Friday, February 8, 2013

Vacation Update

Well, I can honestly say that vacation didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I woke up Tuesday morning feeling lousy, and by 330am Wednesday, I was riding an ambulance to the hospital.

Turns out it was kidney stones. I hear tell that women who've been through both childbirth and kidney stones say the stones hurt worse. If that's true, then one of two other things is also true:

1). I'm having a relatively mild incident; or

2). The ladies have been playing for sympathy for years on something that, while painful, ain't all that bad.

Having been, now, through both kidney stones, and being in the room with Ndnd when our kids were born, I'm going with number one, though you never can be sure: Ndnd is pretty sneaky.

I'll try to get something interesting up over the next day or two: the voices aren't giving me much to work with at the moment. Might be the Percoset...

31 comments:

  1. You forgot option 3. You actually can't tell how bad it is because you are a man, and men don't have feelings.

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    1. I DO SO have feelings! I keep them in a box buried in the backyard.

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  2. I'm so sorry you're feeling lousy. I hope you get to take your vacation some other time. If it hurts anything like childbirth you have my sympathy. Get better soon!

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    1. Thank you! Fortunately, the kids had a good time. They even got me a "#1 Dad" keychain with an LED light on it. You know they can't sell those unless it's true. So there's that.

      I spent another evening in the ER tonight because the pain medication wasn't helping. Apparently the darn thing is lodged a few centimeters above my bladder and has decided it's comfortable there. So, lots of fluids for me, pain meds and a whole lot of pee filtering, which is about as delightful as it sounds.

      I got another IV, too! Yay needles!

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    2. :( Praying for you.

      I find it odd that when you're on Percoset the voices talk to you LESS than they usually do. Hmm.

      I thought drugs made you hear voices. Hmm.

      I want to hear voices. Apparently I need to try something other than Percoset?

      Get better. I want you to ask the voices how I can hear voices. :)

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    3. I think I might have just gotten rid of it. I saw a little black speck in the strainer, and there's no pain at the moment, although that could still be the meds. Power of prayer, eh?

      Yeah, I take drugs to stop the voices. I have restoril to help me sleep. Don't know how to START them, only how to try and stop them, if temporarily.

      And through all that pain, I never missed an evening's walk. None of the long ones, though, only short ones. As of sometime this month, I will cross 365 consecutive days with at least one mile walked.

      Ta-dah!!!

      P.S. Happy to see your comments! :)

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    4. And indeed, it was the meds...

      Looks like I'm going to miss another day of work. They prefer their techs not to be high while on the clock. On the bright side, I'm going to be high, so there's that.

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    5. I'm so sorry! I was hoping you were through the worst. I'll continue to pray.

      You've posted more than the other bloggers combined and you've been in exquisite pain, in the hospital, still walking a mile a day???, and on drugs. What does that say about the other loafers around here??? Geeeeeeeeez.

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    6. It says either that I'm a total beast or that I don't know when to say when. I'd like to think the former, but as an alcoholic, I'm pretty sure it's the latter.

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    7. Can't you be both? :) I hope you are feeling better today.

      SERIOUSLY, if you told me how to get my own "voices" I'd write a whole bunch of guest posts and then you could rest.

      Zumba time now. Then COOKIES!!!

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    8. Cookies? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! My eternal nemeses! One isn't enough, but if you're going to have more than one, you have to go for four because it's lucky and the calories add up and the you see another one that looks good, so you have to go for another four and then you've eaten eight and feel the inevitable compulsion to go for sixteen and then your diet is blown not just for the day but for the whole week and even Zumba isn't going to help you feel better.

      But that's just the way I feel about it.

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    9. So you don't like cookies, huh? Too bad. :( I'm taking some of these to the post office tomorrow...

      So I LOVE cookies. I've become a bit of an amateur nutritionist with my son's diet restrictions. I made up a recipe for his "cookies" which are one of the mainstays of his diet. Lots of oatmeal and applesauce. He loves them and doesn't know they're good for him. So don't tell him.

      My Almond Raspberry Temptations, however, are sinful....and BOY are they YUMMY. I made over 100 today. Let's see. How many groups of 4? Over 25!!!!!!!! Good thing I did double zumba today! :P

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    10. No, I totally LOVE cookies. That's the problem: Once I start, I can't see to stop. Around me, there is no such thing as a half empty box of girl scout cookies: It's either unopened or empty.

