how simply changing your routine can make life interesting
Well now, I have to say I have never been happier to miss a nights fishing. Usually, when I get out of work, I change into my fishing clothes and head out to this sweet little lake where the small mouth bass, rock bass, and perch are biting every morning and every night. On a good haul I bring home enough fish to eat half the next day..and freeze 5 lbs or so for later.
Last night after work, I was very tired and instead of going fishing I took a nap. Woke up about 4 hours later...must have been 8pm or so, felt a bit peckish, so had a sandwich, was thinking I would head out to catch a couple hours worth of fish. Not 15 minutes after I ate that sandwich I was knocked to my knees with the most awful pain I have ever experienced. Stabbing pain in my lower right gut and a burning cramping pain in my lower back. After 4 hours of vomiting from the pain, I caved and went to the ER. ( the reason I waited was because I thought perhaps I had gotten badly constipated, and was waiting for things to get moving again)
After 2 hours of Lab work and a CT scan, the good doctors discovered that I had a 7 millimeter Kidney Stone traveling with excruciating slowness thru the Urethra to my Bladder. So, they got me on some good pain killers, antibiotics for some abnormal protein levels, and an order to drink LOTS of water and cranberry Juice. By 3am I was back at home and passed out safely in bed.
Now, after all that, why did I say I was glad to miss a nights fishing, and why is my header referring to change of plans? Well, if I had gone fishing, I would have been a good 30 minutes drive from the Hospital, and being in so much pain I couldn't stand up straight, getting out of the bush to get TO my car would have been an experience I would rather not have. The lake is at the bottom of a 15 foot drop off that is challenging to those in the best of health, much less one who is doubled over in pain. As it was, had I gone fishing, I simply would have left my gear there, (in the hopes it would well serve whomever might claim abandoned gear) while I slowly made my way back up to my car.
This experience, while happening to me when I was safely at home, reminds me that my preparations are lacking, and that as always, I should be as ready for "anything" as I possibly can be.
