Paul from everywhere

[Steve E]

I think it means we have to buy your book to find out why your physio was designing a new version of Zapf Dingbats as he bled to death.

⚇

-T

[whirlybird]

I think it means we have to buy your book to find out why your physio was designing a new version of Zapf Dingbats as he bled to death.

I had never heard of Zapf Dingbats before (I know I live an amazing sheltered live) although I have seen them. You guys (meaning people, both masculine and feminine) certainly are giving me an education. And it's for free!

 

-W

[Steve E]

I had never heard of Zapf Dingbats before (I know I live an amazing sheltered live) although I have seen them. You guys (meaning people, both masculine and feminine) certainly are giving me an education. And it's for free!

Who said it's free, Whirlybird?

The price is putting up with our silliness.

 

❝✌❞

-Thoth

[PaulCompton]

Who said it's free, Whirlybird?

The price is putting up with our silliness.

 

❝✌❞

And that is a hefty price to pay. My silliness alone has driven many people to drink (which,apparently, is a bad thing in some parallel universe inhabited by a race I will never [want to] understand).

[whirlybird]

And that is a hefty price to pay. My silliness alone has driven many people to drink (which,apparently, is a bad thing in some parallel universe inhabited by a race I will never [want to] understand).

I'll gladly pay the price of admission! You both are great fun.

 

-W

[PaulCompton]

I'll be absentee for a day or two. Emergency op today and I'm in hospital now. Kidney stone got stuck on the way out and blocked the pipes. All good now but don't have my laptop here and the iPhone is kind of a no-no (being naughty right now)

[Steve E]

I'll be absentee for a day or two. Emergency op today and I'm in hospital now. Kidney stone got stuck on the way out and blocked the pipes. All good now ...

Sorry to hear about the kidney stone. Glad to hear things are all good now I know those things can be very painful. Did you get to zap them with a sonic zapper yourself or did the doctors have all the fun? (I got to zap mine )

 

...but don't have my laptop here and the iPhone is kind of a no-no (being naughty right now)

I once asked my doctor about that. He said that cell frequencies overlap the frequencies of some of the hospital's communication's systems (e.g., pagers, local area networks, etcetera). A stewardess on an airplane gave me a similar answer. But a nurse told me that wasn't true anymore. They just want to sell you in-room telephone service.

 

"What's the frequency, Kenneth?"

(Too subtle?)

-Thoth

[PaulCompton]

Sorry to hear about the kidney stone. Glad to hear things are all good now I know those things can be very painful. Did you get to zap them with a sonic zapper yourself or did the doctors have all the fun? (I got to zap mine )

 

 

I once asked my doctor about that. He said that cell frequencies overlap the frequencies of some of the hospital's communication's systems (e.g., pagers, local area networks, etcetera). A stewardess on an airplane gave me a similar answer. But a nurse told me that wasn't true anymore. They just want to sell you in-room telephone service.

 

"What's the frequency, Kenneth?"

(Too subtle?)

-Thoth

I spoke too soon... One of the stones is not zappable. So I have an extra pipe inside me for a month after which said pipe will be used to extract the stone. I will leave it at that, sensitive people may be reading.

 

I am allowed to use my iPhone here now.

[Steve E]

I spoke too soon... One of the stones is not zappable. So I have an extra pipe inside me for a month after which said pipe will be used to extract the stone. I will leave it at that, sensitive people may be reading.

Understood.

 

I am allowed to use my iPhone here now.

-T

[whirlybird]

I'll be absentee for a day or two. Emergency op today and I'm in hospital now. Kidney stone got stuck on the way out and blocked the pipes. All good now but don't have my laptop here and the iPhone is kind of a no-no (being naughty right now)

Ironbark-

 

Sorry to hear you are laid (hope I used that right because I can never figure whether use lay v lie) up in the hospital. Are you in a lot of pain or are they giving you some happy pills?

 

Hope you feel better soon and those kidney stones go away.

 

Thoth-

 

I didn't know patients were able to zap their own kidney stone. Was it painful or were you also on happy pills?

 

Knock on wood, I haven't had to deal with kidney stones yet. I remember the medical examiner here was doing his own personal and unofficial research on the possible link between kidney stones and an artificial ice tea made here in PA. Either of you a heavy artificial ice tea drinker?

 

-W

[Steve E]

I didn't know patients were able to zap their own kidney stone.

It depends on your relationship with your urologist and whether or not you're currently in pain. (Kidney stones aren't a constant pain but when they hurt they really hurt.) I only got to take a couple of shots before the Doc took over.

