Well, it’s been a tough last six months where I didn’t feel
well but couldn’t figure out why. I knew one of my problems had been a kidney
stone, and assumed it had passed through…it hadn’t.
On one particularly bad day, a trip to the emergency room
resulted in three different kinds of antibiotics, but an incorrect diagnosis. I
kept getting worse. Eventually my system closed down until I couldn’t eat
anything; not even liquids. Periodically whatever went in eventually came back up
and out. I’m thin already, on a 6’ 4” frame, but I lost about 15 bound in this
process.
Finally I went to the doctor in one final act of
desperation. I sat in his office at 1:30 and by 2:00 was admitted to the
hospital. Several tests were run including scans of my abdomen. An 8mm stone
was found stuck in the system, but there was another big surprise. A quite
large abscess covered most of my abdominal area.
With around 25 scans, a surgeon guided a long needle through
my back until it reached the mass. I had to be awake for this because if he
were to hit my spine, I had to tell him if I felt a tingle anywhere. He did and
I did. A tube was inserted into the abscess and attached to a pump outside my
body. I won’t even begin to describe what came out over the next couple of
days.
The next evening, a laser was guided to the kidney stone
where it was smashed and removed. Now I’m back on a bunch of antibiotics but at
least I’m home and getting stronger. I have to go back for a few more tests in
the next three weeks or so, but right now, things are looking much more
positive.
I’m not spending a lot of computer time just yet, so I won’t
likely respond to emails. What time I do have is on catching up and doing a
little promotion since I’ve been pretty much silent on that for such a long
time.
I wanted to thank everyone who sent congratulations for a
story sold, birthday greetings on Nov 3, and especially for those who have been
praying for my recovery. It’s so true, isn’t it? We are fearfully and
wonderfully made.
Posts
