Dealing with health issues

I guess this week was "doctor" week for me.  On Saturday, I had a little surprise!  I passed a kidney stone!  OUCH!  So Sunday morning bright and early, Josh took me to the Urgent Care in Ash Flat.  Not how I like to spend my Sunday morning, for sure...

But the staff were really nice.  They took an xray to see if there were any more stones in my system.  Yep, a nice big one in my left kidney.  Wonderful!  More adventures in health care!  Just what I need....

So I called our family doctor, Dr. Douglas Bernard in Batesville.  They didn't have any appointments open on Monday.  We had a previously scheduled appointment on Tuesday morning, so that was when I went in.  John and I really like Dr. Bernard.  He's a good doc.  He takes time to talk to us.  And listens to us.  And we get to talk about "farm" type stuff.  He referred me to a Urologist, Dr. Emery, and got me scheduled for an xray/ct and an appointment on Wednesday.

So, Wednesday morning bright and early, we head back to Batesville.  The xray was uneventful.  Dr. Emery's staff was nice.  They listened to my situation, did a CT scan of my abdomen, and put us in an exam room to wait for the doctor.  He was very thorough.  It seems this stone is too large to pass out the duct from my kidney.  In fact, it's probably been growing there for several years.  So, there are 2 courses of action.  1) put a stent in my bladder to enlarge the duct to the kidney and then use ultrasonics to try and break up the stone.  This will involve 2 outpatient procedures in Batesville 10 days apart.  Once the stone is shattered, I would then have to pass the pieces... Fun, fun!    2)  Have a 2-step surgery which will involve making an incision in my back and installing a tube.  Then, in a second procedure, Dr Emery would use the tube to remove the stone from my kidney.  This would require staying in the hospital for several days.  Again, more fun.

We opted for option 1.  Doctor Emery will be out of town all week next week, so I have the stent put in on 4/1. 

Wednesday was also food co-op day.  Since I was in Batesville, Gena and Kevin received the order without my help.  And my help really wasn't needed.  Gena said it took about 15 minutes to divide up the orders.  The driver was very nice.  Our next order is in 6 weeks.

My friends, Linda and John Smuzer, from Concrete Washington are here visiting his Aunt Vivian in Mountian View.  We were supposed to get together for lunch on Thursday.  Because of the doctor adventures earlier this week, I asked Linda if we could re-schedule.  We're going to Mountian View for lunch on Monday.

Linda and I have been friend since 1992.  We originally met during a knitting class in 1989.  In 1992, I found the Spindrifter's Spinning Guild in Bellingham.  What a wonderful group of ladies!  I became good friend with many wonderful people because of this group.  Linda, Margaret and Nancy are special people.  Very dear to me.  Debra and Terry helped me a lot when I first hurt my back.  Debra took me to many a doctor appointment when I couldn't drive.  We learned a lot together.  We had many "fiber adventures". 

As with many things in life, things have changed.  Some of us have moved, changed our life circumstances, divorced, married, found new loves, had our children grow up and move from home (and find their own loves and have children)...

I moved away 9 years ago now.  But I still keep in touch.  Seeing Linda and John is always wonderful.  And a bit hard on my heart.  It makes me miss my friends... 

I love my life here in Arkansas.  John and Josh really make life worth living.  I love being in the woods, having my birds, dogs, cat.  And my spinning and knitting keep me busy.  But, sometimes I miss watching X-Files with Margaret while teenager Virginia (changed her name to Alex years ago) playing with the cats while Margaret's mom was quilting away...  Or going to St. Distaff's Day Spin-in in the snow...  Driving to the ferry in Edmonds to go look at fleeces with Terry.  Having Irish coffee and scalding hot pot pie because we missed the ferry... all in the snow.