Fantastic Beasts

Tomorrow.  The next trip to the Wizarding World.  Thank you, J.K. Rowling.  I can't wait!!

Me vs. The Stone, 2.0

Say it with me, ugh.

Over the summer, at a follow-up with my nephrologist (read:  kidney doc)  I mentioned that I had a tiny bit of pain in my back.  I chalked it up to being in the car to and from Philly three weekends in a row.  "Perhaps," said the doctor, "But let's get an ultrasound just to be sure."

First, one ultrasound.  Then another, a week later, to confirm a "hydro" or whatever they said.  Something like a back-up of fluid into my right kidney.  Then, a catscan!  I know this dance....and I suspect it's not going to lead to good things.

I was right.

Catscan confirmed that I had one kidney stone in the tube between the kidney and the bladder on the right side.  It was lodged in there tight and appeared to be one centimeter in size.  Say it with me:  "Holy Crap!!"  It was determined that I would need to repeat the surgery that I had two years ago.  Boooooo.....hissssssss.  Surgery was booked for September, with a follow-up surgery scheduled for October.  Apparently, the surgeon (who is wonderful and I can'y say enough good things about) is very busy taking care of stones in the Central Mass Area.  Surgery got moved around a bit, and finally on October 19th, I went in.

There were two stones.  They got 'em.  No second surgery needed!  Now, I did not take off enough time last time to recover, so I took a week this time.  It ended up not being enough, I came home sick on my second day of work and took another weekend to recover.  Anesthesia is hard, man.  So is having a stent in your kidney that's constantly rubbing and you have to keep it for two weeks.  At my follow-up to have it removed I was just like "Get it out, I don't care how."

So.  Today is the first day that I have any energy.  I've been tired at the end of the day but that's to be expected.  I have to keep reminding myself not to wear myself out, not that that's easy!

People also tell me that I look a lot better than before I went in.  Apparently I was really pale and tired-looking.  I didn't really believe that, till I saw photographic evidence.

 Week before surgery, at Rhinebeck.  (See the shawl?  lol)  

Three days after surgery, at Trunk or Treat.  Not my most flattering pic, with my lovely hair, no makeup and Sean's SWAT helmet that he ditched.  But I see a badass who pulled it together to go out with her family.  And I've already got some color back in my cheeks.  Or perhaps that's the painkillers.  (kidding)

So I have to do some follow-up in six weeks.  Hopefully they'll be able to adjust my RTA (renal-tubular acidosis) medications and we can put this lovely chapter behind me.  

Halloween 2016

The boys went as SWATS this year.  They have learned from their experience as ninjas last year that it's not worth it to carry props.  Will's velcro SWAT vest held all of his tools.  Sean promptly lost most of his, but he was still pretty happy.  This is them before we headed to "Trunk or Treat" at their karate school.

As always, first we have a serious pose.

And then, a silly pose.  You almost want to be arrested by these fellas.

We have an annual tradition to go trick or treating with some friends.  Their neighborhood, unlike ours, gets tons of kids and is a lot of fun.  Sean and his best bud Patrick.  Patrick and his older brother Tom went as the Ghostbusters.  Awesome!

Finally, this crazy kid traded all of his Halloween candy for 2,000 paperclips!!  He said that he wanted to make a long chain out of them.  Naturally, it didn't stick, and he's been eating candy this week like a fiend.  I never expected it to stick.  

 And a little throwback.....these two have always loved dressing up together and are already coming up with ideas for next year.  So far they've done firefighters, ninjas, pirates and now police.  What will they come up with next!