"Thank God It Went Well"

Those were the words of Fred's urologist this morning after spending a few hours doing all kinds of procedures on Fred. The kidney stone was broken apart by lithotripsy ( shock waves focused directly at the stone, passing harmlessly through the body), and a stent placed in the kidney. The doctor used a laser to remove two areas of scar tissue in the urinary tract and bladder stones. Fred is quite the trooper, and we came home this afternoon, loaded up with prescriptions, especially for pain management. So far, so good. Thank you for praying! I'm quite relieved that things went well. Hopefully, we can get some good rest tonight. This morning we had a classic encounter that illustrates Fred's six degrees of separation. At 7 AM Fred was being rolled down to radiology for an xray to make sure the kidney stone was still in the same place. He got a big grin when he saw the technician- an old friend from Villanova days! They had gone on double dates to basketball games at the Palestra; Fred and a friend from Villanova went with her and her sister. Fred was thrilled to see her and reminisce! One of our old neighbors was also helping in the OR so we knew Fred was in good hands. I included the picture of Fred from about 1973 , since we had traveled down memory lane today (don't you love the plaid pants?)