OnToThe Next Disaster...

Finally got back to whatever's "normal" for me, as the urologist removed the stent this morning after the x-ray showed me clear of stone fragments. Couldn't believe how long that bugger was---at least 12 inches! One end started way up at the top of the left kidney and hung all the way down to the urethra (sic), where it was anchored by a nice little curl on that end. Yeah, real nice. It felt like I had a fishpole stuck up there, and every time I voided it felt as though I was hooked, too. Boy, nothing like having a plastic tube (green, mind you, and about the diameter of a pin worm) lodged "up mine", so to speak.
Having it pulled out was soooo much fun! No anethesia, just a dab of lidocane to deaden the pain (hah!) around the hole while the doctor inserted some kind of torture device (I kept my eyes shut) and slooooowly pulled all ten feet of that stent out. Okay, so it wasn't ten feet, but it sure felt like it! Then he playfully dangles the thing over my face and, as I'm not wearing my glasses, I nearly yell because it looks like he's pulled some green parasite out of me. Jeez! Good thing I don't mind snakes. And then he hands me a plastic gallon jug (empty) that I'm to fill with 24hrs worth of urine---so he can maybe figure out why I got a kidney stone---"No hurry", he says. Yeah, like I'm really gonna fill it right then.
At any rate, he said he'd be happy to keep treating me, since he has two kids in college and could use the income, which is only fair, I suppose. But now I can actually sit without using a rubber "doughnut", so it's worth it. (By the way, click the photo to see it larger.) I'm going sledding! Yippee!

It's Official! I'm Still Alive,If Full Of @#$%

Yep, I'm not-so-happily passing pumice from my erstwhile kidney stone---and those tiny pieces hurt like hell! Still, it's coming out, which is better than the alternative, I guess. What I should have mentioned last time, though, was where I got this cartoon. The website is great! You can pick from several poses of Bush, Kerry, Der Governator, etc., and put your own words in the balloon. The url is on the bottom of the cartoon. Try it.
In other news...Ariel Sharon's massive stroke will likely mean Netanyahu's rise and ,considering the accounts of Palestinians who openly celebrated this tragedy, I can't wait. If the Palestinians don't want peace (and their celebrations seem to say this) then continue the wall, I say. How many Isreali "suicide" bombers killed their innocents? How many Isreali children volunteered to become "martyrs"---with their proud parents standing behind them?! Sorry, but Isreal has no choice but to wall them off. Isreal has been the only partner in this sham "peace process" to actually offer real concessions, remember. Share Jerusalem? What, are you nuts? Are the muslims "sharing" Bethlehem, or Nazareth? Now that they pretty much drove out all the Christians from these places, do you honestly think Christians will ever be allowed to have power there again? Hah!
Let the Palestinians have Gaza and most of the West Bank (sans Jerusalem, of course). Complete the wall and leave them to stew in their own cesspool. They want peace, they can show it by acting responsibly. Until then, no more concessions.

2006-Same Old @#$%

Okay, so I'm crabby today. I admit it. But you wouldn't feel so charitable either if tomorrow you faced what is euphemistically referred to as "day surgery". Nothing serious, just a stupid kidney stone the size of a grapefruit (okay, a marble, but it's gonna hurt the same) that will be pulverized by lithotripsy (from litho-rock and I have no idea what "tripsy" comes from) because it's too big to pass. Seems Solomon was a bit too optomistic about that "gam zeh ye'avor" (this too shall pass) advice, I guess. Then again, maybe he never had a kidney stone, either.
Anyway, it's not the surgery---I'll be knocked out, thank God---but going home right after that I dread. Yeah, I know medicine has advanced and all that, but coming home feeling as though my left side was kicked by a mule certainly doesn't thrill me. Plus all that pulverized @#$% coming out when I urinate, which I have to catch in a strainer, no less, and keep in a speciman jar for the doctor visit later this month! I wanted a vacation, but this is not the kind of "trip" I envisioned, believe me. And Saturday I turn 57, too. Happy birthday to me. Well, at least if they don't get it all pulverized this time, they'll probably succeed next time. After all, the lithotripsy machine only comes to my hospital once a month.
Uh oh, gotta go---literally. That phospho-soda I had to take to clean me out is about to explode. Hope you have a nice day.

Thank God She Had A Good Sense Of Humor

Mrs.D, originally uploaded by Reva49.

