My husband has been having back pains for about ten days. Night before last he was having trouble getting up out of bed and had to pee about once an hour. So I called in and made an appointment with our doctor's office on Monday.

Usually on Thursday nights he plays games with his friends and he called to let them know he would not be coming in. One of them has had kidney stones more than one in the past and he convinced my husband that it could be that. His advice was to not wait but to call a urologist immediately.

So I called the urologist's office that took out my left kidney four years ago, waited on hold for a long time, explained everything to the scheduler who transferred us to their triage nurse. The nurse recommended that we go to the ER so into town to the ER we go.

They have a very efficient system - a small check in set up at the door and with basic stats taken, then you wait for a triage nurse - which was very fast. That nurse took more information and sent us back to an ER room - yes, they had actual rooms for patients. A PA came in to check over my husband and thought it was more likely a pulled back muscle since the pain radiated down his leg rather than around the abdomen, but they still took samples - urine, blood - and sent him for a CT Scan.

Then we got to wait, and while we were waiting, there were patients coming in on ambulance gurneys, at least two of whom were accompanied by police officers. After a while, a Code Yellow was called and things got a little strange. Other than nurses on obvious missions, nurses disappeared. and it got pretty quiet. Eventually a doctor came in and verified it was a back problem, prescribed over the counter Ibuprofen, and gave a referral to a back clinic.

When the nurse came with the paperwork and to take out the IV, we asked about the Code Yellow. It turns out one of the patients brought in had been a gun shot victim and their procedure is to do a lockdown so that if the shooter came to finish the victim off, they cannot get in. We were let out by a security guard and as we left I heard one incoming patient complain since they recommended that he sit outside - they have a long covered entrance with chairs outside, so it was not a hardship to sit there.

My husband feels better with the pain relief. He hates taking stuff so although he'd been hurting he had not taken any OTC medications. Monday he will keep his appointment at our doctor's office and follow up with an appointment with the back clinic in town.

I'm so relieved it is not kidney stones!

The day before Christmas Eve as part of finishing up our new driveway, the contractor was transplanting some crape myrtles. Since we'd lost track of where the old drive had been (changing from a straight drive to a nice "S" curved one) we also lost track of where the phone line had been run many, many years ago. I was on the phone with a business call when suddenly it went dead, my computer lost connection, and the program I was streaming stopped. Yep, cut the DSL phone line.

After three hours of trying to contract the phone company and ending up on chat (thanks to my smartphone) they scheduled a tech to come out today. Oh yeah - without wifi my cell does not get a signal inside my house and I only get a signal if I drive to the top of the hill. At least the weather was nice - last time this happened, it was in the 30s and raining.

So I had a really quiet Christmas. No calls, no internet, no streaming. Good thing I still have lots of DVDs! I watched all the Harry Potter movies, two Pirate of the Caribbean movies, and various old sci fi movies (need to get some more of those).

The tech ran a temporary line - it takes 14 business days minimum to get someone out the bury a permanent line. Last time this happened, it only took two days to have that done. Centurylink will get feedback on how bad their customer service is. The tech told me his department is cut to the minimum so response is slow all the time now.

Or a variation of it? This is from yesterday morning on CNN with John Berman.



I counted 6 times, with several mentions of "conspirators" and "conspiracy" thrown in.

And from a couple of years ago - 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

I had a mid-line hernia repair on Friday - but the CT scan that diagnosed it was done back in June. there were delays due to having to be cleared by by cardiologist which finally happened in mid August but then the Covid cases had filled up the hospital and I couldn't get scheduled until last Friday.

During all those delays, the rupture in the abdominal muscle got bigger and fairly recently a loop of intestine worked its way through a tear in the muscle. The surgeon said he was surprise anything was getting past that loop. I knew over the past few weeks there had been more discomfort and suspected something was very wron.

To strengthen the area, the surgeon put in a piece of mesh about the size of a sheet of paper. This means the skin had to be loosened to spread the mesh out. It was all done via laparoscopic so I have seven little holes and one incision scattered all over mu tummy. They've got me on oxycodone so I have slept most of the time since getting out of the hospital Saturday. Usually I hate taking that stuff because it makes me groggy and stupid, but right now it is a blessing.

