Taking New Year's to the Extreme

Last week on the podcast, we talked about having goals for the new year, and Ryan confessed he's not really a big goal-maker. Well, in today's podcast {and the post below} you'll see why maybe flying by the seat of your pants in trying new experiences is NOT the way to go.

Enjoy the first Spill the Beans of 2017!

Listen right here!

And now, some photos for your day.

On Christmas Eve, Ryan had to work, and he didn't feel too great while he was there. He didn't think much of it, because the yuck feeling went away, and he was fine the next two days. This past Tuesday, again, he felt sick for part of the day, and it happened again on Wednesday. He wondered, by that time, if there was something about the new carton of yogurt or the new jar of honey that didn't agree with him, because the days he'd felt sick matched the days we ate honey-sweetened yogurt for breakfast. I was fine, so it obviously wasn't food poisoning, but he thought maybe he was just not agreeing with either one.

We switched up our breakfast choices, but the yuck didn't go away, and in fact, it got worse. By the time he came home Friday night, he was curled up with a heating pad in the fetal position, and the only food that didn't make him sick was chicken noodle soup with a side of crackers.

His co-workers had combed through his symptoms and come up with a diagnosis that made a lot of sense, but we groaned over it: gallbladder. It was true. Every symptom mirrored what I'd had with my gallbladder multi-year debacle. Sharp abdominal pain, aching back, nausea, worse pain after eating, etc. I told him he'd better plan on getting help soon because it could take weeks to actually achieve surgery if necessary!

So this past Sunday, New Year's Day, we went to church, and as soon as we came home and ate {a nice, healthy, clean-eating breakfast}, he was back on the couch with the heating pad, deep in pain.

 Break my heart! We had a family Christmas scheduled for that day - with Ryan's extended family, but there was no way he could go. He'd end up on some guest bed, all rolled up in a ball. No fun. So I made my food for the party and took it to his aunt, so she could deliver it to the party, and then I began the task of talking Ryan into going to the emergency room.

The pain finally got the best of him, and that afternoon, we landed here:

I worried the place would be packed, given it was the first day of a new year and people had fresh deductibles to begin meeting. Alas, it was virtually empty. Just us and some guy wearing bear claw slippers and handcuffs, escorted by a police officer.

We got right in and Ryan was issued a stunning evening gown. He rocked it.

They had one of those stick-figure-face charts to assess pain level, so I asked Ryan to please show me his pain level.

This...

 ...came closest to this:

LOVED the doctor on call. Seriously wonderful guy. He got right on it, ordering blood work and whisking Ryan away for a CT scan. {I had a mild panic attack at that point. CT scan seemed wildly serious, but they explained they do those because they can see so many things with one test.}

You do a lot of waiting in an ER, but fortunately, I came prepared.

I had a whole bag packed. Snacks, water, Bible, journal, Bible study, devo book, novel, camera - I was ready to hang out for the long haul if necessary!

We did some hospital selfies....

...Ryan began mentally designing slim-fit hospital gowns, because THIS was not working for his self-esteem...

We actually think he looks like he's standing behind one of those photo-opp cutouts, where your head size never matches the body. LOL!!!!

They came back to run a few more tests. I read our devotional book and we prayed together, and then I got busy on my novel.

We listened to the poor baby down the hall SCREAM his/her little head off {poor thing! I prayed for him/her. Whatever was happening sounded miserable} and then we listened to the guy at the other end of the hall screaming "HELP!!! THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL ME!!!!" {Never what you want to hear in a hospital.}

And then the doctor came in to give his diagnosis. I think he was on board with what we thought - gallbladder - but he said Ryan's scan showed a perfectly healthy gallbladder. He actually had a perfectly healthy everything, he said. But he found this tiny bit of calcification that led him to diagnose: kidney stone! Didn't see that one coming! Probably would have if his pain had been more in his back than his abdomen, but it wasn't. The doctor agreed that his symptoms weren't classic kidney stone, but he was pretty sure that was it, so we named her Myrtle, read the "how to await the birth of your kidney stone" papers, and Ryan was sent on his merry way.

The doctor did say the stone had worked its way through so much that it was probably "in the birth canal" {my words: not his. I don't use his words in print.} So with the understanding that Ryan was unlikely to have much more severe pain if he ate, we went straight to Ruby Tuesday for some dinner. He was never so happy to eat in his whole life.

I wanted some coffee {hadn't had any since that morning}, so we squeaked through Starbucks before it closed. My one complaint about Kokomo living is that we do not have any coffee shops that stay open late. I think they all close at 8 or 9. I still have about 3 hours of coffee drinking left in me at that time!

They messed up my drink so they remade it and gave me both. Yes. Because we need three coffees!

So we went to visit our Phoebe girl {who was SO HAPPY to see us} and donated our spare coffee to her people. Hated to throw it away!

And that is how the Shaffers spent New Year's Day. Let's not make this a new tradition, my love!

{And on a more serious note...we'll still take your prayers for Ryan, as Myrtle the stone is still not born, and he's still in a decent amount of pain!}