of pain, and wondering if in the next five minutes you could be passing a stone.
And kind of thinking of it on a reasonably frequent basis. (Not all the time, that would drive you insane, I think)
Gaaaahhh.
That’s awful.
I had a professor in college, a little mousy guy, thin, balding with wire-rimmed glasses. I don’t recall how he got on the subject, but he was describing passing a kidney stone.
What struck me was that as he talked, his eyes took on an odd, distant look, and it was easy to see he was completely somewhere else as he talked about it.
I remember noticing the odd look that I had never really seen before, and thinking “Holy crap. That must have hurt like hell...I hope I never get one of those...”
And here I am!
Hahahahaha! Good use of that...:)
On a cruise ship, yes. Read the fine print. If the cruise ship's medical staff determines that you have to be evacuated in a medical emergency, that's what happens. If you haven't signed up for the insurance with them, they can charge (I've heard the number $50,000) for helicopter evacuation, and they put it on your credit card.
Cruise lines are very heavy-handed about medical situations.
Wow! A 767 land for a kidney stone? That is a heck of an expensive offer. I am impressed. Probably would have cost the airline 20k after all is done. What airline was it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.