In fact, right now I need to take another dose and another nap.

On the other hand, Khufu, my new kitty, has figured out that he can't jump on my tummy but have found ways to drape across other parts of my body to be close to me. Khufu is a very cuddly kitty and a big comfort. He's settling in with the other cats, trying to make friends with them. While they are not ready to be friends, there have been no big confrontations or fights. Lucas, our largest cat who is a bully, acts like he is afraid of Khufu - I think because Khufu does not run away from him. So we get views of five pound Khufu chasing fourteen pound Lucas around the house. I wish I were alert enough to take some videos of them!

It went very well. I locked Lucas, the largest and most aggressive of the cats, in the living room, leaving the rest of the house open for Khufu to explore safely. Sabra, the very overweight black cat, was the first to see him. She came into the room with her tail all puffed up but she settled quickly. Khufu was like, "Great! Another cat!" But he's smart enough to stay back and let the other cat approach him. When Sabra got close enough (about 12-18" away) to almost sniff his nose, she hissed, and Khufu dashed back into the bedroom, which is his safe space.

He came out quickly and pretty much ignored Sabra as he explored the dining room (dining room and kitchen are really one great room, but the kitchen does not have interesting cat furniture and toys like the dining room does). Sabra kind of followed him around for about an hour. Then I put Khufu back into the bedroom for a while, and she traced his paths around the room by his smell. After the first few minutes both cats had been pretty relaxes, so I considered that good.

Later I trapped Lucas out on the screened porch and let Khufu come back out. Again Sabra was in the room and sort of interested in Khufu but he was completely ignoring her since he was bolder about investigating all the neat stuff in the dining room. Then Sabra was about to actually touch noses, but the thing I use to block the cat door was knocked down by Lucas and bother the other cats scattered - Khufu back to the bedroom, Sabra to the living room. So I lured Lucas into the living room with Sabra.

Khufu came back out quickly and while he was exploring, Maya, the little gray cat, came out to see what was going on. She's been very jealous of the time I've spent in the bedroom with Khufu and heard me talking to him. It took her ten minutes to sneak from the library to the dining room, and then she never got very close to Khufu. Khufu was unfazed - he went about his exploring and even entered Maya's sanctum, the library, where she hangs out with me much of the time. I let them have a while in there undisturbed then I went in, both cats went out, and I let them explore alone for a good hour. I heard not noises, so I guess there were no confrontations

Maya came back into the library, very relaxed, and flopped down on the desk where she usually sits. I went to check on Khufu and he was back in the bedroom, very relaxed, asleep on the bed. So I closed him back in and let the two big cats loose.

For a first introduction, I consider this a very big success! No fights, no chases, only a few hisses. Tomorrow I may let Khufu loose with Lucas also loose and see how that goes. Lucas is very interested, but he tends to be aggressive. Since he is the largest at maybe 14 pounds, he could do come damage to little 5 pound Khufu. But we can't put if off forever.

Today's UPDATE in Post #6!

Though I'm thinking of changing his name to Khufu.



The name change may happen because I keep calling him Tashi, the name of my last Siamese lynx point kitty. Here is Tashi:

They were already on sale for 49 cents a pound so I went ahead and got it.

My operation is next Friday so I will not be attending the family Turkey Day. Usually I buy a turkey while they are on sale for the holiday and cook it a week or so after Turkey Day so my husband and I can have turkey for the year. This year, because I won't be able to do it close to Thanksgiving, I can get it done ahead of time and have my turkey dinner on T-Day on my own. My husband will drive the two hours to his family gathering and then two hours back so he can spend time with his family.

So the turkey is in the fridge, thawing out (they recommend 3-4 days). Heck I may wait until Wednesday to cook it, then we can cool it, carve it up, package batches for the freezer, and put the skin and carcass into the stock pot overnight for turkey stock to use to make dressing.

Yeah! Turkey!