Just a Stone's Throw Away

The title above has some meaning. Thursday evening I went into severe pain in the right kidney. Every pain med we had available would only dull the pain a little for a very short time. Finally I couldn't take it any more and Paulette called 911. The village EMT's were great and sat with me the rest of the night while trying to get med advise through calls to a Juneau hospital or friends. Unfortunately being remote in Alaska not much emergency medicine is available, but they did what they could for me. They got me on a small airplane first thing in the morning and we were at the hospital ER in Juneau by 7:15. Three hours and a bunch of tests later they had a diagnosis of a large stone that had barely left the kidney. By then the stone quit moving and though I felt like I had been dragged through a knot hole backwards I was experiencing only twinges. ER doc advised not to go back to Gustavus until the stone situation is resolved or I could be in the same situation all over again. After what I went through for twelve hours he didn't need to reason long with me. The one urologist in town was out of town for the weekend. Long time friends Mick and Sherri were nearing the end of a construction project put us on the floor (it's Alaska where friends help no matter what the room) and I have a urologist appointment for Monday morning. I feel like a time bomb waiting to go off at any moment, but now will be near ER med help and an IV pain killer if the stone moves again.

I had a few pix of the cabin progress ready but we left with only the shirts on our backs (and Paulette grabbed our toothbrushes). So no pix but I have about 1/3 of the roof done. We knew there was a downside to being remote in Alaska but our general health is good so we expect this is a temporary glitch.

We have our cell phones but no chargers and our batteries were low when we left Gustavus. I apologize if some of you did not get personal calls and thanks to Elisabeth who offered to spread the word to family. I turn the phone on a few times a day and check for voice mail. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated. mel