Post-Surgery Update

Well, I made it through surgery fairly easily. This was by far the easiest post-surgery experience that I have had. That being said, though, I am sore today. And I can't go back to work until Monday, per my doc's instructions.

The procedure , itself, almost didn't go. The x-ray tech came in, escorted me to the x-ray room, and took a picture. But, he didn't see the stone. So, he took another one. Again, he didn't see the stone. After that, I went back to bed, with the possibility of not having the procedure. The assorted O.R. personnel came to see a stone that I had passed earlier in the week, which I taken in with me. They all believed that I had passed the stone, but I kept telling them that there was something else in there. When my urologist came in, he looked at the x-rays and the stone that I had passed and decided to put me on the fluoroscope.

Upon getting onto the surgical table and under the fluoroscope, the tech operating the device found the stone almost immediately. With that, the nurse hooked up the I.V., the anesthesiologist asked the standard questions, and put me out.

I awoke about an hour later.

I still have to do the same things as usual. Strain my urine as I pass the sand. A procedure that I will have to follow for the next week. As I said, I am still in some pain, but that is pretty routine.

Surgery Today

So, I am heading into surgery today at 1600. I have to be at the surgical center by 1430. The big downside to this whole pre-surgery thing is that yesterday I was on a liquid diet until midnight, then nothing until my surgery. Except for the MAG Citrate that I had to drink this morning, plus the 8 oz glass of water that follows it. (Yeah, like I have anything left in my system for that to work on.)

For those of you that know me, in-person, you know that my metabolism is fast, not as fast as it once was, but still fast. That means that I am FUCKING STARVING right now. I could easily eat two racks of ribs and all the trimmings right now. Wait, this get better. Chances are that I will not be hungry after the surgery. So come tomorrow morning, whew!, I could probably sit down to eat the whole cow.

My buddy Kent called to rub it in that he was going to go get a sandwich. Followed by my Pop calling to say that he is in town and at Arby's down the street. Dammit! Don't tell me that you are eating. My stomach is growling now just writing this. But, other than that things are just peachy. I just want the thing to start so that I can be closer to eating.

I have gotten a few calls today wishing me well with the surgery. Sometimes, I feel like people are calling to say their goodbyes, in case something bad happens. Or maybe it is just the pessimist in me that sees things that way.

However this goes, I will see and talk to you on the other side.

My Ripon Visitor

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Middle of Vacation

Yep, I am on vacation. Just like everything else planned for this week (Vegas & Cabo), the backpacking trip fell through as well. So, I am just hanging out at home. I should have had a 'Plan D', like going to see some bloggers that I enjoy reading. Somehow, getting on a plane to go to Albuquerque, Houston, or Orlando just didn't sound like fun, but I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time, nor the last.

My surgery is on Thursday and the worry that I had before, concerning the blocked ureter, is pretty much gone. I passed a 2mm stone on Sunday night, now there is very little pain on the left side. Although, the docs are going to want to check it out anyway. That stone didn't really hurt coming out, could be the meds, could be the greater pain threshold, or it could be something else entirely.

I do plan on going up to the mountains with friends and family on Friday. But that depends on how I feel, post-surgery. This is one of the bigger stones that I have had, but I have been through the proceedure before without much difficulty, so I will just have to see. My Pop is making the trip up here to take me to the surgical center and to stay with me overnight, in case that there are problems.

So, my vacation has been about cleaning, staying inside away from the heat, which has been in the 100's, and going to the rock gym at night. I plan on going tonight, if I feel up to it. Other than that, I got nothing.

No, that is not right. I do have something else. There has been someone reading these posts from a city just north of where I live, in Ripon. Kind of wierds me out to have someone reading this that I may know, but that doesn't acknowledge himself/herself via commenting. I mean, I know when others read this and don't comment (Pop, Jenius, Sass, Reagan, Zombie, LL, Evil Blonde, Kent, or Paul), but I know who you are so that is alright. It is the not knowing that gets me.

Well, now that is it. Have a great week all. If I do make it to the mountains, there will probably be pics of it on flickr, shortly after I get back.

Doc And The Impending Surgery

I went to the urology doc yesterday. I got a bit of good news. First let me say, the docs in the Oakland ER told me that I had three stones (one in each kidney and one in my bladder). The bladder was a new one on me. Originally, my urologist told me of the big one on the right and a small one on the left. However, after my visit yesterday, the doc said that the stone on the left seems to have been passed, as it is no longer visible on the x-rays and that the "stone" in my bladder is a phantom return. (Although, I told him that I still feel relatively minor pain on that side as well as the major pain on the right. He believes that it may be something else. Which I will get to shortly.)

