The Ravenous Roof

I wasn't the only one on Mr. Toads Wild Ride.  Raz had a run in with the roof.  It tried to eat him for lunch.  He bruised his ribs up pretty good and his back was all scraped up.  He couldn't move much without a lot of pain.  This is after he sprained his ankle a couple weeks before.

Then a couple weeks later he got real sick with a kidney stone and massive kidney infection.  He ended up needing emergency surgery and we had to go to Anchorage for that because the only Urologist in Fairbanks was off fishing somewhere.  (That's just how it is up here).  The docs told us he was nearly septic by the time we arrived and they rushed him into surgery at midnight.  At the ER in Fairbanks they had pumped him full of several rounds of high powered antibiotics. In Anchorage they removed the stone, put a stent in him that went from his kidney to his bladder and pushed more aggressive antibiotics.  When they biopsied the stone they discovered the infection was not due to the stone but that the stone was due to the infected kidney which had been sick for some time.  They also found that the stone was the rarest kind and required a whole different regimen of meds.  

Now, anyone who knows Raz knows he is a big grump when it comes to him being the patient.    He has a notorious history of being crabby and verbally .... Let's say 'colorful' with the medical staff.  So, on the 7 hour drive down there I had to get up to him and give him the what for.  I am very proud to say what a total gentleman he was the whole time in the hospital.  He didn't cuss anyone, he didn't throw his food tray, he took his meds, he didn't rip out his IV.  He was a good patient  and that is saying a lot considering he had a long tube and a string up his Willie, annnnnd in spite of the fact that every nurse on the floor came in to look at it during the shift.  He finally told the nurses they couldn't look at it anymore.  He told them they had their fun, they got to whitess his magnificence and now they would all have to go home and cry because he wasn't going to show it off anymore.  Lololol.  It was great!  He was great.  For being in so much pain and being poked and prodded so much he did really great.  He healed up super fast without any complications and was actually better than ever afterward.

 We are getting older for sure but as our friend Fred said, "you've still got one more homestead in you".  Dispite our mishaps and bruises we are still young in our spirits and are loving life and this awesome adventure we have chosen for ourselves.  Thank you all for the prayers and well wishes you sent our way.