Monday, November 21, 2016

Vicodin or Booze: That is the Question





It's more than an hour before I need to be at work. I've eaten breakfast and am dressed and ready to go. One of the advantages of my sleep cycle being off i that I don't wake up to the sound of an alarm at 5:45 on days like today. I fell asleep shortly after getting home from a beach trip with friends, just after showering but before eating. ihe missing a technical dinner was OK since we ate plenty in the afternoon. Then I woke up just before 3:00 a.m. ready to jump out of bed and to begin my day. I should have done more of a workout, but I got 45 minutes of treadmill use. 

We have a workout facility in our condo complex. It has someone on duty 24 hours daily except for Friday and Saturday nights, when it closes form midnight until 7:00 a.m., and a few major holidays as well. Security has complained if I run by myself within our gated complex, so I use the treadmill.  A treadmill run isn't the equivalent to a real run, but when i'.mm 55, my hips and knees may thank me for using a treadmill as opposed to running n a had surface. one a week or so I try to make it to the university's track when the hurdles are set up. The track coaches are so impressed that a tiny white girl can hurdle that they let me use the hurdles during practice as long as I'm not interfering with what the team is doing.

In terms of exercise or anything else and the stone, i'm having to ply it by ear now. Some days are exercise days, while other days are Vicodin days. This stone isn't moving along as briskly as my doctors and I would have it move. I really do not want lithotripsy, and the stone needs to move out of its current kidney-ureter junction for that, anyway, as the shock waves can be damaging to that specific part of the anatomy.  I'm probably going to have to double up on anti-emetic (snit-nausea) meds so that I can increase fluids, and then, o top of evrything else, take flo-max which is a medication typically given to men with prostate problems in order to increase their urinary flo and pressure and make it easier for them to urinate. what it does for a kidney stone patient is to increase the pressure of urinary flow, thereby moving the stone along a bit faster. i know that its just what everyone wanted to hear. I apologize for the excess of information.

Cousin Dan has purchased his ticket to the chaco (I don't actually know if it should be capitalized or not; I must find out) in Ururguay. actually, i have no clue as to where in South america he will land. The chaco probably doesn't have airports or runways. I've been given, by email, one last plea to increase my own blessings by contributing to this all-important endeavor.  No one is stating the obvious, which is that what I would really be doing by contributing to this folly would be to increase Cousin Dan's blessings. nothing about giving ay my money to this wild goose chase would increase my owI blessings. Sorry, Mormons, but it's the gospel truth.

The impromptu beach trip, hurriedly thrown together when I learned that I wouldn't need to work the overnight shift last night, was a blast.  I had to lay off the booze because at this point of my delightful trip through the Disneyland-like state of kidney stone travel, I never know when I'll need Vitamin V.  Vicodin and alcohol do not mix well. It's been done before certainly -- even on purpose -- but the practice wreaks havoc on a person's liver. I personally, value the function of my liver, as I know that transplant livers aren't easy to obtain. Beyond that, I don't wish to be on anti-organ-rejection drugs for the rest of my life. 

Thus, on a given day, I choose between Vicodin and booze. Actually, on most given days, I choose neither of the two. It's just that the kidney stone sometimes necessitates Vicodin in my current situation, and social outings with my peers offer the option of booze. I suppose the option of booze is always there, but I don't even consider it except for social situations, and even then do not always choose to partake. (It would be different if I liked either wine or beer. I can see how a person who likes either might choose to have it with a meal.) I'm not a lover of all things related to alcohol. A nice buzz can be pleasant on occasion, but my suspicion is that it would become increasingly hard to achieve -- that Nirvana-like state between sobriety and inebriation -- the more heavily one consumed alcohol on a regular basis.

I know I work today, but I'm not certain on which day I will be told to take a hike from the rotation and begin my Thanksgiving break. Furthermore, it would be unwise for me to alert any potential stalkers as to what date or time I will be making my way south on one of the major freeways that travels the length of California. It's a bit disconcerting not to know how many days I will be working this week, but I'll survive regardless. I enjoy working, and I enjoy my time off as well. With such being the case, I win either way.

Happy Thanksgiving if I do not communicate with anyone with whom I am in most frequent contact at this site at some time before the big day.

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