I've been pretty much away from the computer, and from most of my "regular" life for the last 10 days or so. My radiation treatments seemed to have finally caught up with me, and a great deal of distress was occurring "in the neighborhood"! At the urging of Cheryl, I finally gave in and went to to see the oncologist. This was last Thursday, and I pretty much needed Cheryl to lean on to get there! Very severe discomfort. He asked lots of questions, looked quite concerned, and after deciding it was not radiation side effects, he sent me over to the Emergency Department! They kept me for about 4 hours --- but with no real diagnosis, they sent me to the Cardiology Department for a
Holter monitor - a sort of 24 hour EKG - and from there to home. I successfully fended off Cheryl's urgings that I go back to Emergency, call my regular doctor, or SOMETHING, for most of the weekend, (the
Vicodin from the emergency room doctor was some help) finally giving up and calling my regular doctor's emergency # around 3AM on Monday morning. He answered himself, and told me to come into the office in the morning - no appointment necessary.
Just a quick note that I love Dr.
Sirotenko. He is very good at sorting out symptoms, and getting to the heart of the matter.
Within about 3 minutes he checked my urine for blood, and declared that I had a kidney stone. A sonogram was scheduled for Wednesday (about 48 hours away) , but Cheryl went around channels, and had me at the "look inside people and see what we can find" place getting looked at within a couple of hours!
Sure enough - a nice kidney stone with it's very painful passage process was what had been laying me low, including actually passing out a few times, for the past several days. They declared that the stone had already done most of it's dastardly stuff, and should be a thing of the past relatively soon.
My mental image of a nice little smooth river stone sort of thing was dispelled by the
Internet (see one image I found above). I am still quite uncomfortable and still get waves of the peristalsis process that my body uses to try to push it on into the bladder and out of the way, but I'm certainly better than I was a week ago! The treatment is lots of liquids, time, and
Vicodin!
It sure would be nice if we could get diseases one at a time! If I had walked into the Emergency Department with a severe pain in my kidney area radiating around to the groin, but hadn't been sent there by the Oncology folks, they probably would have figured it out in no time at all!
If I get a picture of my little
nemisis, I'll post it!
The robins have been around for a couple of weeks, but here is a particularly healthy looking one from the neighborhood. The gull below probably was here all winter, but she also looks quite healthy and happy in the spring sunshine!
Click to enlarge
Seeing the world through the eyes of one so new to it all is truly a wonderful thing! Walking by a car in a driveway is a chance to explore her favorite letters and numbers!
Where you and I would sort of naturally stick to the sidewalks, Maya runs over to gently touch the crocuses, and to declare them purple!
And while Grandpa nervously wonders if the folks who own this swing set in a back yard at the other end of the block will come out and yell, Maya wants to slide, swing, and generally test her skills!
On Sunday we took an old fashioned Sunday drive along Lake Ontario. Sort of figured that Lighthouse Road must have a lighthouse, and sure enough! This is The Braddock Point Lighthouse from the shore side --- below is a view from the lake side borrowed from an old web site when the lighthouse was for sale (1.9 million) back in 2005? Originally built in 1896, and restored between 1990 and 1998, with the light re-lit in February 1998 - an official Coast Guard Aid to Navigation.
My kidney stone finally came out to get his picture taken this morning around 8AM. Rather a handsome fellow - sort of like you might find in a nice collection of rocks and minerals at the local Museum and Science Center? Just a bit over a quarter of an inch across, and with lots of interesting stuff in it! Such a little thing to have pretty much taken over my life for the past 3 weeks?
Got in a short walk around the neighborhood this afternoon!
Snowdrops
Crocus
Baby maple tree!
Maya pats her gingerbread cookie on the back. Her love of Grandma Cheryl's cookie did not prevent her from consuming it however!
I love the table level shots I get at the diner! Above - Maya ----- Below Grandma Cheryl at her birthday party!
My nephew Wyatt took this one. The Bird of Paradise flower is sort of a recurring theme in my family. Thank you Wyatt! This is one worth clicking on for a bigger view!
My friend Rick Shannon looked over that picture of my ancestral family, and concluded that something very much like the camera above was used to take it...... probably on a glass plate? Rick knows more about photography that pretty much anybody, and as a collector of stuff, happened to have one sitting around that I could take a picture of! Thanks Rick.
I've been pretty much away from the computer, and from most of my "regular" life for the last 10 days or so. My radiation treatments seemed to have finally caught up with me, and a great deal of distress was occurring "in the neighborhood"! At the urging of Cheryl, I finally gave in and went to to see the oncologist. This was last Thursday, and I pretty much needed Cheryl to lean on to get there! Very severe discomfort. He asked lots of questions, looked quite concerned, and after deciding it was not radiation side effects, he sent me over to the Emergency Department! They kept me for about 4 hours --- but with no real diagnosis, they sent me to the Cardiology Department for a Holter monitor - a sort of 24 hour EKG - and from there to home. I successfully fended off Cheryl's urgings that I go back to Emergency, call my regular doctor, or SOMETHING, for most of the weekend, (the Vicodin from the emergency room doctor was some help) finally giving up and calling my regular doctor's emergency # around 3AM on Monday morning. He answered himself, and told me to come into the office in the morning - no appointment necessary.
