A bit of a vacation

I decided to take three months off from blogging. A lot of blogging sites suggest some sort of announcement before such an extended break, but I thought that just sounded too hauty of me, and I figure the 5's and 10's of you could figure it out.

I wish I could report some interesting news -- a month long cruise, extended vacation in a foreign country, religious seclusion, military tour of duty. But really, I just didn't have much to write.

Well, a few interesting blips:

• A few weeks ago, I passed another crushingly painful kidney stone. I woke up in the middle of the night, and in the dream I was having at the time, I imagined that I had been shot in the back. When I woke up and realized it was another kidney stone, I was actually pissed that I hadn't just been shot. Luckily, it passed after a mere 30 hours of intense labor. And that prescription for allopurinol that I had let lapse is now filled and taken on a daily basis.
• Our two goldfish died (LadyFishy and MissyFishy). They were huge, and we have had them for more than a couple of years. We were actually quite tearey- eyed about it, and part of the mourning process involved printing pictures and hanging them on the wall, right along with pictures of family. We haven't had the heart to either get new fish, or empty out the tank. We even turn the lights on and off as though they were still in there (yes there are serious boundary issues going on here). We also don't have the heart to just flush these fish down the toilet, or put them through a cuisinart and run down the sink. So at present, they are frozen in ziplocked bags filled with water, and they are stored in our freezer. We are now searching for land (meaningful land that has value to us), and this pay involve mailing these frozen fish overnight to my parents' home, where LadyFishy and MissyFishy can join my first dog, Casey, now buried for at least 10 years. My thoughts were that I could carry them packed in styrofoam coolers and sealed with CO2, but no idea if there are any problems with this plan, and if such problems would involve matters of national security, and the ongoing war against terror. I'll need to think on that one.
• I got really sick with the flu, and had to take more than a week off. I tried to go back to work this past Thursday, and felt really really horrible. I could tell my pulse was fast (about 150 bpm) and thready. I was diaphoretic (sweatty) and was having trouble keeping my breath after even minimal activity. So three nurses cournered me and forced me to sit down while they took my vital signs, attached telemetry leads, and run a strip. Although I was Charge Nurse for the shift, a decision was made to take me to the ER. They took my charge nurse cell phone.
• The ER visit went very smoothly. Several of the nurses were nervous about taking me, but really I consider myself an excellent patient, and am not driven to know each and every detail. And since I was tired and feverish, I was happy to just be laying on my back. It ended up being a case of dehydration (I could not make a urine specimen until 2 liters of normal saline at wide open). I also had a chest xray indicating L lobe atelectasis, which explained my fatigue and shortness of breath. And so I am on a 5 day run of Levaquin.

More later

Comments

[Eric]

Maria: We did seem to have a rash of serial killing and raping. The "Baseline" killer happened mostly on the south side of Phoenix, and I live on the north side. But the serial shooters were all over the place, and there were a few animals shot 10 miles down the road. I didn't go out much in the middle of the night, usually waiting until just before dawn to do groceries.

Karen: I think it was just that I kept working when I was sick and wasn't eating and drinking enough. And the antibiotic seems to have cleared up the lung thing. It probably would have developed into pneumonia. But I seem to be fine now.

[karen]

You oK? that ER visit sounds awful! is that think with your lungs something you've always had?

[Maria]

Well hello! It may sound creepy, but I have been wondering about you. When all of the random shooting business was happening in Phoenix, concerns that you had been shot ran through my mind. (I blame my career in medicine for that.)

Welcome back! And sorry about the kidney stone and flu. :(