My second round of surgery to remove the remainder of a lodged kidney stone is complete and my recovery is much, much easier than the first round. I’m till a little sore and having a couple of other expected after effects, but I think that will clear up soon.
I had lots of time to ponder things while was out of commission and not in a writing mood.
Mostly, I thought about how lucky I was to have a patient, understanding and logical wife in dealing with the labyrinth of issues we had to sort out during the process. And I thought a lot about how difficult it was to go through the steps to get this surgery done. The doctor who performed the surgery was excellent. I can’t say the same for her staff, who repeatedly neglected to call me back when I had questions or concerns, treated my wife rudely and seemed to be pre-occupied with other matters most of the time when I met with them.
I also gave a lot of thought to our dog, Chester. I know we all tend to anthropomorphize our pets, but in my recent observations of Chester during this event, I think he really seemed to express empathy about my condition.
He hovered around me constantly, leaped into the bed to be near me at night on a couple of occasions (he never does this other times), and wanted me to pet him frequently. I’m certain I smelled strange when I came out of the operating room and the hospital, which may explain some of his hovering and attention.
When I would sleep in my chair in our “TV Room,” I’d wake up to find him staring at me. It might be just wondering while I smelled differently, why I was sleeping so much or most likely why I hadn’t been giving him frequent treats. Or maybe he was really concerned.
Chester’s top 10 priorities are pretty simple. They are:
- Get a treat
- Take a morning nap
- Go for a walk and get treats from friendly neighbors
- Take a mid-morning nap
- Go for a ride in the truck and get a beef jerky treat
- Take a noon nap
- Get a Poochie Cone at Caliche’s
- Take an afternoon nap
- Get a belly rub
- Take a nap before sleeping for the night.
He also likes to perform “zoomies” in the back yard, wade in belly-high nasty water in our irrigation ditches, likes to leap in the air when he sees friends, greets everyone enthusiastically when the front door bell rings (always hoping that the ringer will also be the bearer of a treat, even if it might be an axe murderer). Oh, and did I mention napping?
At any rate, thanks to all of you who were thinking of me. Glad this I done and hope I can go fly fishing again soon.
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