Day of the Dude story

[PriorRestraint]

I thought I knew what this DotD held for me. Along with the usual Friday takin er easy, I had my dad coming into town to help celebrate my son's birthday. Catch some music, plenty of beers, our troubles were going to be over. My dad is my dude exemplar - I must've heard him say Take it easy a few hundred thousand times growing up and he's a master of staying responsibly limber, so I was extra excited to have him come and celebrate our family occasion and the high holy Dudeist holiday.

Sadly it was not to be. On Wednesday I thought I'd eaten some bad chicken salad but instead it ended up being my appendix. I had that sucker removed yesterday and aside from some discomfort after the surgery I've spent the last 36 hours or so floating in a warm opioid haze, perusing the forum, watching TBL, etc. My dad will visit next weekend instead, and I'll be out in time for my son's party. Best of all, I've had doctors and nurses alike prescribing I "take it easy" for at least two weeks and not exert myself in any way. Doctors orders!

I know it's a minor surgery but I've never been put under before, and with three young kids at home, I wondered if I'd be anxious before the procedure. In my haze I reflected on my life and was just completely content and so appreciative of how lucky I am. This was a major clusterfuck of our plans, but I'd abided through it and kept my mind and perspective limber, and I'm here to report that that outlook/method really did get me through all this with a smile on my face and plenty of laughs with the hospital staff.

This here Dudeism outlook works, dudes. I've known that for a while now, and in my work as a psychologist I see every day the results of being uptight vs abiding, but there's always that bit of doubt -- facing the abyss, will I still have the courage of my convictions, or will it seem hollow and silly in the face of something existential and scary. But this dude abides, and the philosophy that's brought us all here passed this test with flying colors.

So take it easy today brethren, and stay limber!

[headiebean]

That's fucking interesting, man.  That's fucking interesting.   Being put under is a big deal; this is not Nam, this is surgery, there are rules.   And the number one rule is that which we celebrate today... take it easy.

Glad to hear everything worked out.  Now, you take er easy for all us sinners.

Thanks man.

bean.

[Reverend Al]

I had to have my appendix ripped out when I was in junior high/middle school.  No warning signs whatsoever, just woke up one Friday morning in a lot of pain and severely nauseated.  They had me in the O.R. by 5:00 that afternoon, and the next day my doctor told me my appendix probably would have burst if they had waited another 30 minutes; he said it was one of the worst cases of sudden onset appendicitis he'd ever seen.  The day after the surgery was pretty rough - they kept waking me up every two hours during the night to take my temperature (checking for signs of infection) so I couldn't get much sleep, and then they wanted me to get up and walk around every hour or so; being a fresh "wound", the pain was so bad that I couldn't stand up straight, and had to lean on my I.V. pole for support.

That night, a friend did me a simple favor that turned out to be the best thing he could have done for me at that moment--he called to see how I was doing.  Now, that in and of itself wasn't so remarkable, but we started joking around and that got me laughing.  Then my roommate, a guy who had accidentally shot himself in the abdomen while he was cleaning his handgun (that was his story, anyway), joined in.  Before long a couple of nurses came in to see why we were making so much noise, and they joined in.  This joking and laughing went on for a while, and about the time we quieted down the head nurse came in to see what all of the noise was about.  When the nurses explained, she threw her hands in the air and walked out of the room, saying, "Oh, fine, now watch their stitches pop!!!"  And that got us going all over again.  The thing is, in this case laughter truly was the best medicine.  Initially my incision hurt like hell, but after all of that laughing I barely noticed it, and when they got me out of bed for my first walk-around the next morning I had no trouble standing straight up.  And after the nurses reported my "remarkable" recovery to my doctor, he released me two days earlier than he had planned to.

Sometimes the universe steps in and takes care of us in ways we can't begin to imagine, and all we have to do is let it happen.  Take 'er easy, Dudes.

[PriorRestraint]

I had to have my appendix ripped out when I was in junior high/middle school.  No warning signs whatsoever, just woke up one Friday morning in a lot of pain and severely nauseated.  They had me in the O.R. by 5:00 that afternoon, and the next day my doctor told me my appendix probably would have burst if they had waited another 30 minutes; he said it was one of the worst cases of sudden onset appendicitis he'd ever seen.  The day after the surgery was pretty rough - they kept waking me up every two hours during the night to take my temperature (checking for signs of infection) so I couldn't get much sleep, and then they wanted me to get up and walk around every hour or so; being a fresh "wound", the pain was so bad that I couldn't stand up straight, and had to lean on my I.V. pole for support.

That night, a friend did me a simple favor that turned out to be the best thing he could have done for me at that moment--he called to see how I was doing.  Now, that in and of itself wasn't so remarkable, but we started joking around and that got me laughing.  Then my roommate, a guy who had accidentally shot himself in the abdomen while he was cleaning his handgun (that was his story, anyway), joined in.  Before long a couple of nurses came in to see why we were making so much noise, and they joined in.  This joking and laughing went on for a while, and about the time we quieted down the head nurse came in to see what all of the noise was about.  When the nurses explained, she threw her hands in the air and walked out of the room, saying, "Oh, fine, now watch their stitches pop!!!"  And that got us going all over again.  The thing is, in this case laughter truly was the best medicine.  Initially my incision hurt like hell, but after all of that laughing I barely noticed it, and when they got me out of bed for my first walk-around the next morning I had no trouble standing straight up.  And after the nurses reported my "remarkable" recovery to my doctor, he released me two days earlier than he had planned to.