Once upon a time, back in 1966, I was a terribly awkward (physically and socially) senior in high school who positively worshipped a 22yr-old neophyte teacher who carried herself like a queen and had more brains than anyone I ever knew. Being your typical sheltered Catholic girl, I inadvertantly insulted her with a holiday card I'd whipped together in Art Class later that day.
It had to have been the worst card ever made! I painted the double blue bars and gold star of the Isreali flag on the front flap, and inside I scrawled a hasty verse that went like this:

"Christmas is for everyone
Not just a chosen few
And even though you're Jewish
With Chanukah all done
Have a Merry Christmas anyway
*Feliz Navidad to You!
*means Merry Christmas in Spanish"

Was that an insult or what? Fortunately, she thought it was funny. Me, I thought it would cheer her up. Yeah, right---like a note from the IRS, maybe. At any rate, I meant well, and she realized that. Here's hoping all of you have a Merry Xmas, Happy Chanukah, and a good Kwanzaa!

Maybe God Should Seek US

Chillin', originally uploaded by Reva49.

Well, why not? Are you tired of knocking on heaven's gate and being ignored? Are you fed up with praying, only to be put on hold (and no Muzak to listen to while you wait, too)? So let Him find you. After all, if Santa knows where you live surely God does. Besides, who has time in this hectic world to look for God? He doesn't hold down three jobs, and since everything's created He's been more or less semi-retired. He's got all the time in the universe---literally! So why can't He look us up? It's not like I have an unlisted number, you know. I mean, think about it. He's God, right? Nothing's impossible for God (unless He's been hanging out way too long with George Bush), so why not get in touch? Okay, I'd probably crap my pants if He did, but it would be nice to know He still cares. Wouldn't it?

Laptop Gets Even---Tis the Season, pt.2

Boy, talk about being touchy. My laptop must be paranoid----or else controlled by some gnome in National Security. It denied me access again, so I had to wipe the harddrive and start all over again. Luckily, however, I had made backups of all my important files, but this is getting to be annoying. Maybe Bill Gates is so scared of "software piracy" he designed Windows to do this? Who knows?
Now, on to my next topic---that time of year again and the so-called "War On Xmas". Get over it, people! I mean, don't we have enough trouble with this War On Terror, we have to add to it? Isn't this season plenty nerve-wracking on its own? Let's just stop for a minute and think. Just because I, as a Jew, wishes a Christian "happy holidays" doesn't mean I'm against Xmas. And, by the way, Xmas is a perfectly proper form of the word, having come from the Greek in which the letter X means christos, the original from whence we derived ours. No, it's not x-ing out the Christian messiah. I got enough of that when I wrote "Merry XMAS" on the board during student teaching and the class nearly crucified me! For those of us who don't celebrate Christian holidays (including atheists as well), there's nothing "hateful" about expressing a wish that all our December holidays (Xmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, etc.) be merry. After all, it's not just my holiday, or your holiday, but a time to be cognizant of the blessings of freedom---which includes the freedom not to believe as well.
Sure, there are militant atheists out there who bring these assinine suits against creches on private property and such, but they represent the lunatic fringe. They're basically "lone wolves", really, who have extremely little influence in society at-large, so they do stupid things to get attention. There is no "war" on religion, people. Let's just chuck all this political correctness and enjoy our holidays, okay?

My Laptop Must Be Treif

No, I'm joking, but I've had nothing but trouble with this thing. One thing you can count on is Windows going haywire, and mine denied ME access! Maybe Al Quaida is making laptops now? The news in cyberworld isn't good, folks. Regardless of whom it might be, hackers are on the move, and the new worry now is----rootkits. Worse, you don't have to be a computer expert to write these things, as the code is open source! Worse yet, you'll probably never know you have one. Rootkits hide themselves so deep in your harddrive that even the BEST malware-removers can't detect them. Think Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, only in cyber terms. Isn't it wonderful what technology can do? Oh, and Microsoft says the only thing you can do to your harddrive once you're infected is to nuke it. I hope they don't mean put the thing in the microwave. At any rate, rootkits are so easy to write that an idiot like me could end up writing code that trashes your machine. Luckily, however, I have no intentions that way. With MY luck I'd end up trashing my OWN computer! Of course, Microsoft advises that rootkits aren't inherently evil----just misunderstood. Yeah, like the Officer Krupke song, I suppose. Well, rootkits are a great way to cloak something you don't want someone else seeing; seems students at college use them for hiding the illicit movies they download over the college server, and have been for years! Microsoft thinks that's an example of harmless rootkitting. Uh huh, and I'm sure those studentsould aren't downloading Disney movies, either.
Getting back to my original thesis, my laptop could be infected, the way it acts. More likely, though, is my wild editing of Group Policy. Most of my expertise has come from hands-on training, so to speak. I could probably tell Microsoft something they didn't know, but as soon as they learned it's some old broad who used to teach English---well, I can hear the laughter now. I figure it's only a matter of time before the world blames rootkits on the Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion, as they have everything else thus far. At any rate, be well. Gam ze ye'avor, this too shall pass.