Cataracts, Kidney Stones and Cruises, Oh My!

So, I realize that I seems like I've kinda fallen off the face of the earth lately. But seriously, the title of this entry has been running through my head for the past couple of weeks, because I've literally found myself muttering it. Okay, maybe not exactly...but close.

It all started around the end of July when my mom asked if I could come up to Kansas City to hang out and help her with my grandfather who was scheduled to have cataract surgery. I looked at flights, but the exact dates I needed had outrageous prices and I told her that I would have to postpone my trip for a few weeks and meet her up there on her next trip to KC.

Well, apparently my answer was not satisfactory. Because, when she arrived in Kansas City on Sunday, August 9, before my grandfather's surgery on Wednesday, August 12, she was awakened in the night with what she described as the worst pain in her life second only to child birth. I'll spare you all of the details, but long story short, she ended up having a family friend take her to the emergency room Monday morning.

After some tests and X-rays, the ER doctor proceeded to tell her that she had a kidney stone that had ruptured a ureter (which Wikipedia tells me, are "muscular ducts that propel urine from the kidneys to the urinary bladder") and would need to have a stint put in the following day. Her options as he saw it were to spend the night in the hospital or go to a urologist. She wisely opted for the urologist.

At this point, I realized things were not looking ideal, and that original plane ticket I looked at in late July probably should've been booked...but then again who could've known. So, I promptly booked a ticket for early Tuesday morning and flew to KC to begin Julia's Nurse/Taxi Cab/Housekeeper/Dog-Walker/Anything-else-you-might-need Service.

In the mean time, thankfully, the urologist called off the ER dogs and told my mom that he wanted her to try to wait out the kidney stone and gave her pain medicine and sent her home with a lovely strainer, which accompanied her everywhere she went.

As I said, my grandfather's cataract surgery was schedule for Wednesday morning, and like most surgeries, he was not supposed to eat or drink anything after midnight on Tuesday night. This is something we told him repeatedly throughout the day on Tuesday and late into the night. However, he has become progressively forgetful, and we awoke on Wednesday morning to find the coffee made and a tray with crumbs and an empty coffee mug in my grandfather's room. When asked about it, he said he "might've eaten some breakfast." When asked WHY??? since he had surgery in just a few hours, he simply replied, "Well, why don't you guys tell me these things??" Clearly, it was our fault.

Once at the surgery center, we explained the morning's events, and the nurse was very kind to only push back the surgery a few hours rather than completely rescheduling it for another day. This, only after my mom and I almost crumpled up into the fetal position on the floor of the surgery center when the nurse said she would have to reschedule his surgery. It's amazing what a little sympathy can get you!

So, after killing some time out and about in KC - we refused to go home for fear that he would eat again! - we returned to the surgery center and had a very successful cataract surgery.

The rest of my week consisted of coordinating and dropping patients off at their respective doctors appointments, overseeing eye drops and medication, and making sure we had food to eat. So, when Herschel called on Sunday night before I was supposed to come home on Monday, I was so excited to hear him ask nonchalantly, "So, do you think you'd want to go on a cruise in a couple of weeks?"

Maybe he was hoping I'd taken some of my mom's pain pills and would say no...but he got quite the opposite reaction. One small hiccup though - he had an expired passport and I had one with my maiden name. Enter the Miami Passport Agency.

One emergency "appointment" with the Passport Agency, three hours in the waiting area, and two trips to Miami later, we have our passports and we leave for our cruise on Monday!!!! Hello, Key West and Cozumel!

Oh, but just one more thing. We leave tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn to go to L.A. - for the weekend. Who does that?? Us, apparently. But yes, we'll be flying coast to coast this weekend to go to a wedding, returning Sunday night and leaving for a cruise on Monday morning.

I know it's nothing to complain about, in fact I'm very excited. But to be honest I'm worn out. Oh, I forgot to mention that when I got home from KC on Monday, I went straight to church to help out with our Vacation Bible School. Oh, and then I got sick.

Okay, I really am done with all of the complaining for now. I'm so excited!! I've never been to L.A., and while it will be a very abbreviated trip, I can not wait to be out there! And, as it turns out, one of my best friends in the world will be there too! It's funny, she lives in New York City, so naturally we would both have to go to L.A. to see each other.

And speaking of friends...the reason for our last-minute cruise is somewhat bittersweet. While Herschel would love to go on a cruise, he would not have ordinarily just called me up and surprised me with the idea all on his own. Some of our closest friends since we moved to Florida just found out that they will be moving in a couple of weeks. We have been talking about taking a cruise with them at some point, but that point had to be moved up quickly in order to accommodate their moving plans.

So, while it's been a bit stressful making it all work, I'm beyond thankful that it's worked out. Herschel and I are so grateful for their friendship during the past few months, and we will miss them desperately. So we are excited to spend one last week with them before the big move.

I'm going to try to keep blogging over the weekend. Not so much next week, since I'll be in the middle of the ocean, but I'll update everyone when we get back. I'm sure we'll have plenty of stories to tell. Just PRAY that Herschel doesn't get seasick!!!