Rocky Week

Wow. All sorts of things have been happening lately that have kept me busy, then laid me up, then put me in a funk that I am just now snapping out of.

I turned in my Pre-Tenure Review early, at about 11:00 on Thursday. Not an hour afterwards, we received an email from the dean extending that deadline until Monday. No matter. I was glad to have it done and turned it. It certainly took most of my time and energy for the previous week. I need to give big thanks to my wife for her editing skills and general understanding and my graduate assistant for all her help.

WARNING -- THIS NEXT BIT MAY GET INTO TMI TERRITORY

As it turns out, it was a very good thing I turned in my review early, as I woke up at 4:30 in the morning on Friday having to pee really bad. I staggered into the bathroom, did my business, but the sensation did not go away. Instead, it turned into excruciating pain that put me back into the bathroom puking. That's where I stayed for the next hour or so, as Sarah got Eleanor dressed and ready. They drove me to the local urgent care center, which was empty. (Tip -- if you want the doctor to see you right away, throw up in the waiting room bathroom. Although by this time it was just dry heaves,as my stomach had tossed out all the interlopers long before.)
A very surly doctor saw me first. He ordered some blood work and a urine sample. I spent the next 20 minutes or so heaving into the bathroom toilet or sitting in the exam room with my head on the exam table. A much nicer doctor then came in and said it looked like I had a kidney stone and he was sending me to the hospital for a CT scan. So we went, but not before getting a shot for the pain. Blessed Toridol! The CT scan revealed I did indeed have a fairly good sized stone, so it was back to urgent care. At first, the nice doctor said he would give me pain medicine and the weekend to pass it on my own, but I should contact the urologist the following week. But while I was waiting for my prescription, the urologist told nice doctor they wanted to see me that day. So off I went to the urologist, where they did more X-rays, and I did more peeing in cups. The urologist was super nice and told me exactly what was going on -- I had a big stone, but not too big to pass on it's own. It was pretty far down, close to my bladder already, which was good and bad. Good because it was close to getting out. Bad because if it didn't come out on it's own, it was a the point where they would have to do surgery to get it out. He gave me a perscription for better pain medicine (hydrocodone), some Flomax samples, told me to drink all the water I could stand, and sent me home. I felt much better on Saturday, kinda crappy again on Sunday (which resulted in me taking the codeine and being really stoned for four or five hours) and feel fine now. I've been peeing in a strainer at home, but am not sure I've really gotten rid of anything. I go back to the urologist this afternoon.

END TMI PORTION

So that was the weekend. The week started with some storm Sunday night that knocked out the power to our house. Despite no alarm clocks, I woke up at my usual time Monday morning. Eleanor was freaking out in the dark, but we got her out of her crib and she calmed down. I took a shower by candlelight (our hot water is gas, so that was fine. I am glad it wasn't cold outside, though) and we went out for breakfast. They didn't get the power back on until 11:00 or so. It just threw me off.

So, eventful. I am still trying to catch up after focusing on my Review for a solid week. I am also trying to shake off an inexplicable emotional funk. This morning I stayed home while Sarah went to the gym. She got some personal time while I played with Eleanor, which really improved my mood. Both of those girls are good for that.