 

Was it painful or were you also on happy pills?

No Happy Pills needed. (Lucky me.) The zapping itself was painless but difficult to describe. (A bit like a worm grunting inside your body.)

 

...Either of you a heavy artificial ice tea drinker?

I did drink a lot of No-Cal artificial ice tea at the time but no one ever mentioned the connection to me. What was the brand of tea the PA ME was investigating, if you recall?

☄ (⬅That's a kidney stone, or a comet, or a hairy mole.)

-T

[whirlybird]

It depends on your relationship with your urologist and whether or not you're currently in pain. (Kidney stones aren't a constant pain but when they hurt they really hurt.) I only got to take a couple of shots before the Doc took over.

 

 

No Happy Pills needed. (Lucky me.) The zapping itself was painless but difficult to describe. (A bit like a worm grunting inside your body.)

 

 

I did drink a lot of No-Cal artificial ice tea at the time but no one ever mentioned the connection to me. What was the brand of tea the PA ME was investigating, if you recall?

☄ (⬅That's a kidney stone, or a comet, or a hairy mole.)

-T

You must have/had a good relationship with your urologist. Was zapping the kidney stones like playing Space Invaders? I've heard the pain is really, really terrible but it's comforting to know it isn't constant pain. The grunting worm reference reminds of a story my Medical Parasitology professor told us. He said a researcher many years ago actually ingested tapeworm eggs on purpose to see what it would be like. When the worm(s) grew to a tremendous length, he could feel a flutter in his abdomen as the tapeworm wiggled about. Yuck!

 

The tea is called Guers (pronounced 'gears') and the dairy is located about 20 minutes or so west of Allentown. Here's their site.

 

-W

 

PS-I thought it looked like a shuttlecock (we just called it a birdie growing up).

[Steve E]

You must have/had a good relationship with your urologist.

You tend to want a good relationship with someone who sticks his fingers you-know-where.

 

Was zapping the kidney stones like playing Space Invaders?

Not really. Unlike the Invaders, the stones don't really move around on the screen during the operation. What you see is a live sonic image (like your OB/GYN sometimes shows you when you're pregnant). They line up the cross hairs and you just get to push the button that fires a blast of ultrasound. Watching them fragment is cool.

 

I've heard the pain is really, really terrible but it's comforting to know it isn't constant pain. The grunting worm reference reminds of a story my Medical Parasitology professor told us. He said a researcher many years ago actually ingested tapeworm eggs on purpose to see what it would be like. When the worm(s) grew to a tremendous length, he could feel a flutter in his abdomen as the tapeworm wiggled about. Yuck!

This researcher, is he still ... alive? (I mean, who knows what else he has ingested in the name of science?)

 

The tea is called Guers (pronounced 'gears') and the dairy is located about 20 minutes or so west of Allentown. Here's their site.

I've never heard of Guers, thank goodness. And thank you.

 

PS-I thought it looked like a shuttlecock (we just called it a birdie growing up).

Another possible interpretation!

You're becoming quite the symbologist.

☃

-Thoth

[PaulCompton]

Ironbark-

 

Sorry to hear you are laid (hope I used that right because I can never figure whether use lay v lie) up in the hospital. Are you in a lot of pain or are they giving you some happy pills?

 

 

Pain. A drip with some hefty juice took it down to "I can scream lucidly". It is significantly better now and I hope that the happy pills and the stent will keep it bearable until the big extraction op in 4 weeks. 8 smaller models have gone by themselves.

 

I dunno. I normally keep quiet about pain as I've had my share with MS as well as 23 broken bones and a dozen torn ligaments (all resulting from MS clumsiness). But I suspect there is a reason that medical professionals consider renal colic the most excruciating pain a human can experience, worse than childbirth, gunshot wounds and third degree burns. I've never had any of those but this was an order of magnitude beyond anything I've ever felt. According to the ER report, it was only the determination of the paramedics that stopped my body from giving up from the pain on the way to hospital. And I have to say that right now I feel like it has changed me as a person.

 

Thanks for the kind wishes, all of you. I'll keep quiet about it forthwith. And soon I'll be back on my feet.

[Steve E]

Those rocks must have been enormous and plentiful if they are using chemical treatments and physical extraction exclusively. I'd ask why you waited so long but ... I know how it is. (I caught mine early.) I feel bad that your case is so extreme but, as you say, you'll soon be back on your feet. That's great.

