Life in the ER
Yesterday morning, I woke up at about 5:20 am with a stabbing pain in my stomach. I got up, got a drink of water and used the bathroom and tried lying back down. The pain would not go away and got worse and worse until it felt like there was a knife in my stomach. Carla woke up and we went together to the Hospital Emergency Room. Then, right before we arrived at the hospital, the pain went away.

We were there for hours as the hospital took blood samples, urine samples and a cat scan. Several possibilities were mentioned to me by the doctors and nurses. After they looked at the cat scan, I waited another hour in the room before the doctor came and let me know. A rather large kidney stone is sitting in my bladder. It still needs to pass.

While spending several hours in the ER room, I'd wished I had something to read. The only thing in the room was a copy of the Smithsonian with a painting by Gaughin or someone that looked a lot like Klinger from M.A.S.H..

On the way home, I kept thinking "God, I never want to go through that again" and then remembering that I would be.

So, I have a prescription for painkillers and I'm drinking a lot of fluids....and waiting.

Something I realized while in the ER. You might be getting old if you're required to talk about your bladder movements.

Something else I've realized from the experience. If you have a high-pain threshold, don't say that you do to someone. It's just asking for trouble. Carla and I were talking about her recent experience with getting her wisom teeth out the night before. When I had mine out, I felt great the next day. Her, and several of our friends had horrible experiences. I made the mistake of saying " well, I have a pretty high pain threshold." It was pushed to the limits yesterday. I'd say that was as painful if not more painful than recovering from my hernia surgery years ago.

The worst part was not knowing what was causing the pain, though. Knowing, at least I can know if it's some seruious threat to my life. It isn't. It's just painful as hell.

I feel fine right now, although I have to pee again. Tomorrow, I'll be on a long car trip with friends. I hope they're ready to make a lot of pit stops.