Stone's throw

My plans for the week were to come back from a week-long getaway and hit the ground running. I was going to get back on the job search, type up a good family trip recap on “Coach Jeff” and then head to a church meeting last night at FPC. Later, I planned to watch the MLB Home Run Derby.

You know what ‘they say’ about plans.

This time I got waylaid by a kidney stone - a 3 mm piece of crystallized chemical compounds that chose to land at the wrong place in the body. I did watch parts of the derby but I slept mostly and, as you can tell, I have been absent from the blog.

To recap the situation, I thought I had passed the stone before we left town. I started having symptoms on July 2nd but they were gone by the 4th. So, I was able to resume normal activities, pack the car and get ready for the trip. I guess I should consider it a small miracle the symptoms didn’t resurface until Sunday so I could enjoy some nice family time (which I will try to write about in another posting). Unfortunately, I didn’t drink as much water as I should’ve.

Moving forward, that will be a goal so I can avoid future episodes.

At any rate, I started with a sore back on Friday, but attributed that to a lot of walking and sleeping in a strange bed. Then, in the wee hours of Monday morning, I remembered what I was dealing with before we celebrated July 4th and what was probably causing the discomfort.

So, I went and got the darn thing checked out yesterday and by mid-afternoon, I was in outpatient surgery. Anyone reading along who has experienced this condition can relate to why I opted to have it taken out when my urologist said these two unhappy words, “It’s stuck.”

I’ll spare you any more details. The good news is that it’s gone. I got to take a look at the stone in recovery and I marvel over the fact that such a small item could cause such tremendous pain. But, it did. And I’m thankful it’s gone.

So, on the mend, my plan now is to resume my plans, starting with tonight’s MLB All Star Game. And moving forward, I’m going to drink water; lots of it.

JG

Originally posted 7/16/2013