My doc consulted with a urologist today and between them they ruled out the ultrasonic therapy as a viable solution in my case. Instead they’ve prescribed a couple of meds that are supposed to help break-up the stone chemically and help it pass.  If it doesn’t work by early next week, they’ll plan on extracting it surgically.

Hopefully it will pass on it’s own, as I’m scheduled to leave for California next Thursday for a west coast motorcycle meet. I’m not giving up yet, but the schedule is getting a little crunched.

In case you’re curious why I haven’t posted (or visited blogs) recently… I’m down with the worst kidney stone I’ve ever had.  Have been dealing with it since late Saturday.  The pain finally drove me to see my doc yesterday and I’ve been hopped up on serious painkillers since then.  They basically leave me a drooling lump on the couch, but at least the pain is muted.  They did a CT scan yesterday and I’m waiting to hear if they’re going to use ultrasonic therapy to break this one up.

Silent One asked an interesting question, “Taking such a long trip … do you do it just cuz you want to ride? Just to see the scenery? Was there a goal in mind… besides the road and loop you went on? I have seen through your photos you stop often… I guess I don’t see the point in driving so long and far…”

For me, there’s really two kinds of riding.  Sometimes I’m riding in a relaxed fashion, taking in the scenery and enjoy life.  It’s on these kinds of rides, normally solo rides, that I’ll stop often for photos or take time to explore. The other kind of ride, like this past weekend, the ride itself is really the main goal.  We may pick a destination like Grand Coulee Dam but it’s really the excuse to ride, not the ultimate reason to ride. These are the motorcycle trips a rider really lives for.

When you’re really in the groove, riding a motorcycle becomes a full sensory experience. Most of the time, I find driving a car a passive experience. A motorcycle is *completely* different. You experience the minute temperature changes as you carve through a forested road, passing in and out of sunshine and shadow. You smell fresh cut grass, smoke from a wood fire, even the cows out in a field.

You’re practically connected to the machine you’re astride.  Feeling every bump and ridge in the road, what your tires are doing as you push them towards their limit of adhesion as you bank right and left through the corners. Your vision is focused on the road ahead, scanning for hazards, picking your line, always looking and thinking where the bike is going to be next, not where it is now.

I’ve said it myself, and most motorcyclists I know eventually use the term also, but it’s a zen-like experience. For me, it’s a time when I stop worrying about paying bills, or problems at work, or tragedies in the news, or anything else.  I’m fully in the moment and gloriously alive without a care in the world beyond the next corner. This is the feeling I get when I ride and why I start looking forward to the next trip as soon as I finish the previous one!

I attended a screening of the new Eric Bana/Drew Berrymore film “Lucky You” tonight. It’s a sort of love story set against a background of competitive poker in Las Vegas.  Interesting combination. There were things I liked about it, and I enjoyed it, but honestly it’s a little too long and drags in spots.

The most interesting thing to me about it was Eric Bana’s character Huck. His father tells him at one point that his life is topsy-turvy. That he takes risks at the poker table when he should be conservative and plays it safe in his personal life when he should take risks. I can relate.

In reality I’m a real wall flower. I play it safe in my career, in finances, in relationships. It’s only in the safe anonymity of my helmet, behind my dark face shield that I let things hang out. I’ve blogged before that the person I am inside doesn’t match who I am outside.  I think I’m fated to go through life that way, as I really don’t know how to reconcile the multiple facets of my personality.

Has anyone else dealt with this and figured it out?  I’d sure like to find the answer…