Today, I had Lithotripsy to breakup a kidney stone in my left kidney. The stone decided not to cooperate. It proved to be a very dense stone requiring turning the lithotriptor up to 11, with the end result that Instead of shattering into millions of sand sized particles it broke apart into several smaller stones that I will need to pass. Hopefully, they will be small enough to pass without too much difficulty (i.e., unbearble pain). At the hospital this afternoon, I did have a very short bout with a stone or a blood clot that fell into this category which required my beloved Toradol. Since it was injected, it worked almost instantly and "saved" me from the shot of morphine the nurse was about to administer (They dumped the morphine done the sink instead!). Unfortunately, the hospital and my Urologist's approach to pain management was to give me some Lortab and tell me to go to the ER if it is insufficent to mange the pain (It's the weekend after all!). I wish they'd just given me a perscription for the Toradol as a percaution since it made passing my stone two years ago entirely mangeable and nearly pain-free.
Oh, and as my first-time in the OR I have to say that Lithotripsy is a pretty wussy surgery. Every nurse and doctor asked me what procedure I was having as a safety thing (didn't want to go in for Lithotripsy and have then take off my leg!) and I wanted to say something cool like a Craniotomy.
I cast my absent voter ballot yesterday in the Montana Democratic Primary. Although I seriously considered writing in my boy John Edwards, I voted for Barak Obama. I did so in the vain hope that a strong victory in Montana would help to finally force Hilliary Clinton out of the race (something that should have happened two months ago when Obama's nomination became inevitable). While I remain highly skeptical of Obama's ability to make significant changes to the policy status quo and am uncomfortable with some of his policy proposals (no health care mandates!), my doubts about Hilliary are much greater.
Although she has the ability to throw an elbow or two to bring about significant policy changes, she appears to believe public policy is a tool to be used for political gain rather then to make positive changes in people's lives. This belief is one that is shared by George W. Bush and it will prove to be the tragic legacy of his presidency. If you don't understand what I mean, take a look at the two most significant policy changes under his belt, NCLB and Medicare Part D. Both have been complete policy disasters. Further, Bush and his cronies are so uninterested in the substance of public policy that our government has rivaled that of failed states in the sheer level of incompetence, corruption, and malevolence it has exhibited the past eight years. When you don't care how government governs, it can't. While there is no way Hilliary could be as bad as George W or John McSame, especially with policy wonk Bill around, her pandering on the Gas Tax Holiday and her rejection of policy experts means Obama would make a better president. He won't be a transformative president, but at least the grown ups will be in charge again. After eight years of George Bush, that's still pretty transformative.
