Gall Dang It!

I'm going to break the next posts into two different ones, as, they are really unrelated but have been another piece or two of the continuing saga.  The story goes like this...  It was a dark and stormy Sunday afternoon....

So I'm sitting in the back row of chairs in the chapel just before the start of Sacrament meeting (the benches KILL my back) and in wheels Cari Ham, being pushed by her husband Pat, in a big old wheel chair.  Her left foot exposed and up in the air.  Before I could even get out a sarcastic (but loving) remark Cari says: "I just got fed up with Kevin Richards hogging the spotlight for so long.  Somebody had to do something about it."   A boy howdy did she.  She took the twins to swimming lessons one day so that Betsy could just look after the triplets at home.  After swimming they played pirates, and the twins 'ad 'er trapped like a rat on top of a picnic table.  Decidin' to give up 'er 'igher ground, she leaped to the ground, landed awkwardly and ended up breakin' 'er left ankle in 2 places pretty bad.  Reminds me of a pirate joke I know, but I'll save that fer another time.  She just had surgery Thursday and everything went well.  It'll take while to heal, but she'll be good in a few weeks.  So back to our Sunday confrontation...

So I let Cari know that it's just not as easy as breaking an ankle.  I am highly jealous of my hogging the spotlight position in the Ward and would not give it up lightly.  If she thought I was competitive in sports, just try me, at your own risk, in limelighting!  We had a good laugh over it and the service began.  I began to feel really bad.  Non-cancer related bad.  I had felt a little sick the night before, but that was due to having way too much fun, staying way too long, and having way too much food at Floyd and Karla's get together on Sat. night.  The pain became intense where I could feel myself sweating from the pressure.  I was getting more and more nauseated.  I knew that feeling.  I had had it about 5 years before...the dreaded gall stones were back!
I leaned over to Cari's daughter Macey and asked her if she'd mind if I threw up on her.  She looked back at me with a horrified look on her face (she could see that I probably meant it) and said, YES!  So I headed out to the men's room, and from there a get some cool air in the Relief Society room.  There Jason Ivey was walking by with his adorable little daughter.  He took one look at me and said, "I'm taking yo home now."  Which he kindly did.  I laid on the couch as things got worse and worse.  I waited for Dale to finally get home, which seemed to be an eternity, and announced to her that she needed to take me to the ER.  Of course it was fast Sunday, so she at least gobbled down a bowl of cereal so she didn't pass out.  The ultrasound clearly showed one HUMONGOUS stone and one big one.  We conferred with the surgeon and the gall bladder was scheduled to come out Monday morning.  Which it did.  I stayed in the hospital until Wednesday afternoon.  2 percosets every 4 hours.  I antibiotic every 6 hours.  NO REVLIMID until after my meeting with my local oncologist on July 22nd.

Just to let you know.  Surgeons lie about the amount of pain that you're not going to have after gall bladder surgery just like they do about after back surgery.

Cari still may one up me on this, as she'll be in a wheel chair.  I guess I could get the wheel chair back from Pres. Kunz before church tomorrow...  This isn't over yet.