Exhausted

That's how I feel after the last couple of days. Yesterday, I went in for a checkup on the kidney stone I had in December 2005. I had an X-ray first, and then about an hour later met with the urologist. He said there was no sign of any more stones, but I did have some blood in my urine (not enough to see), and since I'd never had any in previous samples, he did have some concern. So what I hoped would be just a "everything's fine, hope we don't have to see you again" type visit ends up with me disrobing and getting my kidneys viewed (don't aks for details).

He said there was an area that looked a bit inflamed, and I might just have a minor infeciton. But he wanted a couple more exams done just to make sure it's not something more serious. So he ordered a sonogram of my kidneys and an IVP (intravenous pyelogram, if you're into medical terms). That meant I had to "clean out" my intestines so they could get a good view. And by "cleaning out" the intestines, I mean "CLEANING OUT" the intestines. My water bill will probably be a good $15 higher just from Wednesday night. I also couldn't eat anything but clear liquids. So the only solid food I had all day was the banana I had at breakfast.

They did want me to have a full bladder for the IVP, so on the way to the hospital, I drank about a quart of water. In hindsight, that was probably too much. That was the second exam I had, and it took about an hour. By the time they were done, I felt like I was ready to burst. When the X-ray tech came back from showing the pics to a radiologist, she said "I bet you really have to go to the bathroom. You're bladder was really big!" Basicallly, the IVP is a series of X-rays tracking the progress of a dye through your renal system.

I had origianlly planned that after the exams, I'd head home and get ready for work. But by the time we got home, I had such a headache from not eating, not having my caffeine fix Wednesday, probably being a bit dehydrated, that I thought I'd take a short nap and try to get rid of it. I woke up about three hours later. Oops. I e-mailed my co-worker (who's sort of my supervisor) and explained why I wasn't there and said I'd be in for the afternoon. When he got back from lunch, I went up to him to apologize, and he told me "next time just give us a call when you get home and let us know." Uh, OK, so next time I ACCIDENTALLY oversleep I'm supposed to call beforehand and let you know? Genius.

Anyway, I'm feeling better tonight. I'm a little anxious about the results, but it's probably going to be nothing. Check back in a couple days and I'll probably know something.