Entertaining the Ill and Injured

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02 April 2016 @ 06:59 pm

Entertaining the Ill and Injured

Quick health update: I went to the doctor on Wednesday to get the results of my CT scan that I had done in Emerg when I thought I had kidney stones. And I totally had kidney stones, despite what the skeptical ER thought. In fact, I had a 4mm stone and a 2mm stone in my ureter at the time of the CT, which was the day after I went in. And I had hydronephrosis, which is a swelling of the kidney, suggesting that at one point, my ureter was completely obstructed. I'm guessing that was the period of time I felt like my kidney was going to explode. It's also kind of dangerous, so thanks, ER doctor, for not believing me and making me think it was all in my head.

While I've been not well, I've been keeping myself entertained, first with Ancestry.ca's free weekend, which actually led to me buying a month's subscription because I discovered that the stories that my Great-Grandfather had a first wife who left him and was never heard from again were at least partly true! Very exciting stuff. And scandalous: my GGF married the first wife in 1925, and by 1927 my grandfather was born to another woman, so that is a short turn around. Due to the unknown whereabouts of first wife, my GGF and GGM didn't marry for forty years, so scandals all around! And this is not to mention the fact that my GGF was baptized by the priest and listed as being of 'unknown parents'. Now, if I could just figure out how my Great-Great-Grandmother on the other side of the family got to Canada after magically popping up on the 1916 census, I will be quite content. Seriously, Amelia, how did you get here? You sent your son ahead. Then your husband and other two children. I have their boat records. How did you get here?!

The second form of entertainment continues to be Avengers Academy on my iPad. It's really getting fun now. Here are a few screen caps of my favourite things (click and they get bigger)

In order, left to right:
1. Pepper (in her Rescue armor) literally putting out Tony's fires.
2. A statue of Howard Stark.
3. Steve 'bringing back' the Charleston.
4. Pepper looking at files. On the roof. Because she can fly now.
5. Tony testing out his hoverboard.
6. Steve practicing ricochet angles, while Sam, Natasha and Janet dance, and Loki broods at the bar.
7. Tony working with JARVIS.

Tags: misc./non-fic, rantage and randomosity, woe is me

13 comments | Leave a comment

13 comments —

( 13 comments — Leave a comment )

donutsweeper on April 2nd, 2016 11:52 pm (UTC)

Genealogy is so addicting, isn't it? I spend so many hours trying to track people down (and often unsuccessfully). I have an annual subscription to the US World Explorer version. I don't know a lot of the tricks to ferreting out Canadian folk, all I've looked at Canada for is some Quebec records back in the 1600-1800s (Hubby has some filles du roi in his tree) but if I can help at all, just let me know. I can always try plugging a search into the US site and see if it throws up any information that isn't available via the Canada one.

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awanderingbard on April 3rd, 2016 01:51 am (UTC)

Nit is completel addicting! During my tracking of the mysterious first wife, who I did find in the morning States after she left my GGF, I must have learned everything there is to know about her family, and I'm not even related to them. But it turns out she's the granddaughter of the woman my GGF's dad married to help raise my GGF. I found that completely by accident, and my joy was unbound at finally solving the mystery of how my GGF and first wife might have even met. She was from Massachusetts and he was from a very tiny town in Quebec, so it seemed weird.

We have a fille du roi in our line, too, I think. Other family members traced back. Quebec is great for records, I have to admit. But my family didn't know how to spell their names or what years they were born, judging by their census record variations. One member started her life as Elmina, born in 1864, and concluded it as Rena, born in 1872. Tracking them has been fun.

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donutsweeper on April 3rd, 2016 02:18 am (UTC)

Quebec is *amazing* for records (in a kind of sucks if someone was illegitimate kind of way) for the X, born of legitimate marriage between Y and Z, married on blah blah date 1, born of legitimate marriage between 2 and 3 entries since it gives ALL THE INFO. Especially for women it's great because there's all that maiden name info right there! Some other places were also as particular with the tracking of people via the church, Hubby has a lot of Swedish in his ancestry and they do a similar thing there.

I tend to only trace blood relations and their spouses, but all blood relatives I can so, for example, I've traced all seven of Hubby's 5x great grandfather's kids and who they married and their kids and grandkids etc even though it's hundreds of people and they're only tangentially related once you get to their descendants living today.

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awanderingbard on April 3rd, 2016 02:54 am (UTC)

I actually found a burial record that had someone as the illegitimate daughter of a couple in my family. Which is weird, because they were totally married before she was born. But not in the Catholic church, so my mom and I theorized that she wasn't recognized as legitimate because the marriage wasn't recognized.

Especially for women it's great because there's all that maiden name info right there!

That's a great thing, it helped me out so often to make sure they were really the kids of that person. So many Maries! But with the maiden name, you can be more sure about it.

