Kidney Stones and Electricity Don't Mix

Two big events occured in two days.

On the 16th, I went to the hospital for my surgery to get rid of my kidney stone. The procedure was called Electro Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL). Before going in, I had to take a laxative and couldn't eat anything all day so that my body was, to put it lightly, purged. Once at the hospital, I had an IV put into my hand and laid on a gurney. While my family waited, I was carted to the operating room, and put under by the anesthesia doctor. Apparently, during the procedure, which involves sending concentrated sound waves aimed directly at the kidney stone, my heart beat began to change its rhythm to the pulse of the sound waves. So, they stopped the procedure. Since I had undergone 1000 pulses already (out of the 2500 they were supposed to do), the doctor figured I should be okay and that the stone should be broken up enough to pass. That night, when I started to pass the stone, I underwent some pretty good pain, especially just before bed. The stone didn't get broken up into powder, but it did get broken up enough to finally leave my system! Yay!

The next day was the beginning of a really awful weekend. Being a Friday, our morning is really busy with Maia going to school, Sean seeing his SEIT, Juri working, and Sean going to school. At about 10am, the power went out at the house, and then came back on about 5 minutes later. All of the sudden, the wind really kicks up. We must have had gusts at 60 mph. Sean and I left the house to get gas in the car and pick up Maia from school. After I gased up, we headed toward the school, fighting the winds. All of the sudden, the traffic signals lost power. There was wide-spread power loss throughout Saratoga Springs. We got Maia and came back home, where the power was still out. The temperature in the house was dropping quickly. I took Maia to her baby sitter and waited for Sean's bus. Unfortunately, we missed it! So, I took Sean in my car to school. The winds were strong, pushing my car as we drove down the streets. Along the way, cops were busy routing traffic around the State Park. Downed power lines were all over, along with the broken trees that had fallen on them. Once I got back home after I dropped Sean off at school, Juri got home from work early. After what I witnessed on the road, it didn't take long for us to realize that power was not going to return any time soon. I quickly started calling hotels to make a reservation before all the rooms were taken up. We managed to get one down in Latham, about 20 minutes out of town.

Two days later, power was still not restored to our home. The rest of Saratoga Springs had power back, it seemed. Businesses were operating again, and traffic signals were back up. Yet our home still had no power. Worse yet, the power company was saying that we wouldn't even get power until Tuesday! It seemed that all hope was lost, until GMH (our housing company) contacted the power company demanding action. The power company worked on our downed power lines and all power was restored at around 8pm that night. Ugh!

All in all, it was a rough weekend. Between my kidney stone and the power outage, this weekend left me drained...

Valentine's Day

Today is the day of love and romance. I took the day off so that I could spend the time with my wife. Today, she is making me a special dinner and dessert a my present. I already know what the dessert is!! It is called Death by Chocolate, and it is my favorite ice cream cake from Bennigan's. BEST... EVER!!

I got Juri some underwear from Lane Bryant for her gift for the special day. She's been complaining about her underwear not fitting her any more, since she is losing weight on her diet. So, how could I not pass up the chance to get her some cute undies! She showed me a Lane Bryant ad with some pictures of panties, so I went out and bought her some. It was pretty funny walking around the store with my kids, picking out women's underwear! I didn't mind at all though. I liked the prospect of buying clothes for my wife. It's not something I do very often.

Matt has moved...

Well, it was bound to happen. My best friend, Matt Emerson, has moved away. His time ran out here in New York and now he transferred down to Virginia to be on the USS Oklahoma City for the rest of his time in the Navy. I recently helped Matt work on his house that he purchased. I hope that my family will be able to go visit him again soon, and maybe do some more muscle work! =)

PHANTOM!

Juri took me to see Phantom of the Opera today!! I'm a huge fan of the musical, which just recently became the longest running musical on New York's Broadway. In order to have the touring Phantom show come to the Captial Region of New York state, Proctor's Theater (the arts theater of our region) had to remodel the backstage of their theater in order to accommodate the special stage that Phantom travels with. The best part was that Juri purchased tickets right in the front! The show was even more spectacular! I was able to see the feeling in the faces of the actors, and feel the music and emotion. Incredible!

Thanks Juri! It was a great date!