Moral Support

I'm sitting here trying to shake lose a particularly recalcitrant kidney stone. The venison chili is hours away from ready, and the ersatz radlers I'm drinking in an attempt to flush the damn thing (Miller Lite and some kind of vile artificially sweetened instant lemonade!) don't in any way compare favorably to the ones I had in Berchtesgaden this summer.

This ain't my first rodeo, but man this one is getting on my nerves. I'd like to get it out so I could get a good night's sleep and I wish I had planned ahead a little better and gotten something to eat before I rendered myself unsafe to drive.

Anyway, if anyone has some good stories to pass the time, I'd love to hear them.

Hmm, that doesn't sound fun Bert. My best story lately was taking my 8 year old to the various local gun shops looking for a rifle to fit him. We found the perfect sized Marlin bolt action .22 at Bass Pro. I put it all off that we were just looking for next year's hunting season. Poor little guy was busting at the seams and finally garnered the courage to ask if he could get a gun for Christmas. I told him no, he wasn't quite big enough yet. I went back the next day and got it of course. He's going to be one happy kid come Sunday morning.

Hope that stone passes soon and the beer at least numbs the pain a bit.

Thanks Phil. Nothing better than time with your boy, especially if you get to spend it doing something fun.

Hey Bert, sorry to hear of your troubles. My older brother just went thru his first stone recently. At the same time I was in the bloody hospital battling viral pericarditis! If you dont know what that is and most dont, its an inflammation of the sac around the heart, cause unknown. Last saw the cardiologist about 10 days ago and he said its looking good and I can go off meds in a few more days. Been 3 months all told, spent Labor day weekend in hosp, then a month later was back in for another 4 days and it was worse than the first go-round! Bloody awful! Worst thing I have had. I guess I shouldnt squeak too much though, first time in hosp since I had my tonsils out 50 years ago. Hope that stone passes soon for you, I hear its pretty painful at times. Good luck!

Bert

Good luck, you probably should read up on diet to help in the future.

a very good friend has had in excess of 80 of those buggers and the last 10 were removed by surgery. The went over his eating habits and pointed out the ways he could make some changes or he would be back in a few months.

Sorry to hear Bert, I have never experienced passing a kidney stone though have heard that it can be agonizingly painful... Hope it passes quickly!


Here is a bad kidney stones joke for you...

Early one morning, my husband, who works in a funeral home, woke me, complaining of severe abdominal pains.
We rushed to the emergency room, where tests were performed to determine the source of the pain.
My husband decided not to have me call in sick for him until we new what was wrong.
When the results came back, the nurse informed us that, true to our suspicions, he was suffering from a kidney stone.
I turned to my husband and asked, "Would you like me to call the funeral home now?"
With a scornful look, the nurse turned to me and snapped, "Honey, he's not that sick!"

Sorry to hear that, Bert, I hope it s all over when you read this !

Thanks for all the support.

The stone is still in, but I put in a good day at work and now I've upgraded to Spaten Lager and halfway decent frozen concentrate lemonade, so I'm no longer feeling sorry for myself. We're entering the holiday season with a big reduction in workload so I will have some time to really get the hydration going now. Hope I can get it out without medical assistance. Last one I had they missed it on xray and CT scan and I passed it on my own- 6.9mm, so I lost a bit of faith in the system, which is ironic because I'm a physician.

I think I'm ready to make some diet changes if it will help. I suppose I'm finally going to have to start taking care of myself.

Originally Posted by Bert the Turtle

Thanks for all the support.

The stone is still in, but I put in a good day at work and now I've upgraded to Spaten Lager and halfway decent frozen concentrate lemonade, so I'm no longer feeling sorry for myself. We're entering the holiday season with a big reduction in workload so I will have some time to really get the hydration going now. Hope I can get it out without medical assistance. Last one I had they missed it on xray and CT scan and I passed it on my own- 6.9mm, so I lost a bit of faith in the system, which is ironic because I'm a physician.

I think I'm ready to make some diet changes if it will help. I suppose I'm finally going to have to start taking care of myself.

Physician, heal thyself! I'm a GP myself, and don't I know about the "Oh yeah, one day I have to look after myself as well as my patients" - routine.
Seriously, I feel for you. Kidney stones are a bummer! To pass the time, here is a story about hunting with the medically challenged:
About 8 weeks ago, I hunted a property south of my NSW home with Ray, an old patient of mine and his very fit, very keen hunter son-in-law, Jeremy. Deer are as thick as fleas on a dog in the area, after having been released from unsuccessful deer farms a few decades ago, and are a pest, so farmers are happy to have them culled. We started at first light, around 0600, and by 0900 both Jeremy and I had a fallow spiker on the ground (in between we had seen 26 red deer and 14-16 fallows, as well as numerous kangaroos and 2 foxes). We had followed the deer uphill to the very end of the farm, and now had to carry them out. Weeell... turned out Jeremy had a hernia OP just recently, so I carried one out, rigged as a backpack, then the other on a pole with Ray. Guess In earned my venison that day!
2 weeks ago I was on the same property with another older hunter, Tony. Before we left, he told me he had had bowel cancer and has a stoma bag, so I was thinking: "Great! Guess who gets to carry the deer out again!" We got there just before first light, about 0450, and made out 2 deer in the headlights as soon as we drove in. Getting out very quietly, we loaded out rifles and sneaked into the paddock they were feeding in. Eastern Australia has had an exceptionally wet spring and summer, and they were standing in belly-high grass, completely oblivious to their surroundings (in New Zealand we used to call them "silly spikers" at this time of year). We got to 100m of them, took position behind a tree, and as soon as they moved into position, I took out the first with my 6.5x55mm Swedish Mauser, and Tony the other with his .257 Roberts Ackley improved. Both dropped like sacks of potatoes. And the nice thing was - we could drive right up to them, so that 0530 we had 2 spikers gutted and in the back of the ute! Sometimes you get doubly lucky.
Hope that passed some time, and I especially hope you already passed the stone, and have a great Christmas!

Bert,

Sorry to hear about the stones, wishes and prayers for the best to you. Switch it to Busch light and I am sure you will have a fast recovery. My physician laughed outloud after my shoulder surgery, my first visit back he asked if I need a refill for the pain meds. I told him no Busch has my pain under control (instead of the highly addictive crap he prescribed) and the laughing commenced. Seriously though best of luck and quick recovery to you.