Diabolical Stone

I really hate the fact that when a bunch of old geezers get together there is always one topic that gets batted around until we all realize how pathetic we sound.  That is the topic of our health.  I guess that is because we all have our health issues and someone in the group is always recovering from a recent battle with some sort of new ailment we have yet to deal with or are all too familiar with ourselves.

I'll try to be brief and only mention it because, well........turns out I don't have much else to talk about. 

We got home from Portland last Monday all set to get a few good days of unpacking and settling in done before returning for the Memorial weekend.  That lasted until 3am Tuesday when I woke up to the too familiar beginning pain of a kidney stone.  Teri says my last one was Feb 2009.  It went pretty well, we went over to the Soldotna ER, I got an IV of Torodol and flushed it before the meds fully took effect.
Out before McDonald's quit serving the breakfast menu. 

This time I got the IV w/Toradol and a cat scan.  Doc says you have a 4mm stone, here's some Vicodin and a filter to catch it in, go home and drink a lot.  By Thursday I have used up the paint filters and am peeing into a coffee filter in a sieve.  Sometime, when we are drinking, I'll tell you how to do that when you have a bowel movement involved.  I'll need Dave Barry to join us to do it right.  By now I am dying to get off the Vicodin and the rotten way I feel on it.

I decide that we are going back to the ER Friday morning if nothing changes.  So Friday morning comes with no pain and a clear head.  We have dinner at Sara and Emil's and decide it is a go for Portland Saturday morning.  Still haven't seen the stone but there have been enough mishaps to have missed it.  So off we go.

We see the first flag display in Sandy just east of the city.

It is impressive.  There is a tent with lots of photos and an old geezer dying to talk war stories so I avoid it.

And look!  It is all for sale.

Then we spot this guy about 40 blocks east of Ryan & Judy's.

We separate but end up behind him on their street.  He pulls in about six houses up from theirs with the mattresses still on top of the car.  At least he didn't have his buddy on top of them "holding them down".  I've seen photos of that move.

Ry & I go to the Timbers game (a barn burner/heart breaker that ends 1-1) Saturday night and Sunday He and Judy buy......................A NEW CAR! (thank you Bob for that intro).  Teri and I entertain Nina while Momma and Papa do lots of "boring stuff".

Then we drove three cars home.  Would you believe, I didn't get a photo?  Try to picture a white Prius V.  That is the new version with the same drive system as our with a new body style (wagon).

My plan to get photos this morning before we went home was foiled when I woke up at 4am.  That #%&$*@! stone was back!  Teri (used to getting dressed before dawn and driving me to the ER) executes the drill and we do the IV w/Toradol and cat scan again at the Portland VA ER, but not before registering some pain in the low nines (sorry, but I AM a wimp).  Doc says it is still 4mm but it has moved to the Ureter and only has to get through the bladder and the prostate to make it to the screen.  He does a bunch of consults and says "it could take two weeks........." I didn't hear much after that having passed out at TWO WEEKS.  Holy crap!  As Frank would say.

So, back to Flowmax, Vicodin and lots of water.  Teri drove us home and it is back to getting up every hour at night to pee.  At least they gave me a much improved filter system, hopefully preventing those little mishaps.

Hope all is better with you all out there.  We have enough health care issues to talk about.

Stay hydrated.