August 4 – “Free to …”

Today I am free.  Free to pee wherever I want to once again.  In my own bathroom at home.  In the bathroom at WalMart.  Or at the fire station.  Or in a nasty gas station.  Or in the back yard, for that matter.  Free. 

OK.  I know that’s an incredibly weird start, and actually kind of gross, but let me explain.  Yesterday was the day I had to collect all of my urine output – 24 hours’ worth - for a test my rheumatologist is doing to determine the creatinine levels in my kidneys – a test to determine if my kidneys are functioning properly.  Beyond that I have no idea about the specifics.  Nor do I particularly care to know.  I just know that it is incredibly annoying to have to stay near the collection portal (AKA “pee bucket”), which, by the way, has to stay in the refrigerator in between collections.  That’s right, folks, for the last 24 hours we have had a large, bright orange receptacle residing in our fridge.  That’s so I would be able to find it if I had to go at night, I guess.  Don’t want to mistake it for something else, although, doesn’t Minute Maid come in orange containers as well?  Fortunately for us, though, we have an extra refrigerator where we usually keep soft drinks.  Chris insisted that the bucket find its spot in there instead of our regular one.  I concurred … readily.  The experience was a humbling one, to be sure.  And, as I said before, annoying.  Really annoying. 

And now on top of everything else we have to take the annoying orange bucket into Texas to the Quest office in LaMarque and let them draw some blood.  Yep.  I’ll be the one hauling in the bright orange bucket that screams, “Guess what I had to do all day yesterday.”  At least there are other things on our Texas list.  I have my yearly appointment with my neurologist in Houston.  Not sure that he can do anything else (short of recommending surgery) to ease the lower back issues, but I have to see him to ensure the nerve pain medication is still doing its job (Which it is working, by the way.  I can tell immediately if it is time for the next dose, and sometimes long before it is time.  Doesn’t take long after taking it that the tingling and numbness goes away).  I just hope we can get in and out in time to get back to Galveston quickly.  I have to pray the invocation at the fire department awards ceremony tonight.  The chief said he’d wait for me, but that would awkward.  “Where have you been, Chappy?”  “Well, I had to return some … uh … I had to take some of my … er …”  Maybe I should just stick with the “doctor’s appointment in Houston” answer. 

Philippians 4:12 says, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

Father, give us safe travels into Texas today.  Thank you for the miracles that have come from scientific research, even it means 24 hours of pure, unadulterated annoyance.  Amen.