The prodigal journaler has returned... actually, there just wasn't much to write about in the past couple days. Well, almost, but by the time there was, I was ready to go to bed. Read on...

Jevim and his dad drove home on Monday in rotten weather... A drive that normally takes about six and a half hours, even with enough rest stops for me, took over eight. I had been watching the forecast on the weather channel that morning, and saw a big swathe of six to twelve inches of snow forecast right down the side of West Virginia that I thought they'd be driving through, and so I hoped that they wouldn't go. But they were afraid of waiting and then getting stuck there, when the rent on Jevim's apartment runs out today.

They made it home without incident, and I found Jevim online, much to my surprise, that evening. He was tired, as his dad had made him shovel snow and clean the snow and ice off the car before it was put away in the garage, then move the moving truck and shovel more snow. *sigh* But he was in one piece, and we chatted online for a while, then talked on the phone a while longer, and he told me all about the drive.

He also told me it felt like he'd left his first home behind, since we'd spent so much time together there, and he didn't want to leave, even though I wasn't there now. I said I knew how he felt, because I didn't want to leave this last time either. The apartment wasn't anything fancy, just one bedroom, a small bathroom and kitchen and a livingroom, but the memories of being there with him... If I'd have had my cat and my computer, he couldn't have put me on the plane... I could live without the rest of my stuff. Well, until I could get it shipped, anyway...

It's nine in the morning here... fifteen hours left of 1997. It's sure been an interesting year... In March, Jevim and Emma came out to Connie's house and spent a week with us during their spring break; we all drove to Kansas City, and went to see Phantom of the Opera, and spent the night in a hotel there, then played in the Independence Mall for a while before heading back home. The day they had to leave, they said goodbye twice... the first time, they headed off in search of a gas station, and passed back close to Connie's house on the way back to the highway, so they stopped once again for more hugs and kisses and goodbyes... it was hard to say goodbye a second time, but we managed.

In April, Connie and I flew out to Virginia to visit Jevim and Emma at school for a few days... we rented a hotel room -- only Jevim and I needed it, Connie got away with sleeping in Emma's dorm room... one small benefit of a same-sex relationship. *pout* I spent the days in Jevim's dorm, playing online via his Ethernet connection *drool* while he was in class... we even spent a while up in his loft, curled up together, and took a bit of a nap that way, if I'm remembering things right. It was nice to see where he lived, and what his day to day life was like, and of course, just to be with him. We ate in the dining halls, and even went to a spring carnival on campus, where Jevim won me a little stuffed bear by knocking Emma off her perch with a padded stick in one of the contests. Something to remember that little bear by later... *chuckle* ... especially after Emma started treating Connie like she did.

May went by, and half of June, and I hopped on the Amtrak and rode for a day and a half to meet Jevim at Union Station. We had a wonderful four weeks together, went to the capital to see the fireworks display, and I got to see a lot of the DC suburbs. It took a little getting used to, actually having a real city to live in again, but I enjoyed it very much.

Finally, I had to go back home, and that's when the trouble started... I went to the gynecologist for birth control -- depro-provera, because my heart problems make 'the pill' a bit of a bad idea -- and at Mom's insistence, he did a urinalysis and found that I had a UTI. No biggie, put me on antibiotics, and gave me the depro shot even though it was the wrong time of the month for it

Well... things didn't work out like they should have... I started having a sensation of someone touching or pushing against the lower part of my kidney (I only have one, lucky me), and so I went to my own doctor.... UTI was gone according to the test, but he put me on more antibiotics just in case it was a hidden infection. No change... I still had the sensation. By this time, my monthly cycle had started, and was doing the Energizer Bunny thing. Got dragged into the urologist, and after some tests (ugh, I hate IVPs!) found a small kidney stone. I was given two options: let them go in and basket it (did not sound pleasant), or drink plenty of fluids and hope it passes. I took the latter, of course.

