I saw this in the book store tonight.

Om mani padme braaaaaains.
Om mani padme braaaaaains.

Last year my wife and I went out for a nice lunch to celebrate my birthday. Sadly, as we were leaving the restaurant, our vehicle was hit by another driver. Luckily the damage wasn't too bad and we could still drive, although my wife did have a nasty bruise on her back.

Even though my birthday isn't until tomorrow we're going out to dinner tonight to celebrate. Let's hope the other drivers out tonight are more careful than last year.

Yesterday I had a couple of x-rays done in preperation for my visit to the urologist's office today. I also shot a stone fragment at the back of the urinal at work. It made a lovely *Plink!* sound and I was able to save it. Why save it? Because it was the biggest fragment yet and the doctor wants those to help figure out what causes them in me. That way we can adjust my diet to help prevent them, I hope.

So, how were the x-rays? Disappointing in my opinion. I would estimate 3/4 of the giant stone is still in my right kidney. Only instead of being one big mass it has shattered into many little pieces that simply haven't worked their way out yet. The doctor wasn't worried about that but I was really hoping the kidney would be clear. Ah well. Then things got worse. Forgive me for not knowing all of the correct terms. The prostrate puts pressure on the tube that allows urine to flow out from the bladder. The pressure from the prostrate is enough to narrow that tube enough that I now have a back up of shattered stones that can't get out. To fix this the doctor has me on some muscle relaxers (Flomax) that will, hopefully, open that path enough to let them out.

I did get some good news from the doctor. My birthday is Sunday and I plan on going out to dinner with my wife Saturday night to celebrate. At dinner I am quite sure I will have a beer and I was worried about alcohol and pills being a bad mix. I asked the doctor if I should be worried about any interactions and he told me that wasn't a problem with those pills. Then he said something intersting. He pointed out that in today's society doctors really shouldn't say anything positive about alcohol but went on to say that beer is a great diuretic for people that can drink without becoming drunks. Do you realize what this means? My doctor has told me to drink beer! YES! I still have some of the pumpkin ale left and I picked up a six pack of Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat at the store while grocery shopping with my wife after the appointment.

How is it we can have $700,000,000,000.00 to bail out Wall St. companies but we can't provide more affordable health care?

How is it we can have $700,000,000,000.00 to bail out Wall St. companies but we can't provide more affordable mental health care?

How is it we can have $700,000,000,000.00 to bail out Wall St. companies but we can't put more money into the public schools?

How is it we can have $700,000,000,000.00 to bail out Wall St. companies but we can't provide more cost effective and environmentaly friendly public transportation?

How is it we can have $700,000,000,000.00 to bail out Wall St. companies but we can't provide more affordable housing?

How is it we can have $700,000,000,000.00 to bail out Wall St. companies but we can't find a way not to pay close to $4 a gallon for gas?

How is it we can have $700,000,000,000.00 to bail out Wall St. companies and the people don't take to the streets with thoughts of a revolution on their mind?

With Fall at hand I had a craving for a pumpkin ale Sunday. To cure the crave I decided to stop at the grocery store after picking my wife up from work and buying a few bottles. Care to guess what happened? I was told I couldn't buy any. Not because I'm underage, I'm going to be 36 on the 28th. It's not because I was broke, I had the money. It was because the time was 12:54pm and I wasn't allowed to buy beer. Apparently there is some dumbass law here that prevents the sale of alcohol untl 1pm.

Haven't we evolved enough as a society that we can do away with the religion based laws in this country?

When I woke up the other day I expected a number of things to happen during the day.
One thing I didn't expect to happen was to look up and see a black guy dressed like a cowboy riding a horse while listening to his iPod in downtown Pensacola, FL. I know, it sounds hard to believe. Good thing I had my iPhone handy.

Now I know why so many UFO pictures are out of focus or have motion trails or just generally don't provide the visual detail you would hope for. It's because when you see something so striking you simply take the picture as quickly as you can. Click the picture to see it in a larger format.

This morning I was sitting at my desk at work getting ready to enjoy a little Pop tart breakfast and reply to some e-mails when I took a good look at the Pop tart cover. That looks less like a hat and more like a .....well....you decide.

Yeah, I caught a cold. Lucky me.

I can't believe I'm still passing blood and stone residue. In my normal way of over reacting to the mundane I worry so much damage has been done to the kidney that the doctor will have to take it.

My friend got the job where I work. It'll be fun to work with him again.

There was a communication error last week about my work schedule. I thought my new hours would start on Monday the 22nd and my boss thought my new schedule would start this past Monday the 15th. What was the communication error? My boss thinks he told me the change started this past Monday when I know he didn't. Of course he probably knows he told me while I think he didn't. Either way, it's a decent schedule.

Wow! Has it really been a week since I wrote anything? I'm such a slacker.

I stayed home last Monday while I moved yet another piece through. It really sucked. I'm still getting some bleeding and the occasional small piece. I'm not sure how much longer the bleeding will last but I really wish it would end. The best part? I think I've caught a cold.

One of my co-workers got a position with a different department so I'm taking over his schedule at work starting the 23rd. My new schedule has me starting thiry minutes earlier but I also get off thirty minutes earlier. I can handle that. Also, I'll have to work out of two offices now. On Tuesday & Thursday I'll work the entire day at the main office on N. Baylen but on Monday, Wednesday & Friday I'll spend the first half of the day at the Garden St. office. The half days I spend at Garden St won't mean less work but they will mean less noise. Yes, I'll still have to answer the phone when people call the help desk & yes, I"ll still have to work on e-mails users sent in. The advantage is I'll be the server room by myself and I plan to enjoy the quiet.