I tend to only trace blood relations and their spouses, but all blood relatives I can so, for example, I've traced all seven of Hubby's 5x great grandfather's kids and who they married and their kids and grandkids etc even though it's hundreds of people and they're only tangentially related once you get to their descendants living today.

So many different stories to learn about! I don't even know these people and I feel bad when something sad happened to them.

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aelfgyfu_mead on April 3rd, 2016 12:57 am (UTC)

I'd like to have a few words with your ER doctor.

I'm glad you had things to entertain you. Quite an interesting family you have there!

Nice Howard Stark statue. . . .

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awanderingbard on April 3rd, 2016 01:52 am (UTC)

That is only the tip of the family iceberg on that side. It's been tons of fun to snoop around.

I'd like to think Howard would be pleased with the statue. He'd probably think it should be bigger, though.

And yes, ER Doctor is not a nice person. 😟

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joonscribble on April 3rd, 2016 01:18 am (UTC)

A pox upon that ER doctor!

I'm glad at least you've got some entertainment. And what a fascinating family history!

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awanderingbard on April 3rd, 2016 01:56 am (UTC)

Mum has all sorts of stories to tell, so it's been fun to see how many of them match with what reality I can find.

I guess I should have been more pathetic at the hospital. From what I've read, I should have been howling with pain and demanding Dilauded, so I don't know. I mean, the pain was horrific, but I was able to deal with it with hot baths and Motrin. Biggest plot twist of my life that I might actually be stoic...😳

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dustlines on April 12th, 2016 04:42 am (UTC)

Oh no!! I'm so glad you're okay!! I kinda want to twist that ER doctor's arm behind their back and shout at them for a while. How are you feeling, after all that? Were you given anything to help you?

I hope you're doing a lot better. What a scary thing to go through. Even my breath caught a little, just reading about it. :(

*gently pats your head*

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awanderingbard on April 12th, 2016 05:09 am (UTC)

I was offered pain medicine at the ER, but I didn't take it, because I was managing the pain on my own well enough. I think that probably contributed to the doctor not believing me, because kidney stones are supposed to be one of the worse pains you can experience, but I wasn't in active renal colic at the time, so it wasn't that bad. Other than managing the pain, there's nothing they can do for you unless you need surgical intervention to remove a stone that's too big to pass, so it's just a waiting game. And I guess I have a higher pain tolerance than I thought, because the pain was definitely bad, but I was never at a point when I thought "I need some hardcore drugs right now".

I've been feeling much better, but I did pass the 2mm stone a couple of days ago with only a little discomfort, and I can feel the other one getting ready to come out. It's not pain like before, just irritation. And hopefully once it passes, that'll be the end of it.

Thank you for the head pats, they are much appreciated!

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dustlines on April 12th, 2016 05:20 am (UTC)

Well, yeah, but girls are tough! We get used to pain, so it's easily underestimated when we actually have a SERIOUS problem because coping and concealing has become such a habit. I don't think enough doctors understand this, hence the lack of belief that the pain is extreme when things like this arise, ugh.

Um. But I digress. What really matters is that I'm so sorry you had to go through all that, but I'm unbelievably happy you're on the mend. You deserve all the head pats. All of them. And none of the stones! May the second one not trouble you for much longer. Every friend I've ever had who had those frustrating things has bemoaned how wretched they all felt, but thankfully, they are at least transient. -_o

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awanderingbard on April 12th, 2016 05:34 am (UTC)

I remember the first time I had a kidney stone, which was about seven years ago, I think, I went into the ER because I didn't know what it was, and the doctor told me I was 'very young to know what serious pain feels like'. Which was total crap, because A) pain is subjective and B) I had had my gall bladder removed at fourteen due to gallstones that completely obstructed my bile duct, so I do know what serious pain feels like, thank you. Sorry for being stoic about it.

Them being transient a good thing, for sure, but the weird part of it is that once they've passed, you just feel instantly fine, and you kind of forget how much pain you were actually in. You go from 'well, I'm dying' to 'huh, well I guess I'll just carry on with my day', and feel kind of silly about it. :p

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dustlines on April 12th, 2016 05:56 am (UTC)

What!? That guy actually said to you that you were "very young to know what serious pain feels like"?? Gah! Another doctor I want to hurl strong language at! As if only older nervous systems have a monopoly on pain, and younger systems are just numb to it all! Dear lord, that's so upsetting to hear. Worse, I've plenty of my own examples of doctors not listening, so I know it's not uncommon for that kind of thing to be said.

*coughs* In any case, hey, I don't at all think that it's silly to stop thinking of pain as soon as it's passed! I mean, why obsess once it's gone? It makes sense to me to simply carry on, once the carrying on becomes more pleasant. :D

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