The little stone that shouldn't.

I was just sitting on the couch enjoying some chill time with the husband and out of no where I get this spasm. THE spasm, the right side gut wrenching, inside turning spasm. I do what I do every time I get this spasm...I go to the bathroom. Then I stretch and massage and drink 3 cups of water. Then 5 minutes later I take a pain killer and an anti-nausea medication. I do this routine because I've done it more than 11 times before. When I can't get comfortable sitting, standing or walking I tell the husband I need to go to the ER. The pain doesn't stop, it just comes in waves. I sit in the waiting room for 2 hours struggling to find a comfortable position and wringing my sweater between my hands. I get an ultrasound, see an MD in triage, there's no beds. I am extremely uncomfortable and the longer I wait the more tense my body becomes. I finally get a bed. Almost an hour later they come in and give me shots for the pain and nausea. Luckily I had nothing to throw up. This hospital did things so very different from what I'm used to. Usually I'm hooked up to IV and sedated with pain killers before they do an ultrasound or CT scan. Anyways, I could finally relax enough to not wriggle around in pain and a short time later the spasms stopped. Come to find out I have an 8 millimeter stone in my kidney. Yeah, I know that's small but what you don't understand is that the average ureter is 4mm. The largest stone I was able to pass was 5mm, and it got stuck half way down and I had to have surgery to blast it apart. So this 8mm stone is kind of a miracle to me. It's too big to pass so it just chills at the top of my ureter and restricts my kidney function, causing swelling and spasms. It cuts into my sensitive tissue that is already scarred by previous stones. The doctor says it shouldn't be causing any problems...I tell him to tell it to my blood-pressure. I get referred to a urologist/surgeon and am sent home.
The most amazing part of this story is 4 months ago I got a CT scan because I was having pain in my right kidney area. That CT showed no stones at all. How did I grow an 8mm stone in 4 months?!

I drew a picture of what it feels like to have a kidney stone. BTW I do have a left kidney, I just didn't want to draw it. Feel free to post.

The baconator...er..yeah

So last Tuesday I was making bacon..for breakfast of course. Now, I'm not the best cook, but I know my way around a kitchen. You see, the thing is I'm new to electric ovens. So far I do not like them. I can't seem to get the heating right...medium has three settings...is that really necessary? Anyways, I have made bacon on this electric stovetop before and sadly mis-timed my cooking by over cooking the bacon. This time I was being careful.

BUT IT WAS TAKING FOREVER...my toast was going to get cold and the oatmeal all sticky. So I turned it up. Low and behold it cooked faster. Too fast. It got super hot and the next thing I knew the grease was popping out at me like flies. I must have looked like I was raging a war with my spatula in one hand and a spinning towel in the other. But guess what happens...

One blasted grease drop flies straight into my right eye. What do you do in this instance? A. Run cold water over your eye B. Run around screaming "I have bacon in my eye!!!" or C. Proceed to throw the bacon across the room cursing it to the demon dimension it came from?

Well, I chose to to D. Silently scream, but calmly put cold water on my eye and finish cooking the darned meal so I could finally eat.
The remainder of the cooking process went fairly well considering I had eye damage. I surprisingly had no major burns or blisters on my eyeball, which is saying quite a bit for my general medical history. It did feel a little funny for a few days..but ewe, grease on my eyeball!

I decided to draw a picture so I would remember my story, then decided to write this blog.

300 Miles!

On July 1st, 2011, Jon and I packed up as much stuff we could fit into our 15 foot Budget truck and moved 300 miles North of Bakersfield. Jon had the luxury of driving the largest vehicle he's ever operated with our dear friend Sara as company. I, on the other hand, had my amazing mother and my two obese cats in my teeny tiny Echo. Monty and Molly are the names of my obese cats, who did pretty well after the first 2 hours of non-stop meowing from Monty.
Finally upon arrival we proceeded to unload/deliver goods to the top floor of our new apartment complex. Which is one stuffy hot elevator ride, 8 steep steps, and a hallway long enough to make The Shining directors proud. Needless to say it took a healthy 8 hours, and the herculean efforts of our dear friends. This, of course, is after a 5 hour drive and the minimum number of hours of sleep required to operate "heavy machinery." Some time around midnight I passed out.

Since we spend the majority of Friday moving our stuff into every corner of this apartment, we spent Saturday in the city. We figured that since my mom was only staying a few days that we would enjoy the time with her instead of unpacking. Before I begin, I just want to say the day was amazing, but I have never been so exhausted. The adventure started with catching the B.A.R.T. train into the city, which of course was delayed because it was the weekend. Two hours later we finally arrived at Embarcadero to catch the bus/trolly to Pier 39. After what seemed like a 45 minute wait, one bus shows up with a cart FULL of passengers, and same with the next bus. Finally we make it to Pier 39 and enjoy a delicious meal from Bubba Gumps, even though they messed up the order...horribly. We ordered a Pear and Berry Salad, which came with Raspberries, Strawberries, Pear, Grilled Chicken, Candied Pecans, and a Strawberry Vinaigrette. Unfortunately, the salad was missing the candied pecans and when we informed our waitress of such she brought us out a small bowl of chopped peanuts. When we informed her of her second error, she said let me confirm the menu, then came back to apologize that the Pecans were missing and excused it by saying the menu is 2 days old and that the chefs are still getting used to it. (This story reminds me that I need to write Bubba Gump Co.) After we ate, we explored Fisherman's Wharf and all the crazy stores. Then went to wait for the bus back to Market so we could hop in the B.A.R.T. After the first bus didn't stop to pick anyone up because it was so full, we decided to walk the 2 miles back to the station. It was a nice walk, but by the time we got back I was beginning to get jet-lag feelings. Again, it took us almost 2 hours to get back to Walnut Creek because the trains were running late and there was maintenance on the track.
But we made it eventually and enjoyed the rest of the weekend relaxing.

All in all, the moving experience was one experience I hope to not have to do again for a very very long time.