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!