Saturday, January 17, 2009

Re-joining the land of the living!

Thanks to all of you who sent private e-mails and comments with regards to my kidney stone(s). And, yes, I did go to a specialist and he told me that the CAT Scan revealed the 4mm stone in the right kidney and a 3mm stone in the left kidney. Double whammy!

I have now been pain free for the last four days. I am simultaneously drinking a ton of fluids and knocking on wood and praying to God for no recurrences of that pain attack I had New Year's Eve. For those of you who have never had to deal with these little devils, the only way I can describe the pain is as follows:

Imagine someone taking a wooden spoon and putting the business end in their hand. Then they take the handle end and press it into your side and hold it there, applying as much pressure as they possibly can. And they follow you EVERYWHERE that way. You can't get comfortable, you can't think; and all you want is something, ANYTHING to take the pain away.

The urologist and I both think I have passed the stones; and that the remaining discomfort that I was experiencing was just that my kidney was swollen from the ordeal. I have to go for a kidney-ureter-bladder X-ray on Monday just to be sure there are no blockages.

Sorry to get so personal and graphic; but remember when you were a kid; and you JUST COULDN'T WAIT to grow up? Adulthood DOES have its disadvantages.

Anyway, enough of the icky stuff. I worked through it; and am feeling about 95%. I issued some SKCC Centurion awards today and got back on the computer for the first time in about a week. I even went down to the shack and did some listening tests on the K2 with the new DSL modem.

I have heard that these little guys can be RFI generators for some people. So I turned on the K2 and listened for noise. Every time I found some, I came up here and turned off the DSL modem. Gladly, I did not find any noise that I can attribute to the DSL line or modem.

I haven't worked anyone today, so far; but hope to get on tonight and get on 40 or 80 Meters for a bit. The basement shack is especially cold with this Arctic blast that we have been experiencing. It was 0 degrees when I woke up this morning and Zero or below temps are extremely rare in NJ! However, I'll put on an extra sweater and will head down and see if I can hear any of the K3Y SKCC Special Event stations on the air.

By the way, I found a Morse Express 2004 Christmas Key waiting for me under the tree on Christmas morning! It is one of the "camel back" type and it's one that I don't have. I'm hoping to wire it up tonight and have some fun!

73 de Larry W2LJ

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