Rock!

October 5th, 2013| Topic: RaMbLeS | 10

Rock!

A few weeks ago, I had a most unfortunate episode.

A stone. In the kidney. Well, in the ureter actually, the pipe connecting kidney to bladder.

Any pain, you ask?

Let’s just put it this way: It was B.R.U.T.A.L.

I’ll spare you all the gory (yup, G.O.R.Y.) details of the workings (or the non-workings) of my innards.

I’ll just quote a medical textbook:

Acute renal colic is probably the most excruciatingly painful event a person can endure. Striking without warning, the pain is often described as being worse than childbirth, broken bones, gunshot wounds, burns, or surgery.”

(But, no, I’m not at all ashamed to display my “KUB”—X’ray of the Kidney–Urinary Bladder. After all, folks at many airports in this country and numerous ones abroad have seen me thus quite often.)

In any case, I had a stone. Too small to be shocked with ultrasound. Too big to be left alone to pass.

The long and short of it is that it had to be “roto-rootered” out under general anesthesia. Oh, the indignities of life!

(BTW, if you thought life held any dignity for you, you thought wrong. It doesn’t. Dignity is a figment of your imagination!)

And my urologist left a stent in there somewhere. Which he removed a week later.

Actually, “removed” is not the right word for it. He literally yanked it out. All 26 centimeters of it. Yup, T.W.E.N.T.Y.-S.I.X. Almost a foot. I almost freaked out when I saw it!

What in the world did you put in me?”

Woe is me!

It’s a good thing I am on sabbatical from Dallas Seminary this fall semester; I didn’t miss any classes.

And, I am proud to say, two days after my procedure, I saw patients in my derm clinic. By the grace of God and the mercies of hydrocodone.

I tell you, the things we have to go through in life.

It gives new meaning to “rock”:

There is no one holy like the LORD,
Indeed, there is no one besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God.
1 Samuel 2:2

Nope, no rock like our God. No stone, no gravel, no boulder is like our God.

For who is God, besides the LORD?
And who is a rock, besides our God?
2 Samuel 22:32

No cliff, no crag, no schist, no granite. Nope, no rock like our God.

The Rock! His work is perfect,
For all His ways are just;
A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and upright is He.
Deuteronomy 32:4

The only refuge in the trials, turmoils, and turbulences of life.

My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
My shield and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold and my refuge;
My savior ….
2 Samuel 22:3

In the ancient Jewish Talmud, there is an appropriate prayer:

When one comes out of a bathroom he should say: ‘Blessed is He who has formed man in wisdom and created in him many orifices and many cavities. It is obvious and known before Your throne of glory that if one of them were to be ruptured or one of them blocked, it would be impossible for a man to survive and stand before You. Blessed are You that heals all flesh and does wonders.’”

Amen! The Talmud recommends that you recite this every time you come out of the bathroom. I do it going in and coming out of the bathroom!

The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock;
And exalted be the God of my salvation!
Psalm 18:46

The only Rock!

10 Comments

  1. Kay and Ted October 7, 2013 at 9:08 pm

    Grateful you are feeling better. Maybe all you needed was toffee.
    Kay

    Reply
  2. Betty October 7, 2013 at 5:31 pm

    Dr. Abe, thank you for reminding me that dignity is a figment of the imagination. I was imagining that I might be able to salvage a little bit as I go out to the village in a couple of weeks. I was trying to think how to keep from waking up all the dogs in the neighborhood if I have to get up in the night. In fact, how can I even keep from waking up the whole household? And will I even have any semblance of a bathroom? VERY unlikely. “Oh the indignities of life.” I will remember those words often and they will comfort me in my loss of privacy and my unaccustomed dependency. Grateful for you! (-:

    Reply
    • Abe Kuruvilla October 8, 2013 at 6:38 pm

      All God’s blessings on you, Betty.

      As I told someone the other day: “Life is painful; life is short; the first is bad, but the second is good!”

      Jesus is coming!

      Reply
  3. Paige October 7, 2013 at 5:55 am

    Oh, Abe! I’m so sorry that you went through this and so glad that you are on the mend!

    Reply
  4. Curry October 6, 2013 at 9:58 am

    Abe… Your sense of humor…! And glorious perspective of the living God. Thankful you are healing . I do declare that I see your face imprinted on your hip bone. LOL

    Reply
  5. Nancy Drew October 6, 2013 at 2:21 am

    My husband has had the same procedure, root-rooter, stent and all. He speaks of it with pain in his voice – years later. Apparently there is nothing like it known to man, or woman. So glad you have healed.

    Reply

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