Obama - Share THIS Pain

Tonight for the first time in my life I experienced some REAL pain. I've had in the course of my lifespan a broken ankle, broken wrist, broken toes (I used to ride and race an XT500 Enduro) and various burns and infections over my lifetime in Auto Repair and riding motorcycles.

But tonight as I was wrapping up an intake manifold job on a Nissan Quest I found out what hurt really is. I was introduced to the wonderful world of Kidney Stones. Good Lord! I have never felt pain such as this. It was as if someone flipped a switch at just about 5:00 and it was on!

I took a few minutes when the pain began to walk out of the shop and smoke a cigarette and catch my breath. I first thought I had strained my notoriously weak back but after a few minutes I realized this was something totally different. I sat for about half an hour and went back to work. The pain subsided so I figured all was cool.

I headed home at 6:30 and the real fun began. Not being a person who usually surrenders to a few aches and pains I tried for about an hour to tough it out. No way. I had a pretty good idea what was going on by then and headed up to the emergency room (thanks to LAFD Engine Company 48) at Little Company Of Mary hospital here in San Pedro.

After five hours, a CT Scan and other various tests my suspicions were confirmed - I was in the process of passing a stone.

Anyway, here it is now 12:30 A.M. and one Percocet later (plus four shots of Morphine in the E.R. thanks to a great male RN) I feel like I'm stoned (all my puns are always intended). The little pebble hasn't passed yet so I guess I'll just have to wait it out.

Ask anyone Man (or Woman) who has ever passed one of these little fuckers and they will tell you pretty much the same thing - it's as close to childbirth as the male of the species will get. So I anxiously await the birth of my first stone and when it happens I will post a photo of the blessed event. Until then, thank God for Hiram Walker and a Percocet chaser.