Sometimes the universe steps in and takes care of us in ways we can't begin to imagine, and all we have to do is let it happen.  Take 'er easy, Dudes.

Great story, Al. Dude like even as a youth!

Turns out that three kids under four, one of who me had a huge bday party on Saturday wasn't the best recipe for taking it easy. Spent probably only a half dozen hours on the couch all weekend, a travesty! It's a strange world when you're looking forward to going to work so you can sit back and chill, but I've got a pretty sweet gig employment wise, and whatever, this weekend was like an advanced course in abiding, so I'm appreciative. Cheers dudes!

[Reverend Al]

Great story, Al. Dude like even as a youth!

I wish.  I was just as goofy and awkward and confused as any other young man at that age.  40 years later I'm still goofy, not quite as awkward and, thanks to the right people entering my life at the right times, nowhere near as confused.  But I'm still a work in progress; aren't we all?

Turns out that three kids under four, one of who me had a huge bday party on Saturday wasn't the best recipe for taking it easy. Spent probably only a half dozen hours on the couch all weekend, a travesty! It's a strange world when you're looking forward to going to work so you can sit back and chill, but I've got a pretty sweet gig employment wise, and whatever, this weekend was like an advanced course in abiding, so I'm appreciative. Cheers dudes!

Been there, done that.  I've lost count of the number of times I was looking forward to going back to work on Monday so that I could get some rest. 

[jgiffin]

Appendices are Devil's fruit. Lost mine in the summer of 2007. Went to work that morning with my lower gut killing me. Thought it was an ulcer or something. Nope. Once I got home, tried to ignore it by going to sleep. That didn't work. Fine, let's drink this sumbitch into submission. Whoa, fuck, now I'm hammered...and it hurts worse than ever. Okay, call the girlfriend for advice. Shit, she wants an ambulance - we settle on her coming over. By the time she gets here I want to die in a house-fire. Hit the hospital (she drove) and it's just bad, real bad. Went straight to surgery and my appendix had already ruptured. It was about as much pain as I have ever felt.*




*Since we're among friends, I'll concede that recovery from hemorrhoid surgery was probably worse. But only because of the duration of the pain. Hours and hours and days and days of pain just wears you out. But for sheer moment-to-moment intensity, the appendix thing trumps about everything I've felt.

[Reverend Al]

...By the time she gets here I want to die in a house-fire...

Wow.  I've been so ill or in so much pain before that death didn't seem to be such a bad option, but I never once thought a house fire was the way to do it.

...Hours and hours and days and days of pain just wears you out...

I can vouch for that.  I've been dealing with a condition called Post-Laminectomy Syndrome (chronic pain after surgery to repair a herniated disc in my lower back) for a little over nine years now with no end in sight.  Strangely, even pain is something you can get used to if it lasts long enough, but there are still times when it really gets me down.

[jgiffin]

Ouch, man. That's rough. Did the back surgery help any? I've heard both ways - people either say it was the best decision they ever made or they curse medicine as modern shamanism and snake-oil.

[Reverend Al]

Ouch, man. That's rough. Did the back surgery help any? I've heard both ways - people either say it was the best decision they ever made or they curse medicine as modern shamanism and snake-oil.

In my case, yes, the surgery helped tremendously.  The first symptom was a minor pain in the back of my left thigh one day when I got up off of our couch, and over the next several months it progressed to a constant, burning pain that ran through my left glute, down the back of my left leg into my knee, down the outside of my left calf, through my ankle, and into my foot as though someone had inserted a tube along the path I just described and was constantly pouring hot lava through it.  Right up to the day before the surgery I was taking 3500 mg of Vicodin daily, and that only occasionally dulled the pain slightly.  During the year between the first symptom and the surgery my doctors tried a number of various treatments that were unsuccessful, and in the end it came down to two choices - have the surgery or live with the pain.

After the surgery I was completely pain free.  Then I was at work one day almost exactly a year after the surgery.  I got up from my chair, took a couple of steps, and it was as if someone stabbed me with an ice pick in my lower back (where the repaired disc is).  It came and went in less than a second, but happened again the next day, and the day after that, and a couple of days after that, and so on, always after I'd risen from a seated position.  After a couple of weeks it started doing it randomly and more frequently, and over a period of about six months turned into a constant, dull ache in my lower back.  Have you ever over-stressed your back, say lifting something heavy or helping someone move furniture, and felt an ache in your lower back?  That's me on a good day now, and has been since October of 2005.  Some days are better than others, but it's still far better than the extreme pain I felt just before the surgery.  My doctors have tried a number of treatments for my current condition, including burning the nerves (like creating a break in a wire, so the pain signals can't reach my brain), but none of them had any effect.  Unfortunately, I can't work because I can't do physical labor like I used to, and I can't sit or stand longer than 30-60 minutes so I'm constantly having to change positions; i.e. get up and walk around if I've been sitting too long, or sit down if I've been on my feet too long.  Otherwise, the pain increases and I start having severe muscle spasms.  And I use a cane to help me get around on some days, which is a real pain in the ass but it helps.

On the plus side, my back problems have forced me to live a more sedentary/more Dudely lifestyle.    Except I can't bowl.