Our RV Adventures

The Good News is that Jan and I will have off tomorrow (Wednesday) to spend time together on our 49th Wedding Anniversary. And we’re really looking forward to having dinner together.

The other Good News is that Jan has completely recovered from passing a kidney stone today during a 4 hour stint at the CHI St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bryan, TX.

She woke up about 5:30 this morning with a severe backache on her right side, up behind her ribs. She’s had backaches before, though not recently, so no biggie at the time.

But after she relieved me at 7am, the nausea and vomiting set in. Since she felt better after each time she threw up, we were then thinking food poisoning. But finally she came in about 9am, woke me up again and said she couldn’t take the pain anymore.

So after I quickly got dressed, I called Jamie, our GGS supervisor, and asked him to get started our way, telling him I had to take Jan to the ER in Bryan and we were leaving the gate. By then we were both thinking kidney stone, but Jan has never had a problem before, but both our kids have. And apparently in your 60’s is kind of late to have a first one.

Next I went down to the pad to tell Pete, the Company Man, what was going on, and then we were leaving the gate, but had a relief guard on the way. Pete was out on the rig, but when the guy in the office heard what was wrong, he said, “Go, go. I’ll tell Pete,”

On the way back I picked up the truck and then helped Jan in and we were on our way.. Her pain severity was cycling about every 20 minutes, peaking and then dropping off.

I ‘OK Googled’ the nearest hospital ER, using ‘hospital’ so we didn’t get sent to one of those Emergency Clinics, and she took us right to the ER entrance at the hospital. I got Jan inside in a wheelchair and checked in before I went and parked the truck a couple of blocks away. Walking back I called Jamie and let him know we were here, but didn’t know anything yet, except Jan was still in a lot of pain.

Getting back, they already had Jan in a room getting her vitals, and then wheeled her back into a room with me following. Very quickly a nurse came in, got her in the bed and started prepping her for an IV, while another nurse drew blood.

Wow! Not the usual ER service I’ve had in the past, where unless you actually DIE in the waiting room, you won’t see a doctor for hours.

A few minutes later, after asking Jan about any allergies, etc., they used the IV/catheter to give Jan something for the severe nausea she was having as well as a light dose of morphine for the pain.

Around 11 or so, Dr. Montross came in and checked Jan out, pushing on her abdomen, asking about any pain there. She had none, only in her back. Dr. Montross then scheduled her for a CT scan.

A few minutes later, about 11:30, another nurse came in and gave Jan a large foam cup of ‘contrast’ for the CT scan, and told her to have it finished by 1pm, and they would take her for her scan right next door.

Jan said the ‘contrast’ wasn’t too bad, unlike some of this stuff, and had no problem getting it down. At this point, about 11:30, I called Jamie again to bring him up to date.

Jan was still having a good bit of pain and nausea, so they give more nausea meds and another dose of morphine, which this time helped a lot. And at 1pm they wheeled Jan off to the CT scan, bringing her back in less than 10 minutes.

About 1:30 they were back with the results, and that Yes, she did have kidney stones, a large one still in the kidney probably not causing any problems, and the culprit, a much smaller one, on its way out.

In the meantime, after drinking all the contrast, I helped Jan across the hall to the bathroom so she could pee. And a few minutes after that, she said she suddenly felt fine, great even. When the doctor came back to release her a little before.2pm, they figured she had passed the stone without really realizing it that last time.

So we were on our way home a little after 2, stopping at Whataburger for a lunch to eat on the way, and calling Jamie to see if he wanted something. We were back at the gate by a few minutes after 3pm.

And now for the Bad News. When I called Jamie at 11:30, he said we had lost our gate and were being replaced by another couple.

WTH?

He said that Chelsie, the GGS sales rep, said that Company Man Pete had called her, mad as hell that we didn’t talk to him about what had happened to us, and where we had gone. and wanted us replaced immediately.

WTH? That didn’t sound like Pete.

If I’d had his number with me I would have called Pete, but it was written on the logs back at the gate. So I called Chelsie and ask her what happened, and told her I had left a message for Pete since I couldn’t go out to the rig and talk to him directly.

She said she didn’t know what had happened, and that it must have been a liability issue for the energy company leaving the gate unmanned for a while , but that as far as Gate Guard Services was concerned, we didn’t do anything wrong.

Well, that was helpful.

So getting back to the rig, we had to start tearing down to move since the new couple was already on their way.  Jamie was a big help in getting things packed up and stowed away, and I couldn’t have done it without him, because I was just completely worn out.

I had only gotten about an hours sleep that morning  after Jan had relieved me at 7pm, and only about 4 hours sleep the time before that, so by the very end, I was just barely moving.

I had told Jamie at 3 when we got back, that it would be about 6 before we were done, and I pulled out the site at 5:59 with Jan following in the truck. We stopped at the Exxon station about 8 miles down the road for diesel, and we’re presently parked at the Timber Ridge RV park here in Bryan for a couple of nights, before we move on to the Conroe Thousand Trails.on Thursday.

But for the Big Finish, here’s the kicker.

About 4:30 Pete, the Company Man, walked up to the gate and asked how Jan was. What was wrong? Was she going to be OK, etc.

Strange I thought from the man who had just had us fired. But I didn’t say anything, just told him what had happened, and that she had passed the stone and was OK now. He seemed relieved, and then noticed we were tearing down.

“Are ya’ll leaving?”

Awkward Silence.

“Ah . . . Chelsie said you were mad because we left the gate without talking to you, and you demanded we be replaced, so a new couple will be here soon to take over the gate.”

Pete looked puzzled and said, “I wasn’t mad, and I said nothing about you being replaced. I just called concerned, and wanted to see how your wife was, and was she going to be OK.”

WTH?

So you be the judge. Was this miscommunication, or was it direct sabotage?

Jan thinks sabotage, because she and Chelsie have a history.

Oh, one finally thing.

Jan says morphine is GOOOOODDDD!

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence. Three times is Enemy Action.

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