      BTW, surgery in the AM. Going to get this thing taken out. Hopefully for good. So, another day off work and hopefully back on Wednesday.

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    11. I was praying for you all morning. How did it go?

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    12. Well, I made it through. I'm currently grossing everybody out by peeing grape juice, but that is, I'm told, to be expected. There's some pain, and some more drugs, but I should be good to go to work tomorrow. Then, in two weeks, I get to go gave the stent taken out of my ureter. that's supposed to be done at the doctor's office, but I'm still not much looking forward to it.

      Thanks for the prayers!

      P.S. Nice cookies! They look...sinful.

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    13. I am SO GLAD you made it through. :) I'm sorry there's still pain and you still have more un-fun things to come...but I'll keep praying.

      I really planned to send some of these sinful cookies to your family. Do you think if I sent them to the funny guy from NP who's in pain in Ohio they'd find you?

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    14. Oh, you evil temptress! Taunting me with cookies. I had my worst weigh-in ever last Saturday, but I think it had more to do with my health and the medications they put me on than actual bed dieting technique.

      If you really need a good home for a batch of cookies, check with your local children's hospital, and see if you can bring some in for the kids in ICU or on the cancer ward. Not only will it do your heart good, it would do my heart good as well, both literally and figuratively.

      BTW, I had planned to do a Valentine's Day post, but then decided against it. When I saw how much you like the holiday, I went ahead and wrote it up anyway. So at 11 am on Thursday, you should be able to access it and get a good laugh, I hope.

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    15. I look forward to it. I've loved Valentine's day as long as I can remember...whether or not I'm in a relationship. For some reason, this year has been tough. We decorated, made cookies and valentines, but my heart isn't in it like usual. I'll blane it on the weather. Yeah. I'm sure that's it.

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    16. It's funny, but as I get older, I look forward to holidays less each year. Growing up, we looked forward to everything, even Christmas, though it was a source of strife in our house. It's only the last few years that I have been able to really enjoy it at all, as the kids have gotten older.

      Of course, when you have to work on most holidays, they become little more than an acknowledgement of what day it is before going off to work, then leftovers for dinner. You look forward to them more for the overtime pay than for the intended purpose, unfortunately.

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    17. :( that's sad. We should celebrate the things in our life that are important to us. sometimes I can't remember what those are.

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    18. That's why we do birthdays and anniversaries, even when they aren't on the exact day. We celebrate our kids coming into our lives, our own coming into each other's lives and our decision to commit to staying on each others lives, before God and the law. Also, important personal days, like Quitting Smoking Day and Quitting Drinking Day, which slowly lose importance as the years go on, which symbolizes the slowly shrinking importance of the cause of their necessity.

      Also, tommorow is the 15th anniversary of my Navy discharge, which I don't really celebrate, but which makes me feel pretty old.

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  3. Commiserations. About a decade ago, I passed one smaller than a grain of rice, but it sure felt like something the size of a bowling ball intractably lodged in there. It took a few doses of morphine to make me not care about it.

    I don't know what was worse -- knowing or not knowing that I wasn't going to die.

    I've tried to remember to stay hydrated thereafter.

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    1. I know I'll make it through, just not enjoying the experience.

      I just keep reminding myself, "This, too, shall pass."

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  4. Well, your vacation can still be filed under the letter "K". Be careful what you wish for!
    P.S. Don't be too smug about how it doesn't hurt---until after it ends it's journey through your body. It isn't the pregnancy that hurts so much, it's the childbirth :-) Good luck.

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    1. Damn, Sam! I didn't think of it that way, with the 'K' and all. Of course, my medical expertise leads me to think of it as a "renal calculus," so not a whole lot of 'K' there, except the initial sound of 'calculus.'

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  5. I feel so bad when you're hurting and I can't do anything to help you. Sometimes I wish I were like the woman on the Star Trek episode "The Empath." But, then again, I delivered our two children, and suffered through pancreatitis and marriage, so, I've paid my dues! ;) Seriously, though, I hope you feel better soon. I hate to see you in pain. Love you, Lrrr!

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    1. 19 years of marriage have conditioned me, as well. I can handle as much pain as you can dish out, woman.

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    2. I like a good challenge! ;)

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  6. Oh, by the way, you misspelled Percocet! :)

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  7. I understand, though, as you were probably on Percocet when you posted that! :)

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  8. Ndnd, your split-apartFebruary 14, 2013 at 2:38 PM

    Happy Valentine's Day, Lrrr! I love you!

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