 

I wish you every bit of good luck with your extraction.

And do tell us about it's successful completion.

(Of such things stories are made.)

 

-T

[PaulCompton]

A temperature of 43 degrees Celsius (that's 109.4, and yes!) put me back in hospital again on Sunday. The kidney in question got infected. But I've been gathering material for a great little screenplay here. At least I have been since I got back to normal temperatures yesterday. They may let me home again tomorrow, it depends if I behave tonight. I'm looking forward to getting home now.

[Steve E]

... I'm looking forward to getting home now.

I firmly believe that home is far better than hospital as a place to convalesce.

Good luck to you.

-T

[whirlybird]

I agree with T that home is so much better than the hospital especially when it comes to getting some rest. I was never more shocked when I realized hospital staff will wake you out of a rejuvenating sleep to take ones temperature, blood pressure, administer medication. Don't know this first-hand but I've heard enough from friends and relatives.

 

Yikes, I didn't know someone could survive 109 degree F temp. Hope you are on the mend.

 

W

[Steve E]

I agree with T that home is so much better than the hospital especially when it comes to getting some rest. I was never more shocked when I realized hospital staff will wake you out of a rejuvenating sleep to take ones temperature, blood pressure, administer medication. Don't know this first-hand but I've heard enough from friends and relatives.

I know this first hand. You mentioned temperature, blood pressure and medication but you didn't mention the one that bothered me the most: blood. On several occasions I was awoken at 2AM by a vampire with a needle. Horrors!

 

Yikes, I didn't know someone could survive 109 degree F temp. Hope you are on the mend.

That is high, but kidney infections are prone to cause flash temperature spikes. They can spike very high but for a very brief time. It's survivable. (Unless it's really Ironbark's g-g-ghost that's posting on the forum. )

-T

[whirlybird]

I know this first hand. You mentioned temperature, blood pressure and medication but you didn't mention the one that bothered me the most: blood. On several occasions I was awoken at 2AM by a vampire with a needle. Horrors!

 

 

That is high, but kidney infections are prone to cause flash temperature spikes. They can spike very high but for a very brief time. It's survivable. (Unless it's really Ironbark's g-g-ghost that's posting on the forum. )

-T

I don't doubt that the poor night nurses feel like vampires for many reasons included the one you mentioned. I'm glad you survived the horror mansion known as a hospital.

 

I would think your brain would cook at that temperature (bringing to mind the commercial with the eggs in the frying pan and the narrator saying, "This is your brain." I hope we have a real live ironbark and not a specter. Hard to type on a keyboard.

 

-W

 

PS-Hope you're feeling and doing better ironbark.

[Steve E]

I don't doubt that the poor night nurses feel like vampires for many reasons included the one you mentioned.

I think they have specialists, called phlebotomists, who take the blood.

 

I'm glad you survived the horror mansion known as a hospital.

Me too.

 

I would think your brain would cook at that temperature (bringing to mind the commercial with the eggs in the frying pan and the narrator saying, "This is your brain."

Yep. A high temp will fry your brain if you have it long enough. (Eggs? Your mind works in interesting ways.)

 

I hope we have a real live ironbark and not a specter. Hard to type on a keyboard.

Unless he's a "ghost writer".

 

PS-Hope you're feeling and doing better ironbark.

Ditto.

-T

[PaulCompton]

I think they have specialists, called phlebotomists, who take the blood.

Just the general nursing staff in German hospitals. I've had phlebitis thanks to their efforts in the past, although the doctors tend to be even worse. Best place for a blood test in Germany seems to be at the local doctor's practice, where they have one member of staff trained in phlebotomy.

Yep. A high temp will fry your brain if you have it long enough.

Hard to say if it did or didn't. I know that it's certainly messed with my body in general and I'm struggling to get back to anything like strength at the moment, hence my silence here. But I'm fit enough to be at my desk now and am even hoping to put in a thousand words worth of writing before the night is out, which will be my first writing since the renal colic hit. I guess this may reveal what has happened to my brain.

 

 

Thanks for the warm wishes.

 

Ironbark

 

 

[Steve E]

...Best place for a blood test in Germany seems to be at the local doctor's practice, where they have one member of staff trained in phlebotomy.

Same here. My Primary Care Physician (PCP) always keeps a phlebotomist on hand to take blood. And he always wants my blood. (I'm beginning to think he sells it on e-bay. )

 

Again, best wishes for a speedy recovery.

-Thoth