Category: Medical

After an ER visit and a subsequent visit to a cardiologist, I scheduled an EP Study and possible ablation.   Today was the ablation.  Let’s walk through the day.   Arrived at the hospital and immediately reported to the lab for a blood draw.  After that I was escorted to the cardiac unit where I donned a hospital gown and slipper socks.  Had vitals taken, an EKG, then met with the anesthesiologist and then the EP.  After a brief wait, I was …

It was a dark and stormy night….well actually it was early evening and the weather was colder than an ice cube family reunion.  I was sitting on the couch and I feel my heart suddenly going crazy.  Did I sit on an Epipen again?  Was something extra exciting going on?  Nope.  I wonder what it was.  Maybe I’m dying.  Yep.  That has to be it.  I asked my wife to pause the episode of whatever it was we were watching, …

I had a procedure known as laser lithotripsy. Sounds pretty cool, right? LASERS! PEW! PEW! PEW! I can attest there were no Star Wars cosplay sessions involved. If you are so inclined, you can go read more about the procedure. What I will tell you is when I visited with the urologist, he said something like, “There’s a couple different ways we can deal with these stones. The first way uses a stent (go read the article for more detail …

Everyone I’ve talked to and mentioned “kidney stones” has had one of two responses. “Oh no! I’ve had them and it was awful” or “I’ve never had them, but I’ve heard it’s worse than giving birth”. I had the pain for weeks, so I’ve had time to really consider how to describe it—-yet in a way you can say it in public and be family-friendly. This is my description of kidney stone pain: It started like a muscle tweak in …