A Post I Never Wanted To Write

Back in April of last year I was living in Utah when I came down with what was diagnosed as a kidney stone. Well, I don't know if it was so much diagnosed as it was the fact that the young Mormon Dr. just didn't want to deal with a non-Mormon whose soul wasn't worth saving.

Anyway, after the initial problem, I didn't have any more "kidney stone" problems until October of last year. It came and went with a minimal amount of pain and agony. A few weeks after that, I had another one. It was a little different. Not so much pain but a lot of having to pee. That lasted for a few days and then all the symptoms kind of went away. I must admit that I haven't felt myself since that last "kidney stone." Something wasn't right, but I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling great. A little hungover from a few Vodka and tonics the night before, but otherwise, I felt okay. I sat around watching the morning news, playing on the computer, and having my morning coffee. Pretty typical stuff.

Then, all hell broke loose. I'll spare you the gory details.

Yesterday I felt better and decided to continue ignoring the problem in hopes that it would once again go away. Really, I just wanted to make it through St. Patrick's day. This morning, however, things took another turn for the worse and I decided that despite my morbid fear of all things Dr and hospital, I thought it might not be a bad idea to go to the ER. I called my wife and she left work and came home and took me to the ER where we spent the entire day. I was poked, prodded, felt up, CT-scanned, poked, and then felt up and prodded even more.

Oh, and then there was the catheter. Jesus. The catheter.

Anyway, to make a long story short, they found a mass in my left kidney. The Dr.'s at the local hospital weren't equipped to make the final call on what it might be or the extent of the butchering treatment that might be required, but they have made arrangements for me to go to the U of M hospital for additional, and even more detailed poking, prodding and 3D imaging.

The Dr. said that this will likely result in some form of surgery to remove and or correct the problem. One bit of encouraging news was that he said that this wasn't an "urgent" situation--whatever the hell that means because in my mind, mass=urgent.

I have given my daughter Jackie the "keys" to this blog in case I have to have something done urgently. She will be able to update you via a post on here.

Even though I have never met any of you in person, you all mean a lot to me. Even you lurkers who never comment. This blog and your comments have helped me forget about some troubling health issues over the last few months. I thank you all and will do my best to keep you informed. I may not be in much of a "funny" mood for a while, so please bear with me.

Or is that bare?

P.S. If I don't get around to any of your blogs as frequently as I normally do, I hope you'll understand.