There is another advantage to my co-worker accepting the new position. It creates an open slot in my department that I am trying to get a former co-worker to fill. He's been on a work break but he's ready to get back into IT work. This would be a perfect spot for him. We'll see how it goes.

I have made it to Monday night. There was a fragment that felt stuck Sunday night through this afternoon. With any luck that was the last of them.

I'm worried that I will have to go through this again at some point in my life but I sure as hell hope not. Maybe the doctor can recommend a special diet or something.

A very special "Thank you!" to my mother for coming over and playing driver/sitter for the weekend. My wife can not drive and I was in no shape to do any driving so my mother willing took over those duties. I am grateful.

I never want to experience this again. It's been pure torture and the thought of going through it one more time scares the shit out of me.

Based on the amount of blood that has started flowing and the pain in my side there are more fragments left to pass. Sucks to be me.

I think, I hope, the worst is behind me now. I believe most of the pain I'm feeling now is from the stones cutting a path out of me. We'll see.

While I'm having a moment of clarity let me share a bit of my story from yesterday. The pain is coming and going with the waves and right now the waves are covering the pain.. I think Stephen King described it best in his novel Misery. Go pick up a copy and give it a read. I'm trying to avoid taking any of the prescription pain killers today as I don't want to sleep the entire day away. I feel so physically and mentally drained that I may go to sleep whether I take a pill or not. On with the story.

Before I was taken back to the operating room the hospital had my wife come get my clothes and shoes. It was nice to have a few minutes with her as I was nervous wreck. Just as she was about to leave so they could wheel me away a man walked up and introduced himself as Clint. When he said he was the assistant anesthesiologist I just had to get my wife's iPhone and snap a picture of my new dope dealer.

The last thing I remember in the operating room is Clint saying "You are going to feel a warming sensation in your arm and then......" Suddenly I felt a dull fire run up my left arm and that's simply all I remember. He injected the magic go to sleep dope into the IV and it was lights out for me. I have now idea what he said after "and then.."

Now I to solve a mystery. The mystery of "why I have a large sore bruise on my chest." Right where you place your hand to say the pledge of allegiance I have a bruise I can't explain. It wasn't there before I went to the hospital but it was there as I was leaving. Did something fall on me? Did I fall on something? Did I get sudden CPR in the operating room? I'm afraid I'll never know because it would mean the doctor would have to explain something that happened while I was out that he didn't volunteer to my family or myself.

The big stone is gone thanks the procedure yesterday. Well, that's not entirely accurate. The big stone is now many many many smaller stones thanks to the procedure yesterday. Some of the stones are so small they pass right through without me noticing, some are big enough to cause discomfort and some are big enough to cause PAIN.

The most annoying part of last night, besides the pain, was constantly having to go the bathroom to dribble out a few drops of blood. I came up with a solution to that: Depends. I wore, and am currently wearing, adult diapers. Hey, you do what you have to do. It finally took a combination of Meprozine (Pethidine combined with Promethazine) and Lortab for me to get to sleep last night.

This morning I'm still in pain but not as much pain as last night. Hopefully I can rid myself of the rest of the stones today.

I'm hurting and high on the meds but I'm home. The stone has been shattered.

My mother came over from Ocean Springs to play driver for my wife and I today and tomorrow.

I'll give details later about the procedure based on what the sugreons told me. I remember very little because I was knocked out.

Today I saw the urologist and he ordered an X-ray so he could see the stone in my right kidney. If you saw the x-ray you might ask "Is that a thumb?" because the stone is so damn big. It is literally the size of my right thumb from the tip to the first knuckle. No wonder I've been in so much pain.

The doctor told me I need to get the stone out NOW and scheduled an Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy for Friday monring at 8am. I have to be at the hospital by 6am for the check in procedures. This is the procedure where they dunk me in a tank and hit me with sound waves to break up the stone. When I asked the doctor how long it would take so I could tell my boss when to expect me on Friday he looked at me like I was talking in a different language. He explained the pain of having this done is enough that I will be doped up in advance and will be out of commission the entire day. I have to plan for a ride to the hospital and a ride home. Luckily my mother has offered to come over from Mississippi and take me.

The doctor explained that I will be passing the fragments of the stone for at least two days and gave me a painkiller that he explained is way more potent than Lortab. Am I the only one getting nervous yet? It get's worse. The doctor went on to explain there is a 15% chance that not all of the fragments will be small enough to pass. If that happens there is tube that goes in through the penis and up the urninary tract that will grab and pull out any stuck fragments. Oh man...this sucks...this really sucks. Let's hope that 15% doesn't happen.

The power was off at my home most of the day today. Now that it's back on I can scale down and upload the following photos I took at Perdido Key this morning. As I'm writting this there is another storm band moving through the area and there is a tornado warning issued for the area where I took the photos. As usual, click them to see the larger versions.

After the initial storm bands passed this morning I drove out to Perdido Key, FL to see what Hurricane Gustav was doing to the Gulf of Mexico. I took this picture with my iPhone right after I hit the beach. I took a few more with my camera that I"ll post later. You can get a larger view by clicking the picture.