I also was scheduled for surgery. I have mixed emotions when it comes to this surgery. On the one hand, I WANT THIS F'N STONE OUT! On the other, I have to give up part of my vacation to have the surgery and I didn't particularly like the location of this surgery the last time that I had work there. But, really, there is no choice. I need to have this done, so at 1600 on 29 Thursday, I will be in lithotripsy surgery. At this time, the stone is just under 10 mm. After the procedure, the stone should be in pieces no bigger than 1 to 1.5 mm.

The doc also gave me some more medication. He looked at me and said, "I'll give you Vicodin." I told him that Vicodin may as well be straight Ibuprofin, for all of the good it will do me for pain.

"So, what did I give you last time", he asked.

"You gave me Percoset 5/325."

"How often?"

"Well the bottle said 1 or 2 every six hours. But at times, I was taking 2 to 3 every couple of hours for the major pain."

"That is an awful lot!"

"What do want me to do for pain, take what I got prescribed or go to the hospital for demorol or morphine?"

"Take what I gave you."

"Okey-dokey."


While I am under anesthetic, the docs are going to check out my left ureter. I had a stint in there 18 months ago (for six weeks) and the docs are going to make sure that it (the ureter) is the size that it is supposed to be. I had the stint in place to stretch the ureter back to its "normal" size. After so many stones on that side, I have much scaring in the area. If the ureter is back to the pre-stint size, I may have to have a more invasive surgery to replace or extensively repair the ureter. I am sincerely hoping that the ureter is not constricted again, as I am not looking to have to be cut open. That thought bothers me. Another thought that bothers me, I do not like going under a general anesthetic. However remote the chances are, there is a chance of not waking up. That, and I do not deal with coming out of the anesthesia very well.

Well, that is what is going on. I hope that things are going better for you, wherever you are.

Good Fun, No Fun

Last night, I went to the A's game in Oakland. Got to see my best friend, Kent. Had a great time hanging out in a corporate luxury box. The game went 17 innings. By the time we were in the 12th, I was just praying for someone to score, didn't care who. By the bottom of the 13th, I got a quick, small stabbing from my left kidney. Which was here and gone, thank God. By the middle of the 15th, I got a little more heavy dose of stabbing pain, this time from the right. I took all of the meds that I had available to me, which sufficed to the end of the game.

However, I got even more serious pains on the way to the hotel. So, I spent the night in the Oakland ER. Can't wait for the bill on that one.

So, because of my overnight in Oakland, I missed work today. Tomorrow is going to suck!

Catch you all later, I am heading back to bed to die.

Second School Offense

For the second time in a year a school in Malvern, AR has had a teacher charged with having sex with a student. The first case involves subsitute teacher Marsha J. Henderson, 35, of Malvern who is charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy.

This time out, the teacher involved is Heather E. Carter, 30, of Alexander. Carter has been charged with having sex with a 17-year old female student in her home and automobile.

Again, I ask you the reader, "What is the deal with teachers in the South?" No problem in the South? Then what is this story that is being developed now, with another teacher, in Texas? Although that student was of consenting age. However under a 2003 Texas law, no teacher can have sexual relations with any student, no matter the age.

Boss Chains Subordinate to Tree

I have been a bit lax in relating some of the news stories out of Russia. This one though...

"Russian Police are investigating a case of a boss who chained his subordinate naked to a tree in the forest to punish him for badly done work".

The 39-year-old was found handcuffed to a tree in Russia's Far East town of Belogorsk. On 26 May, the man was found by railway workers after his boss left him there almost 24 hours. The man claimed that his boss beat him up, drove him out into the forest, made his strip naked, and then handcuffed him to a tree for refusing to engage in "illegal actions".

During the course of the preliminary investigation, police found that no illegal actions were sought by the boss, but rather that the boss was angered by the employee's botched efforts on a job.

The boss has been charged with illegal restriction of a man's freedom, which carries a 2-year maximum jail sentence.

Another Darwin Award Winner?

A man in Russia was killed by his new fishing rod. The 58-year-old man, from a small town near Moscow, went fishing with his new graphite rod at a small lake for the weekend. When he went to make the cast towards the center of the lake, his five meter tackle hit a power line located above and behind him. The man died instantly of electric shock.

So, This is an Outlet

I have had many people read this blog over the past few days that have come to the same conclusion. That is, that I mostly write negative things. However, I don't see it that way. This blog is a direct correlation to the mood that I am in at the time. Yes, yes, for the past few weeks, my posts have been a bit negative. But that is merely a by-product of my overall feelings at the time.

The jist of this post is merely to say that what I write here is merely an outlet for whatever I am feeling. Yes, sometimes that is negative. But, it is also positive or even downright naughty. I started this blog as one thing, but it has slowly turned into something else. That is, a way for me to get out whatever is upsetting my natural balance.

Kent put it quite differently. He said that my posts a generally along the same way that our conversations go. In other words, I use the same emphasis, words, and emotions that use in everyday life to describe what is going on to you readers.

