Streams in the Desert: November 23

You have shown your people desperate times. (Psalms 60:3)

  I have always been glad that the psalmist said to God that certain times of life are desperate or difficult. Make no mistake about it, there are difficult in life.

   This summer someone gave me some beautiful pink flowers, and as I took them, I asked, "What kind are they?" My friend answered, "They are rock flowers. They grow and bloom only on rocks where you can see no soil."  then I thought of God's flowers growing in desperate times and hard places, and I somehow feel that He may have a certain tenderness for His "rock flowers" that He may not  have fro is lilies and roses.    Margaret Bottome 

  The trials of life are sent to make us, not to break us.  Financial troubles may destroy a person's business but build up his character.  and a direct blow to the outer person may be the greatest  blessing possible to the inner person.  So if God places or allows anything difficult in out lives, we can be sure that the real danger or trouble will be what we will lose if we run or rebel against it.  Maltbie D. Babcock   

          Heroes are forged on anvils hot with pain,
          And splendid courage comes but with the test.
          Some natures ripen and some natures bloom
         Only on blood-wet soil, some prove great
         Only in moments dark with death or doom.

  God finds His best soldiers on the mountain of affliction.

It is Out!

 I saw the urologist this afternoon, and he took the stint out!  Now I can heal and feel a lot better.  This is one doctor's appointment I was looking forward to it.  The stint is gone! Yeah!

Trip to the ER

I have had pain for over the past week.  I wasn't able to explain or describe the pain.  I first tried the medicine for having pain when using the restroom, that didn't help.  After taking that a couple of times, I then took a couple of times the medicine for having urges to use the restroom.  It was tough at school this week, because in the  afternoon and evening, I would go as much as every 30 minutes to whenever.  My body is on a schedule at school and these past 10 days have messed it up.  That medicine didn't help.  I even took Tylenol (the generic brand), that also didn't help. Monday,  I took Aleeve, that helped my knees and bone spur, but nothing else.  Tuesday afternoon, I spent about 3 hours shaking both on the inside and the outside.  I wasn't completely cold, but I did have the chills.

  Finally, Wednesday or Thursday, I figured out the pain was probably due to the stint, and it is.  The pain varies.  I took   pain pills the last two nights, the generic for Percocet.  That made me itch and difficult to go back to sleep.  I think I am allergic to that.  This afternoon, I was in major pain.  Instead of calling the doctor, I went to the ER.  Besides the stint bothering me, I also have a bladder infection.  They gave me morphine at the ER, so after spending two hours, there, Mom came and picked me up.  I was given a prescription for an antibiotic, a pain pill and a ibuprofen.  I am staying home from church tomorrow, since I have two days of school this week. 

  I see the   doctor Tuesday afternoon, and I so do hope he takes the stint out.  I can not go too much longer with it in!

Mammogram and Kidney Stone Surgery #3

  I was scheduled for a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound at 9:30 this morning.  Dad had me there by 9:15.  I had four pictures taken of my left breast, then I had to sit and wait a bit before the ultrasound of my left breast.  I was done there by 10:45ish.  I was told by the ultrasound technician  that she was to look for two things, and she only found one, a cyst.  She couldn't find the other one, so the doctor on duty read the films and said they look benign.  That means no biopsy.  I am glad for that.

  I walked over to out patient surgery and didn't have to wait long to be called back.  I was surprised that I wasn't taken to have an x-ray done this morning, since I was expecting it.  My port was accessed, but the initial blood flow was slow, and my port continued to run slow.  It was slow on Tuesday, when I had it flushed and had blood work done for today.

   Mom, Dad, and my best friend, Elaine came back around 12:30 to see me before my surgery.  Having Elaine come by, was a nice surprise.  I enjoyed my visit with her.  I even received my birthday present from her, all Pittsburgh Steelers stuff.  Thank you Elaine for coming to see me.

   I go to the operating room, and with my port running slow, the antheisologist says that she wants to access a vein, and I told her that might not be possible.  She said that she will wait until after I am asleep to do so.  They give me the medicine, and she did start an IV in a vein in my right arm, at my elbow.  I didn't like waiting up to that.  The surgery was a quick one.  The doctor told mom, that he had a hard time using the laser to break up the stone.  It was being very stubborn!! He broke up the stone and removed it, and   placed a stint in the tube.  He will remove the stint in a couple of weeks in  his office.

  I came home with five prescriptions.  Only got four filled, since one is for pain meds.  I have an antibiotic to take this weekend, Flomax to take for twenty days, and two other kinda pain meds, depending on if I have certain pains with bathroom stuff. 

  I hope it is another twenty years or longer before I get another kidney stone, or never again.

Pesky Port Problems

Since I am scheduled to have surgery next week on the 8th, I had to have pre-surgical testing this afternoon.  The nurse went to go and access my port to draw blood, and NOTHING.  I did have a bag of ice there for quite some time, so I hope that had nothing to do with it.  I am keeping Tuesday's appointment to flush my port, to see if they can get blood return.  If not, I do not know what I am going to for surgery.  There is no guarantee that one will be able to find a vein and access it to get blood or to start an IV.  I hope this is not the beginning of things and go through what I went through last November and December.