July 15, 2019
Yellowstone Nat Park
All thru last night I saw John drinking water constantly. Yes, … “drinking water is good for you”, I’ve heard it say. But that much?! I doubt it.
Thru the night, he must have taken ten trips to the bathroom. Yeah! What did he expect? He must be sloshing inside!
I’m awake by 6:00 am. Johnny is snoring like a “union guy who knows his rights”. Wakes up around 7:00 am with this words: we are going to the hospital In Livingston, 30 miles away, or the Yellowstone clinic 3 miles back in the park. Hmmm…
John presents me the facts: “after all that drinking, and all those trips at night to urinate… nada! Not a drop came out. I think I have a blockage”.
He further exclaims, maybe coming from the kidney stones of the the last weeks.
John is not in pain, but he needs the bladder gates opened… or, he will pop like a carnival water-balloon! Only in yellow.
Oh, “yellow”, that reminds me. We are at the Yellowstone clinic. They told us, there is a service wait three hours. The other clinic is one hour away in the town of Livingstone, no appointments walk in only. We will wait here.
Twenty minutes go by and they call John into the inner-offices. Good sign!
Of course I imagine, bottle-brush. Pull-and-release like a stuck fishing line. Or a clean-cut… John is now a girl! Whatever, no need to speculate.
It is noon. Finally, John is done. They installed a catheter with a bag. We are going to ride the motircycle? I do not want to think this further.
Optimistically, John proposes riding all the way to Great Falls Montana, 225 miles and see how that goes.
A third of the way, not good! This thing is leaking all over. “My pants inside are a pool”.
Looks like we are going to the hospital in Livingstone, we are just 5 mikes away.
The Livingston Hospital is heaven. This facility has everything. Think of El Camino Hospital and you have a true visual.
He is being treated right now. It’s a redo of this morning, meaning, Ahh, let me see, its 4:10 pm, we should be out of here by 6:00 or 7:00.
Guess we gonna stay in town.
We will have to make plans hence forth. I do not believe John will be able to ride.
With a catheter and a bag attached?? Riding a motorcycle? John is great, but He is not that great!
So, I am looking for a motel in town.
later update:
Livingston, MT
John is out of the hospital!
They treat him superbly. Doctor says, “why do try making him urinate”. They this, they did that. Lie down. Move around, close your eyes.
Before we knew…. SWOOSHH! Out it came. Filled a bottle. It felt so good… he filled the bottle twice again!
The catheter has been removed and a major decision has been made… we are riding North!
We are all in high spirits.