Most of you already know these two things:

1. I had surgery four weeks ago to remove a cancerous tumor from my kidney. We caught it early, the cancer was low-grade, not very advanced, it was fully encapsulated (in, of all things, fat ), and had not spread. The prospects are excellent (98% survavility rate). No biggie...

2. I am leaving for a Caribbean cruise this Sunday. (The CEO and I love to travel.)

What you may NOT know is that we found the kidney cancer because I had to go into the ER with kidney stones (would not wish that upon my worst enemy, by the way). They did a CT scan, and found this "mass" that later turned out to be a tumor. The CT scan also revealed that I had "several" stones -- again, no biggie - I've had them all my life. So, we did the surgery thing, from which I am almost fully recovered now. We made an appointment for the 15th of July to start dealing with the stones still in my kidney.

BUT... Bill Cosby likes to say that God has a sense of humor, and he's displaying that with me right now...

Sometime on Tuesday, I started feeling this "twinge" on my right side. The twinge became serious pain. I did not make a big deal out of it. But, here I was yesterday still in pain. My wife is (literally) screaming at me telling me to go to the doctor. She's also mad at me because I have refused to follow the "do not lift anything over 10 pounds" rule, and she's convinced that I now have a hernia.

Anyway, yesterday, I finally broke down and called the urologist. He told me to come see him this morning, which I did. After yet ANOTHER CT scan, it was determined that I now had a kidney stone in my eureter!!

He gave me the following options:

1. Come into the hospital, have the stone removed, and go on the cruise with a stent up in my urethra. They stick a probe up your member and retrieve the stone. They then put a stent in there to facilitate any other stones from passing.) I did this already two months ago... trust me, not much fun... at all! BUT it WOULD remove the stone... there would be some discomfort from the stent, but I'd be assured no kidney stone pain.

2. Go on the cruise with a fresh prescription of Percoset and hope and pray that the stone does not move. If it does, then swallow some pills, "feel no pain," and hope everything holds off until I get back.

So, what do you guys think I chose?

Well, number TWO, OF COURSE!!!

Have Percoset -- will travel!!

Anyway, wish me luck! I hope I do not have to be air-lifted out of the boat and into a third-world country hospital with a urologist whose degree is from University of Phoenix Online!

Just thought I'd share... It was an interesting day.

Juan

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