1/29/03
Life is almost "normal" again - the AZ version of normal life, that is.
The computer problems that were incompletely resolved when we left here at the end of October are now mostly in the past, although we continue to be constrained to a slow dial-up Internet connection. (Temporarily, Paul and I must share our Compaq Notebook for Internet connection until the Microsoft Office applications are re-installed on the desktop. (Our disk copies are on their way from Toronto.)
The stent placed in my left ureter after the stone extraction on the 1/13 was removed by Dr. Fieldstone in his office on 1/23. If I had known its actual dimensions when he drew that little sketch in my hospital room before the procedure, I might not have been so readily in favor of it. (A look for the curious.) No wonder it caused such discomfort those many days till it was removed. Since then I've felt fine except for a bit of residual fatigue.
Unfortunately the stone analysis takes a few weeks, Dr. Fieldstone informed us when Paul and I were at his office on 1/23. We copied a long article on renal lithiasis (kidney stone formation) from one of his Campbell's Urology volumes (the "bible"), which took me twice as long to wade through as it did Paul. I also collected, and turned over to the hospital lab, a 24-hour urine sample for various constituents typical of renal stones. A parathyroid hormone level done on me 2 years ago was normal, so there was no need for a repeat. The analysis on the stone and urine should be complete by 2/12, my scheduled appointment with Dr. Fieldstone when Paul and I can discuss with him measures to be taken.
I haven't had time yet to miss our dancing - I'm sure I will by next week. What I do miss is the ability to just walk out of the apartment and go to the Dominion Supermarket virtually any day, 24 hours. (There are those annoying holidays when they do close, but then the 24 hour corner market a block further is *always* open.) Here, any trip to get anything is a drive in the car. We are making it a point now to park the car at the far end of a store's parking lot to provide extra walking. This past Tuesday we actually parked our car in a rare shady spot in a centrally located strip mall and walked to our various errands including the hospital, approximately a mile to the east. There is a definite drawback to this type of exercise - large quantities of sunlight. Even though the temperatures are far lower at this time of the year in the central AZ desert, the UV rays are still a hazard we don't wish to incur. Consequently we will be trying out ways of combining shorter periods of outside physical activities (mainly much needed yard work) during daylight hours with those performed inside - or outside in the shade when it is more available in the very early and late hours of the day.
Website updates, Yahoo group message comments, research, emails, household tasks, maintenance arrangements for our absence periods, etc. have kept me from completing this latest Kitty Reflects item in a timely manner. It is actually almost a week later then the previous paragraph and I do miss our dancing. With all we've got to do in the next couple of weeks, we probably won't be able to get to a dance club until our drive out to the Los Angeles area the weekend of 2/22-23 - mainly for a Bon-Voyage party being held to celebrate the life of a dear friend who was cryonically preserved in December. On that Saturday night, however, we will be dancing at Paul's favorite former haunt - The Metro, in Riverside. Back last October on the way to Oregon and Washington (a detour on our return to Toronto), we took a short stop there so that I could see and experience why Paul enjoyed this club so much. (The same manager was there and well remembered Paul; and Paul's no-expiration free entry card was a curiosity, but honored.) Well I did and I do - and I am definitely looking forward to a couple hours of non-stop high energy dancing. I'll make sure that I do some home warm-up dancing the week before so that I don't suffer "week-end" warrior symptoms :>)
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