Plateau

I feel like I am about 70. I don't think that will get much better anytime soon. This week I will start working again, hopefully I am able to manage it. I also get the results back from the kidney scan on Tuesday - this will indicate what kind of surgery I need to have, even though I don't see the need for such an indication. Have to follow protocol...

I have had a chance to work on my novel a bit more this week. That has been nice. Got to work on the business a little bit too. Today was my last day of drugs though - now everything is used up. Hopefully that won't be a problem.

Found a cool piece of property near Marquette. Would be fun to invest, but they are asking too much for it. It is a foggy morning, so we put a fire in the fireplace. This afternoon it should be nicer. Maybe then we can head to the Bosrand or the Donkey Farm. We shall see...

Getting Younger

Just to recap, I have a blockage, probably a birth defect, in the tube that drains my kidney into the bladder. This kidney is doing 17% of the total job. They wanted to put a tube in to bypass the blockage and see if the kidney would take up a bit more of its fair share of the job - determining whether they should remove the blockage or remove the kidney. A simple, ten minute procedure it was meant to be.

On Friday, ten days ago, they tried, and failed, four times to place the tube. The blockage was too effective. I came home with the gift of peeing out blood and razor blades. I thought this was rather gruesome at the time, but it was nothing compared to what was to come. The next day I felt like my kidney was beginning to swell up. By the time it hurt so much that I couldn't stop the tears, the girls were in bed, and Naomi could take me to the hospital. 

They hoped that the blockage had just swollen up a bit from the poking and prodding, trapping some urine in the kidney, and that things would sort themselves out. They were wrong, once again. A rather massive infection had developed and they had no choice but to punch a tube through my side into the kidney, draining the fluid. No anesthetic. Unspeakable pain. 

A brackish mixture that looked like old coffee and sewage seeped out. A rather shocking amount. Since then it has clarified to strawberry lemonade and now, for the most part, things look as they should. The drainage tube will remain in place until they do another scan and schedule surgery. This will take at least a month. Health care is great here, unless you are in a hurry. 

I came home on Thursday, a bit earlier than expected. It is really good to be home. When I got here I felt like I was a 95 year old. Now I am down to, maybe, 80. Getting younger every day. Kind of depressing though because in the hospital my only job is to recover. Now that I am home there are a lot of things I want to do - I feel a lot of responsibility. 

Claire has been a huge help, especially for Naomi, but she is heading back to Switzerland today. Not sure how thing will work out once she is gone, but I am at least getting closer to being self-sufficient for the most part. 

Practicing for Old Age

It has been a rather intense week. Monday I had to go to the hospital for a routine appointment, Tuesday was my first long day of teaching, Thursday was a parent night at school, and Friday was supposed to be a minor, ten minute operation to bypass the blockage between my kidney and bladder with a tube. This was meant to show if the kidney needs to be removed or not.

It didn't work. The doctor tried four times, but the blockage, assumed to be a birth defect, was too severe. I was peeing blood and razor blades for about 24 hours. Then things started to improve. Until a different sort of pain gradually accelerated through my kidney, like a jet taking off, to the point where we rushed to the emergency room, tears streaming down my face in direct defiance to the medicine I had taken.

The blockage had become irritated with the intrusion, and swelled right up, blocking almost completely the flow of urine. My kidney felt like it was exploding, and I suppose it was. They fed me pain killers and waited for the doctors to show up for work on Monday, hoping the swelling would take care of itself. 

It hasn't yet. The whole right side of my body feels like it was hit by a truck. So much for avoiding calling in sick for my new job because of this. The old men that I am sharing a room with walk faster than me. We shall see what the doctors say tomorrow...

A little present from the girls!

Adjusting to the Routine

This week has gone by quickly. I think the new routine will work out well. Not so sure about the soccer though. I don't seem to have the condition for it. Maybe that will change though. I do get a little tired of being to bad at it - some of the other players get a bit annoyed with me from time to time.

Good to learn a new sport though. It is also interesting to get a glimpse into the team culture though, a bit of anthropology in a way. Quite different from what I am used to. The level of education is rather low on average...

The girls are doing well. We got to have dinner with the twin boys last night. They had a lot of fun playing together, even though it took them an hour and a half to warm up. On the way home, the girls were asking about what it meant to be a twin. I said it meant that you were in the belly at the same time. Abigail said, so Hessel and Sylvan (the twin boys) were in Taco's (their dad) belly at the same time?