Friday, July 30, 2010

Thankful . . .

Yesterday, July 29, 2010. Just another day, just another hospital, just another procedure, a two-hour outpatient operation to rid my bladder (not kidneys) of stones formed as a result of my enlarged (but not cancerous) prostate gland, which was microwaved a couple years ago to shrink it, but then the stones started forming, big honkers that Doc Potty broke up with a laser so the fragments could be flushed through the urethra, and everyone in the operating room had to wear special glasses, including me because I had a spinal anesthesia (not a general) so I was awake the whole time and waiting for the laser light show like they have in downtown Las Vegas but there wasn’t one, just exploding sounds and I think Doc Potty was having fun zapping the stones even though Santana was on the sound system, and then he was finally done and sent me to the recovery room where I recovered some (but very little) of my dignity, and once I was dignified they sent me home where I sit now with a catheter and a leg bag (until Monday) and a lot of blood, but I’m

thankful.

Thankful, because I had a skilled doctor like Potty, a concerned young anesthesiologist who monitored my breathing and heart throughout the procedure even though I had a spinal painkiller, and a whole crew of surgical nurses who knew what to do when it needed doing.

Thankful, because we have the technology to repair our body parts when they’re repairable and with as little pain as possible. I think back to the hundreds of years of mankind when the practice of medicine was nonexistent or rudimentary at best, and the excruciating pain people endured even for a bad tooth.

Thankful, because even though I have plumbing problems and I’m in end-stage emphysema, I’m still alive as ever.

Alive as ever, but slower than ever in Blogaritaville, so I’m really thankful that you’re all still hanging in here with me . . .

 

27 comments:

mapstew said...

And we are thankful for YOU!

I wish I was there to give you a big 'Man Kiss'! Now, that'll set the tongues wagging! :¬)

Kim Ayres said...

*Manly hugs* (carefully aware of the bag)

savannah said...

like we'd ever leave YOU, sugar! xxoxoxooxo

Wandering Coyote said...

Oh, I am sure that leg bag is just SO MUCH FUN! I'm glad you got that seen to, Charlie. Plumbing problems on top of everything else cannot have been fun times.

Kevin Musgrove said...

The youth of today... sensation mad.

DJan said...

Yeah, and I just recently discovered the Worm, and there he went off to the hospital. Now I know what I been missin' all these long months. Glad to hear you're on the recovering end of all this...

Pat said...

Thank you for that. I really appreciate the positivity and shall wrap it round me.

CiCi said...

You have such a good attitude. So sorry you have to go through the procedures and the indignities you endure, but I have to tell you, Charlie, hubby and I are so glad we get to read your posts and we are sending you much love.

hope said...

Well of course we're hanging around, waiting to chat with you. You come with stories and the most unique accessories. ;)

Feel better fast!

Barbara Bruederlin said...

What a trend setter you are! Leg bags are the in accessory this year! Laser shows and leg bags. What's next? A purse dog?

Eryl said...

Bladder stones sound ghastly, I'm glad they've blasted them for you. And how lovely not to have to get up for a pee for a few days.

Jerry said...

Hospitals and doctors and staff and lasers and beeping machines are indeed miraculous. I cringe in horror reading of Civil War surgeries and I'm pretty damn glad I live now. I sometimes wonder if they will look back fifty years from now and gasp in horror at the barbarism we smile through.

Ain't going nowhere.

Angie's Lil' Nothings said...

Speedy recovery!

Clyde said...

My first visit and I now know what I have to look forward to---but with as much confidence as you have.
It is amazing what medical science can do---I cant say that I enjoy the magical mystery tour that my surgeon takes during my bi-annual colonoscopy but I am thankful for the peace of mind

Alice said...

Leg bags are the new oxygen tanks. You're so hip.

papa t said...

well...I'm thankful you're back you deserve at least a big hug or like Sam Halpern said a guy that shoots a rock through his pecker deserves a present.

Charlie said...

Thank you all for the fashion tips since I am woefully unfashionable. I remember when Madonna wore her underwear on the outside, so I may do the same thing tomorrow: I'll wear my urinized leg bag on the outside of my trousers.

Tres chic.

ERYL: You're right—no fumbling around in the middle of the night to find the facilities.

CLYDE: I've never had the distinct displeasure of having a colonoscopy—my condolences.

Linda Koons said...

Well, I hope you're much more comfortable today, and that you're going to lose the bag soon. Trendsetter that you are, I still doubt that it will catch on with the really cool kids.

Pearl said...

Ah! But what choice did we have?! Of course we're still here!

Pearl

Attila the Mom said...

Gah! Hang in there!

Robert the Skeptic said...

Yeah I'm marking time until my aortic valve starts giving me "symptoms", the stenosis is "severe" so I am on the long countdown. Will probably need to take out a second mortgage to pay the copays and deductibles but as you say, I'd be dead meat if the technology weren't available. Guess we are lucky bastards.

Linda Koons said...

Remarkable coincidence--I've just started reading The Knife Man, a history of early surgery (subtitled "Blood, Body-Snatching, and the Birth of Modern Surgery") ----last night I read all about the mid-18th century technique of removing bladder stones. If you'd known about THAT, you would have been REALLY REALLY thankful for modern medicine.

Tiffin said...

Wow...the sound of bladder stones popping with Santana playing in the background..."My Life as a Dali Painting" by Professor Worm. It does beat the tar out of leeches, blood letting and things you don't even want to know about from a few hundred years ago.

Thank heavens your sense of humour hasn't broken.

Claudya Martinez said...

I'm thankful you are alive.

Murr Brewster said...

I'm thankful that everyone was wearing glasses because of the lasers in use and not what I thought of at first: safety glasses to fend off flying stone fragments. Sometimes I terrify myself.

MaryWitzl said...

'Blogaritaville' -- I'm thankful you shared that!

Here's a cyber hug from me too -- and keep that bag well back: I'm wearing sharp-toed shoes.

Syd said...

Glad that your procedure went well. Any day above ground is a good one.