In The Navy (FT “C” School), Part 5

A day before my surgery I got a new roommate in the Hospital. They had been coming and going the whole time I was there. This one I will never forget though. He was a Senior Chief (E-8 rank), had bright red hair and beard, a very “salty” type of guy and he was in excruciating pain the whole time he was there. It scared the hell out of me; I thought I might catch something else from the guy. It turned out he was passing a Kidney Stone. I decided right then and there that stones were not for me! This guy looked like the type that would eat the raw bladder of a cow on a dare, but he was here in the room with me, in tears the whole time. They would medicate him and he would sleep for a while. Then he would wake up calling for a nurse in tears again, just a little while later. I felt really bad for the guy, which means nothing from a dying guy I suppose. I never talked to him at all, he was incapable of conversation. One day later, he was just gone. I guess the stone(s) had passed.

I have a friend now who kicks out several stones per year and once it passes, it’s just a matter of clearing up the urinary tract.


Before the surgery my friends stopped by to see me.

My girlfriend of the time was there also, both before and after the surgery (with her mother), so I have to give her credit for that. This will be the one and only time I ever mention her in this blog. She later became my wife and after that, my ex-wife. That’s about it. Still single now, so that’s cool!

Just before it was time to go in and see the butcher, a Nurse showed up to insert a catheter, and shooed everyone out of the room. My friends just left the Hospital, which was fine.

I was provided a Foley Catheter; http://www.emedicinehealth.com/foley_catheter/article_em.htm. The key thing to realize and remember here is that the thing is held in the bladder (once inserted) by an inflatable rubber ball full of water. Whatever could go wrong!?

She tossed up the sheets and splayed the parts out across my legs. I tried to watch, but couldn’t hold my head up and once it started, I didn’t want to watch.

Having one of these things inserted into your penis while you are wide awake is fairly painful. I think I was being drugged as it started. I can only say I was glad it was not a cute nurse. It would have been embarrassing. There were not many of those in Navy Hospitals then and I expect now (no offence if you are a cute Navy Nurse).

The Anesthesiologist came in at some point and had a fairly large sized cart with him (this is all hazy to me). He prepped a shot and as he began shooting it into my IV he asked me to count backwards from 100. I went “100…99…98…97…” then, was out cold. I don’t remember thinking it, but it had to be the best I had felt in over a month.