I drank like a fish! I drank and drank and drank, and no stone... no stone, no stone. I went back in, and the doctor gave me the same options again. I said I'd wait it out... the sensation wasn't terribly bothersome, so I didn't mind. I drank and drank and drank some more, and I went back in again (I think I'm remembering the order right) and still no stone. She gave me one more chance, and I asked her if I could go away for a trip. When I promised her I would be in a metropolitan area the whole time, I wouldn't fly the plane, or drive anywhere by myself (ha, ha -- I don't have a license for a plane or a car), she said okay.

I made plane reservations and flew out to be with Jevim again that weekend.... the cardiologist doesn't want me flying, but what she doesn't know won't hurt her, and the train trip took a hell of a lot more out of me than flying did.

Jevim picked me up at the Baltimore airport, and we drove to Ocean City, where we walked a little way on the boardwalk, then went back to the car (I'd just gotten contacts and the wind wasn't agreeing with my eyes very well). We drove back toward the highway, looking for a promising seafood restaurant. We found one, and it was fantastic! I had a half pound of steamed and seasoned shrimp -- and was a little taken aback when they came with their legs still on... no heads, thank goodness -- and Jevim had crab cakes. He let me have a bit of his, and I let him have a bunch of mine, since it was more than I could eat. After that, we headed back to his apartment, which was about a two or three hour drive, but the trip was worth it.

I had asked the doctor for that trip for one reason.... my birthday would fall during it... Jevim took me out to Red Lobster for my birthday, and we came home and had our own little celebration afterwards. He showered me with gifts, not to mention the new (to me) computer he'd put together for me and UPSed to me after my first trip to DC, and all in all, we had a nice visit.

I didn't want to go home that time, but for more than just the reason that I'd be leaving Jevim... I knew the urologist wasn't going to take "wait" for an answer any longer. I was right; she wanted to send me in for a "basket procedure", but when we found out that they'd want to anesthetize me for it, Mom and I both said no way... my lungs are screwed up enough, thank you, and anesthesia is not a good thing, in my opinion. So, she asked if I would let her do a cystoscopy so she could at least look around and see if she could basket it herself. Stupid me, I said yes. Can we say pain???

I can't lay comfortably on a flat surface for very long (20 minutes, max) without my back starting to hurt. Well, it took them about 20 minutes to get the nurse in and prep me, then she went off and I waited, and waited, at least another fifteen minutes. I was uncomfortable before they ever started doing anything to make me uncomfortable -- and then there was the procedure itself.

The doctor couldn't get the little 'basket' up into my ureter, so she poked around some with a guide wire (I could feel her doing all this, of course), and she said she saw debris coming out... I think she actually broke up the stone then, but we wouldn't know that for a while. Anyhow, she finally stopped probing, and I got to get up off the table and go empty my bladder... cold water feels very strange coming from places it shouldn't. And I hurt... I swear, I felt like I'd been raped... my urethra is bent almost into a loop, and to get the cystoscope in, they had to straighten that loop... yeouch!!! I didn't start feeling better til about three days later.

I had to go back the following week for another IVP, and they took tons of X-rays, none of which showed the damned stone. I think I had to go back one last time a few weeks later, for x-rays and a blood test, but I'm not sure I'm remembering that right; all I know is that I've been to the doctor WAY too much this year. When all was said and done, the doctor said, "Come back in six months"... and she said I could stop taking the antibiotic I'd been on all this time.

That brings me up to about the first week in October, and that's where this Journal started, so I won't go any further with my little "Year In Review".

What's coming up next year? I'm really not sure... Mom sent Jevim a little Christmas present, and a note inviting him to come here for Spring Break. I hope we can manage to get him here, though a thought crossed my mind the other night that it would probably be cheaper for both of us to fly to Vegas or somesuch than for him to fly here. But then we'd have to have a room and a way to get around and all that, so maybe not... Probably a good idea, since there seem to be a large proportion of wedding chapels around there, and it might just be a little toooo tempting. His getting married would screw up his financial aid horribly, and probably my social security, too.

One thing is for certain... we won't get to spend near as much time together next year as we did this year, but I think we can make it.... We'll have been an "item" for a year and a half, come the end of January, and we'll be more than halfway to graduation, when we can finally be together permanently.