I’ve taken to swimming on Sunday mornings while Earl goes to his Evangelical church. We’re both at the 10:30 AM services. And I believe we’re both doing what we need to do.

Earl loves the morning’s routine: religious songs, a homily from the minister, a request that anyone in the audience who wants to claim the faith meet the minister after the service.

Me? I plunge into the pool’s cool waters — although I acknowledge they’re not as special as the Jordan’s — and leave earthly issues behind. It’s God and me. Talking together, without cellphone interruptions or other distractions. Feeling my muscles pull against waters that were similar to those that fueled Noah. Similar to those that could fuel the next debacle.

As a graduate of sixteen years of Catholic education ending with a diploma from a Jesuit university, I believe God is found in many different places. One of my published short stories finds God in a tanning booth. Today I find God in a swimming pool. Up the lane and back; up again; back again. It may sound odd, but it’s the perfect place to connect with one’s Supreme Being.

Today I feel almost like my old self. I don’t know if the kidney stone is still around or not. I do know I don’t hurt and I have energy. Additionally, my primary care doctor contacted me about an appointment next week to follow up.

I give him high marks, especially since the urologist I was to see has never returned my calls. I don’t expect him to return them personally – that’s what his office staff is for – but you’d think that six days would be long enough for me to move to the top of the call-back list, particularly since I was referred by the local emergency department.

Besides the differences in doctors’ responses, this past week has also taught me the value of drinking a lot of water. I’ve heard about the benefits of doing so for years. From trainers, yoga instructors, doctors, dietitians. It flushes the kidneys; makes the skin shine; decreases the appetite. But I couldn’t bring myself to consume a gallon or more each day.

Still, I decided to keep a fresh glass of water by my side all the time, because the ER doctor said it would help. Just making this small adjustment boosted my consumption considerably. It’s a habit I hope to continue going forward, whether I reach the liquid goal or not.

Glug, glug!

It’s Monday and I’m at home, intermittently sleeping and running to the bathroom while waiting for a kidney stone to bid farewell. It’s a new experience, one that will never make my favorite top ten list.

To pass the time, I’m trying to catch up on some bookkeeping, some filing, anything that is sedentary and doesn’t demand much in the way of brain power.

I don’t want to continue writing about the annoyance of kidney stones; everyone already knows about them either firsthand or from others who’ve had the “pleasure.” So I’m taking a break from blogging until there are other more interesting topics and I can focus on them. You’ll just know if I’m not showing up here, then the kidney stone and I are still duking it out.

I woke up this morning feeling as if I were having an out-of-body experience. Yes, I remember I’d spent part of yesterday in the Emergency Room and that I have a kidney stone. Yes, I remember I was drugged to relieve the pain and came home to cope.

The out-of-body part comes from feeling disconnected to my usual routine. On Sundays, for example, I often swim. This Sunday I was also supposed to go to the theater and then chat with a friend in the evening. There is no way my body – and my mind – can process any of this. So I’ve cancelled today’s activities. And Monday’s. Not sure about Tuesday but it might be off the calendar as well.

One medication I’m taking makes me pee more often. How does every fifteen minutes sound? So my commode and I are now the best of friends. Which is a good reason to cancel my current calendar’s commitments.

Additionally, the pain meds make me sleepy and fuzzy. I realize that the right thing for one part of your body is usually counterproductive to another part. The medication I am taking for pain is constipating; the diet for kidney stone prevention is counter to a diet for other health issues; the vitamins to take for this isn’t a good idea for that.

So I’ll be compliant for a few days. After that, we’ll see.

It came on suddenly as I practiced piano. One minute I’m pounding through “Great Barrier Reef,” and the next my stomach is pounding in its own right. The former piece is about the Great Reef in Australia in all its glory; the latter had nothing glorious about it.

Only an intense desire to visit the bathroom. And then again. And again.

When my stomach is upset, I’ve found that curling into a fetal ball and trying to sleep often helps, especially if it’s something I ate that didn’t agree with me. So I did that for six hours but with little relief. You can gauge how miserable I felt, because the question always is, “Does the insertion of an IV in my arm in the emergency room cause more anxiety than the pain I feel?” Most times, the pain wins.

But by late afternoon, I threw in the towel. Doubled over in evident misery, I was greeted promptly at the ER by someone who put me in a wheelchair and pushed me past others waiting their turns. Earl parked the car and came to console me.

The next four hours included a myriad of tests as well as something to dull the pain. Actually it took more than one something administered through an IV, but eventually relief begrudgingly arrived. As did a diagnosis. I have a kidney stone. Who knew that something only 3 mm in size could cause such agony?

After signing various forms and instructions, I was sent home to await the stone’s passing. (Given its relatively small size in the world of kidney stones, this is the first course of action.)

Needless to say, I was also sent home with good pain meds. Which are making me  v e r y   s l e e e e e p y now. Back to the fetal ball position.

Recently I posted about several things on my To Do List that have languished there. (See August 5, 2019.) Today I started making headway on them. I actually changed the furnace filter, only nine days late. I started a project for my aunt that included photos from our recent trip to the McDonald Family Reunion in upstate New York. And I called someone to come clean our carpet. At the same time, I added other items to the list.

So am I ahead or behind? I think it’s all in the way one feels about the day’s achievements. Given this was the first day that I was back in my usual routine, having recently traveled for a week followed by a visit from my son for the next week, it felt great.

I wonder if other people have this yin and yang about their lives.