Back in the saddle

In case you've wondered where the crap I took off to, I've been out of commission for a while. Last month I spent a day with a bit of a stomach ache. The stomach ache eventually landed me in the Emergency Room where I was diagnosed with a terrible kidney infection. They fed me antibiotics through my IV, gave me some pain meds, slapped me on my butt and sent me on my way.

Two days later, I was right back where I started. OHMYGOSH I was in some terrible pain again. This time the Emergency Room did a CT scan and told me that I had three kidney stones about 1/4" big that needed to come out.

I was so miserable that they could have told me that they needed to cut my head off to help me and I would have readily agreed. Off I went into surgery. They found my kidney so infected that they couldn't get rid of the stones, so the doc put a stint in, gave me 2 weeks worth of antibiotics and sent me out the door.

I have been hobbling around for a month waiting for my kidney to heal enough for me to have the final surgery. I know my family was getting fed up with my whining and complaining about how "I can't walk", "It hurts to pee", "I can't lift that", "It hurts to pee", I'm tired", "It hurts to pee", "It hurts to pee", "It hurts to pee".  Did I mention that it hurt to pee? Well, it did.

I had to say goodbye to my longtime friend Pepsi Cola. Used to be whenever I needed a break from reality I would load up in the jeep and run to the local convenience store, see my friend Nik, and grab a Pepsi. By the time I made it home, I was rejuvenated a ready to conquer again. Sigh. Those good times are over now.

Somehow, my tiny brain has attributed pain to Pepsi. I think it's probably right. I guess that soda plays a big role in kidney stones, but I'm not kidding when I say that the thought of having a Pepsi makes me want to vomit my brains out. Yeah...it will be a long time down the road before I'll be able to stomach a soda again.

So, Friday I had surgery for the stones. Turns out I had 6 stones in my right kidney. One was the size of a pencil eraser. THANK GOODNESS for modern medicine. Doctor Platt went in there like he was playing Asteroids on Atari and blasted the crap out of them. Had some minor complications that landed me in the hospital overnight, but I'm home now and back in the saddle again. (Albeit, I'm riding side saddle for a bit, but I'm in a saddle nonetheless.)