Surrender

Monday Angie luckily had planned another days holiday. She has to use up her annual entitlement before year end but holiday ban during December as usually very busy with customers quickly stashing their money before the [financial] year end.

One last chance with motor chainsaw, again huge effort to get up and get out and it brought nothing.

Now notice my general health breaking up and the pain not a jot better. By evening I had to admit defeat and ask Angie to take me to A&E this morning.

Luckily she has understanding bosses & colleagues and my thanks to them all for allowing her to extend her holiday.

Took me ages to get organised and bag packed. Turned up at A&E midday, was being inspected by urology doctor within an hour including scan, CT completed within a further hour and 90 minutes later was pushed in to the operating room. And by 18:30 was tucked up in bed in my 3 bedded room - and I am not a private patient, simply normal state health insurance. Quite some service.

Within 30 minutes stomach turned the fuse back on and acted as though nothing had happened. Not a single gurgle, hiccup! Quite extraordinary how "clever" one's guts are, apparently after the brain, the next cleverest organ in the body. Was able to have a snack around 20:00.

Feel wonderful, if a bit like a pressed out sponge. There is a 10mm stone sitting in the tubing which is too shy to come out alone. Stone is still there, a sheath has been inserted to open the blockage (the blocked urine causes the pain, not the stone itself). The sheath remains in for the next four weeks and will widen the piping in that time so that the stone can then be pulled out with a sling. One neither sees or feels the sheath and would never guess one had one.

The Blip is the collection of stones made at home over the last 10 days. There are about 10 larger one's missing that I "missed" as well as lot's of fine sandy stuff. Only someone who has had experience with stones can properly judge what the collection means. The Prof on his morning visit the next day was somewhat impressed but sceptical that my "Alternative Naturopathic" treatment was a good idea. My kidneys were on the point of giving up.

Luckily no infection whatsoever so no antibiotics, the reason I fought against a hospital visit.