chapter 502

8/2/2018

Pain and Suffering

yin and yang

It felt idyllic out there and it was. Colleen's nurse job is full of stress coping with people and their multitude of life and death health issues. That extends to family and friends as well. We wanted something simple, relaxing and easy like Sunday morning, so we launched  20 minutes away on Round Lake. It was a welcome relief. The Dragonflies were out in abundance as you can see in the picture. There were more kayaks than I've ever seen there, perhaps a couple dozen. No problem though.

It was also beautiful on Lake George a couple days later. After coming out of the ER with a kidney stone diagnosis but still in a kayak state of mind I spent 5 miles up there looking for the Polio Poster Child, Louise Rourke. I'd contacted their organization to get the gps tracker coordinates but nevertheless, I failed to connect on her 32 mile swim of this big lake. No matter though, was a great day and adventure. Sagamore on the left, NW Bay straight ahead, she had gone up the Narrows to the right. 

A poster child for the March of Dimes in the late 50's; she's had little use of her leg since, yet was able to happily complete the swim. It was an inspiration for me to cope with a little pain and accomplish at least part of the mission.

Stopped in to the Sagamore Hotel since my free launch was on their Green Island. Very impressive place on one hand, but just not really my cup of tea.

When the white fringe ends had worn away this rug was almost tossed. I just put on a simple adhesive strip as a border and I like it. In 1972 a friend of Kathy's had given this to us upon his return from the Peace Corps in Afghanistan. We used and walked on it for nearly four decades but it has stayed remarkably beautiful. Googled the guy and surprisingly spoke with him in Oregon.

On reflection, I guess I'm sensing a therapeudic value to being on water and having beauty in our lives.

8/3/2018 Update: stone came out this afternoon, no problem, hardly felt it- the intense pain was when it was exiting the kidney going down the narrow ureter, wanted to throw up.

Looks bad but I measured it to be about 5mm on the long axis.

The jaggedness of the mineralization is why they tell you to drink a lot of fluids to assist the movement down and out of the body.

I had obtained my CT scan on CD disk for my own review. I believe the stone S is pictured exiting my left kidney (reversed on image). This dot measures about 5 mm on their scale. Dr said , and was right, it was small and would pass on its own with out medical intervention. Google says if less than 7mm should pass OK. Coronal- Lateral slice down thru my achy lower lumbar vertebrae. 

Transverse, cross section view thru left kidney, stone, and vertebrae. 

The main takeaway is always drink plenty of fluids to prevent the mineralization in the first place.

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