For those of you that read these posts, I hope that you will forgive me of my faults in recent weeks with showing a negative side to life. I wil endevour to be a little more upbeat here in the near future. Maybe as early as Sunday. We will see. I may have something positive to write by then. Or maybe even the next post.

Tired, So Tired (aka Questions)

I see the people as they walk on by. Smiling and laughing, knowing the secret that I am afraid that I will never know. What is this answer? How can I obtain this secret?

I have tried and tried. But all I am is tired. Tired of the gaming played and those games yet to come. I have tried my hand at other means of obtaining the objective. I have tried the bad boy approach and the good guy angle. I have tried to lay back and do nothing, just let the chance come to me. But this too has been a denial for me.

Why is it that people can't speak true? Say what you mean, leave nothing to guess. Why do people fear hearing the truth, yet ask you to never lie?

And why it that when a person reads this blog, they only see one side of the me? How can someone read "Rock Out With Your...", "Ruminations on a Mind", and "Lace Them Up; aka Jockstrap; aka El Jocko" and not see a larger picture of who I really am. Yes, I am all of these things shown in these blogs, but I am still so much more. Why can't you see that?

Whom among our age group, that is single, does not feel the pressures from the parents? Especially, when a younger sibling has the spouse and kids. Why is it that I can't just be a me instead of an us?

Again, I am tired, so tired.

I Have to Try

Life is good, right now. It is also really tough.

My big news is that the new kidney stone is really killing me. I tried to work today, but that was a joke. By the second stop, I was out of gas and in extreme pain. By the third, I was ready to pass out from the pain. The manager of the account actually threatened to call 911, as bad as I looked and acted. The fourth, well that was a delusion. After that I called the boss and said that I was heading in for the day. I left three accounts undone. Something that I have never done. All I can do is try to work, but if my body fails, there isn't much that I can do.

Did you try medication? Sure, but you can only take so much before the body calls it quits. My meds (Percoset 5/325), eventually make me have an upset stomach. That and the doctor prescribed 1-2 every six hours. After five in five hours, with still so much pain, I just couldn't take it any longer.

There is no way to adequately describe the pain. I have been told that the experience is as close as a man can get to childbirth. Although, I have talked to women that have been through both and they claim that kidney stones are many time worse.

For those of you that still don't get the object of this pain, picture this: I have a 9 mm stone on the right side and a 2 mm stone on the left. Picture a stone looking like a piece of rice (of the indicated size) with thorns sticking out of it. The kidney is roughly the size of your fist. So, a stone bouncing around inside that has a bit of room. The problem next, though, is the ureter (the tube between the kidney and bladder). That tube is roughly the same size a piece of wet spaghetti. Now picture a 9 mm stone traveling down that with a steady stream of urine following that. Eventually the pressure will push it through, although there is a lot of stretching and tearing to go through first. This stretching and tearing leads to scaring, which in turn will lead to another stint (as I had put in the left ureter back in March 2005 and removed in May 2005).

Oh, and lest I forget, there is the actual passing of the stone or remaining sand (after lithotripsy). That alone is it's own kind of pain. Think of pissing razor blades for several days. The thought of that experience makes me cringe, even now. Oh the things I have to look forward to in the next few weeks.

I have had my diet changed so many times, I have lost count. Vegetarian, vegan, all meat, all dairy, not this vegetable, more of this vegetable, no soda, no beer, no this, no that, more of this, and more of that. I am so tired of the drama and do not know what else to do.

All I have left is to try. I have to try to live life. I have to try to continue to work. I have to try to make through another round of medications. I have to tyr to make through the next surgery.

I have to try.

Now Playing

I am playing this new purchase at the current time. With everything that is going on with me, I just need some music like this to keep me going. The disc has 38 of the bands top songs from the first album through the last one.

Again With the Kidney Stones

I had another kidney stone attack last night. The pain was something fierce. I ended up taking 3 Percoset and 2 Vicodin to get to sleep. For a while, it was touch-and-go, as to whether I was going to be going to the ER or not. Luckily, I fell asleep before I had to make that decision.

Right now, I am waiting to hear back from the urology doc. This not working, when I should be, is eating me up.

For those of you few that read this, please keep me in your thoughts.

New Demotivators

These are my two, new favorite demotivators. For those of you that don't know of demotivators, you can find them at despair.

BEAUTY - If you're attractive enough on the outside, people will forgive you for being irritating to the core.








INSPIRATION - Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, which is why engineers sometimes smell really bad.

Jesus Bumper Stickers

I saw these two stickers today. Wish that I had taken pics of them, but didn't. One is a bit old, but it made me laugh again anyway.

JESUS LOVES YOU but everyone else thinks that you're an asshole



JESUS SAVES! Gretzky picks up the puck, he shoots, he scores!