The next time I write here that I've been away due to a lack of things to write about, please find me and smack me in the mouth. Better yet, don't. Just wait. Something will take me down a peg. Yes, I managed to jinx myself.

Sarah and I had a pretty simple plan for the day - we were going to resume our genealogy work on my family. We were just about ready to head out the door when I started having some serious back pain and some pressure in an area where you'd prefer not to have any.

We decided to skip the research, and I took some ibuprofen and cozied up to a heating pad. This didn't help. The pain continued, and I started to have a nice combination of chills and sweats. When there wasn't any real change in my condition, Sarah made the executive decision to take me to the hospital.

So we got there, and I checked in with someone. I waited. I saw a nurse who took vitals and asked some questions. I waited. I then got to do the paperwork, and change all the info they had on me from my last visit, which was in high school. Then I waited. I got called, was given an exam room. And I waited.

Eventually, a doctor came by did some questions, etc., and from everything came to the conclusion that I had a kidney stone (for the record, Sarah came to the same conclusion consulting WebMD, though I wouldn't suggest doing that in lieu of actually seeing a doctor). They did a test and confirmed the doctor's thinking, and I got to have a CAT scan.

This was very interesting. I got to lie down on a platform which moved me through a doughnut-like ring that made up the bulk of the machine. I was told to hold my breath a couple of times while the machine took pictures. I noted the warning not to look at the laser the unit used for some purpose - and violated it repeatedly as for a fair amount of time the place where I could have seen the laser was in my line of sight.

For all that, the CAT was inconclusive. Pictures in the pelvis area weren't clear, so it could be hiding there, or it could be gone already. There's an easy way for me to discover this over the next day or two, but I'm not going to go there. If things aren't better by Monday I need to seek further medical attention.

I did get some pills for the pain, which help.

Oddly enough, while in the ER waiting room I ran into a friend of mine who's a former high school classmate. We got to talk a bit (his exam room was across from mine, and we both got to wait a bit), and it turns out that a former teacher at my old high school has recently released a book detailing her after-school work as a call girl. It should be noted that this teacher was not there during my tenure.

As far as that kind of sideline work, it beats painting houses, I suppose.