WASHINGTON DC AND FREDERICKSBERG, VA

Well, it's been a couple weeks since Arvil and I returned home from DC that I had to take a rest from all that we did and concentrate on work and home.

We had a wonderful time sight seeing and spending time together. We went to DC to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversery, (a couple months early) and had the time of our lives. We could have spent another week to see all the things that we didn't fit into our schedule.

We walked, walked, walked, then learned to use the metro train system in our favor instead of walking so much, but we still did walk and walk and walk. Needless to see, we covered a lot of ground and saw some wonderful things. The history came alive for us and though I can't remember everything we saw and heard, little things come back to memory every now and then of what we did. (pictures help jog the memory too)

We started off driving to Spokane to spend the night and fly out eary in the morning. We had an appointment to go through the Spokane temple as we came into town, so after our session, we found our hotel, went out to eat at a wonderful Mexican restrurant, then hit the bed somewhat early to be able to get up and head over to the airport the next day.

We reached Washington DC at about 4:35 pm their time and was met by Brian, my nephew and his mother Linda. Brian was bringing us a car, so we wouldn't have to rent one, when we came to VA to see his family. After driving awhile and seeing the country side of VA, we ended up at the mall where we enjoyed a wonderful Mother's Day dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. We enjoyed talking and catching up, along with saying hi to everyone that called Linda to wish her happy Mother's Day. After dinner, Brian set Arvil and I up with his GPS, to head off to the hotel. I can happily say, that we reached our destination without any problems.

Monday, Arvil and I had an appointment to see the Capital Building, but as we reached downtown, we still had an hour or so before our appointment, so as we walked around, we happened to stumble across the Botanical Gardens as they were about to open, so we took the time to go through and see all the different plant life throughout the world. It was amazing at the size of the building and to see how they created the correct enviroment for the plants to thrive and live.

Before going to the capital, we went to the office of one of Hawaii's representatives, in which I received my tickets from, just days before our trip. Mr. Neil Abercrombie. Why I didn't go through our own state of MT, who knows, but Mr. Abercrombie's office answered my email for tickets. We were excorted by his office personel and filled in on his area of service and the time he's been in office. He is now preparing to run for Hawaii's governor. We were amazed at the tunnels that we were taken through to get to the Capital Building. (Not without going through lots of security check points).

The capitol building now has a wonderful new underground visitor center, which we came to via the buildings that house the offices of the House Representatives and Senators. We had to wait for a while for our tour to start, but was amazed at the beauty and size of the building. So many people were able to be moved throughout the building without any problems. The capital contained two statues from each state and the architecture was beautiful. It was a thrill to me, to see how so many different people could come together for one purpose. We live in a great nation.

(This is in the visitors center, The lights hanging from the dome, and the mural painted inside the dome.)

After touring the Capital, we set off to find food, since we were told that the cafateria would be quite costly, there at the capital visitor's center, so off we walked. Needless to say, we walked and walked until we couldn't walk much further when we came to Pot Belly Sandwiches. They were a hit and a very busy place for 2:30 in the afternoon. All I can say is you better have your mind made up when you get in line, since they get you right through. After eatting, we headed off to see the Memorial's. Then headed back to the hotel to rest after a long, long walking day.

Kindney Stones Again

Well, the past 2 weeks have been really fun...Huh! Anything but fun.
On Sunday April 26, Arvil and I had finished having a great Sunday meal and headed downstairs to watch a little TV to relax. Well we might have been there about 20 minutes, when I started to get this crazy side pain, where there's no relief and it's worse then child bearing. I should have known something was up when I picked up a fleece blanket to wrap around me before I sat down. Lately, I'm anything but cold. But for some reason, I just wanted to have a little warmth. Needless to say after going to the bathroom 3 or 4 times, curling up in the fetal position 3 or 4 times, then throwing up everything I had ate; I wasn't in to good of a mood when I realized I was passing another kidney stone.
I finally decided that to get rid of the nasty pain, I would have to go the ER on a Sunday evening, something I wasn't looking forward to, since so many times it's busier then ever and I didn't want to wait while there were people looking on. But we decided to go anyway, with Arvil only having an hour or so before his bedtime.
Arvil loaded me in the car with my blanket and slippers and the closer to Missoula we got, I kept thinking that I should call in and get my name on the waiting list, but I couldn't bring myself to talk, since the pain kept me with labored breathing. So I prayed all the way, pleading with the Lord not to have wait, and the Lord answered my prayers. I walked in, signed my paperwork, and was taken right back to the bed. The doctor came in, asked if I knew what the pain was all about, which I did, since I had stones 3 years earlier with the same symptoms, so she ordered the CT and gave me happy iv drugs...The pain subsided and all was good. It's amazing what the right drugs can do for a person.
I sent Arvil home to get to bed, and told him I would call Clayton to come get me when I was ready, since I still needed to drain the IV bag of medicine . Within 20 to 30 minutes, the doctor came in and told me, I was the proud owner of a 7mm stone that had passed almost to the bladder, but had stopped, and a few more others. She thought that since the stone had traveled most the way, that within 3 days, I should pass it on my own. Needless to say, Clayton got his call a lot sooner then expected and so he came, picked me up and we went to the pharmacy to get more happy drugs. Wow, I was only in the ER for close to 2 hours, not 6 or 7.
Well, Mon, Tues, Wed all came and went and nothing is happening. So I'm to call my urologist to see if I could get an appointment. Well, on Friday...so Thursday and Friday I went to work and even covered someones shift, but had to leave early to go to the doctor. Needless to say, I would have had surgery on Friday, May 1, if I hadn't already ate lunch and since it would be so late by the time the magic hour would pass to allow me to have the surgery, We decided to wait until Monday morning. We decided that it would be best to go in and have the stone lasered and pulled out, instead of using the high frequency Ultrasound laser to just break up the stone.
Since I have this wonderful trip to Washington DC scheduled at the end of the week, we would need to work the schedule a little faster then normal.
Well it's now Wed, May 6th and I am still moving quite slowly, mainly due to the stent, and going to the bathroom quite frequent. I can honestly say, I wouldn't wish this on anyone and I hope that it won't mess up our trip. But the fun will not end soon, since once I'm home from DC and I cover for someone else that's having surgery, I get to go in and have my other kidney blasted for the stone that's forming in it. I can only hope for the best. But hopefully, when It's all over and done, I hope to be weened off of soda quite a bit. It's been water water water, cranberry juice, lemonade and more water for the past 2 weeks. It seems like lately I can't get enough to drink...it must be the happy drugs too.