The Death of Helga

Below is a depiction of the last two days’ events ending in the triumphant death of Helga the Stone (these were sent as emails from Tom & Jill to their families). A little about the pictures that coincide…. Tom saw a Chinese Acunpuncturist while he was experiencing the so-called “muscle” pain and then again when we found out about the stone. One picture is of them discussing his course of treatment and the second is in his pharmacy as he concocted the dried herbs we would boil each night into a tea to help soften the stone. The last picture is of poor Tommy on the other side of medicine: iv in arm, iodine dye injected into his vein, scrubs aboard his body, and xray machine looming from above.

Jill’s Account: Hello to all.... i have talked to most of you lately, some more than others but most of you know what is going on partly here with Tom and I. So, I will just fill you in on the last couple days and what has progressed....

So, we have been wondering about Helga the Stone, was she still lodged in Tom's urinary track or did she pass through without us really knowing for sure? Why did Tom start to have some lingering pain again after a couple of pain free days? What was going on???

So, yesterday we had the followup appointment with the uriologist we saw last week that diagnosed the kidney stone. Tom told him the process of the last week and what happened and that still some pain in the kidney region on and off. STill feeling worn down, etc.... on and off. A few taps to the back from the doc, a little bit of pain from Tom. So, was Helga still residing? not sure! So, this cute little doc could see that Tom and I were in mental and physical pain, just not sure what to do from here, wanted some answers, wanted to move on in our travels. He is so good. He laughs, he tells us "no worry, no worry", he asks us have we trekked, have we rode elephants, have we done this and that? He wants to make sure we have peace of mind and are happy travelers. So..... he recommended a contrast test where they would inject iodine dye into tom's vein and take xrays for over an hour to trace the dye as it moved through the urinary track. If it haulted or slowed tremendously they would know if there was a stone still there........... So, we say ok! Let's do it! We left the hospital yesterday, having an appointment to return today for this test...... As we left we were informed that Tom would have to drink a laxative drink at night to cleanse his bowels to prepare for the Xray. Oh, goodness, I thought, fun fun! As most of you know I have done this MANY a time, and know the awfulness of the whole process: drink this liquid that tastes and feels like pure death as it slides down your throat, your body starts to shake and quiver just from the intolerable affect it has, nausea follows...... later we went to dinner and right as we sat down and ordered, it hit Tom already, running to the bathroom, no toilet paper there! Clenching his buns, waiting for the owner to grab him the paper, he makes it successfully for his first round of water BURSTING out of his butt! (Sorry Tom for the details, but we're all family here!).... I start to eat as poor tom comes back to the table with the craziest look on his face (he has never had to do this before) and explainations that were pretty explicit :) ........... later having to drink more of the stuff and just a whole night of endless explosions in the poor toilet.

We moved over into the Rendevous Guest HOuse yesterday where we had stayed previously before we left Chiang Mai the first time, forgetting about the things we hated about that hostel until we arrived back again (there is a long list for each hostel of the things that disgust you)..... this one a constant wet floor from the shower dripping nonstop (showers in asian are right next to the toilet with no curtain or anything.... water sprays the whole bathroom as you bath and you just slide around in it). Also, the sink ledge stinks out basically over the toilet, so as I had my own bathroom issues in the middle of the night (which i'll comment on later) I managed to hit my hip on the ledge and bonk my head on the wall in front of me. Other things? Well, the beds have springs sticking up with a hard board in between the 2 twin beds they slide together to make a "double" bed, etc.................

Ok, so... my issues? Well, yesterday as Tom was at the hospital I took at little walk to the Auryvedic Health center where they do traditional Indian Medicine, including colon irrigation and cleanses, etc.... in hopes of finding us some probiotics (for those of you that don't know what that is, it is a culture usually grown and then put in capsules to help replace the good bacteria in your colon). Since Tom has been taking an antiobiotic and we have run out of our probiotics that we take religiously on a daily basis, I thought it would be good to hunt some down. So, here I tried to break through the major language barrier and kept repeating "probiotic", the girl at the front desk calling around and talking to someone in the back that eventually came out with a bottle (with directions written in thai on the bottle) saying it was a probiotic in liquid form, which is also available in the states so I thought 'cool', good enough. They kept wanting to know why I wanted it, so I tried to explain but with just blank stares as I talked. They kept holding their noses and saying that it stinks and tastes bad and why do I want it? I just bought the bottle and scooted back to the hospital, just proud that I had located this product.....

So, before going to bed, I decide to take a capful and mix it in water to make it more palatable. It tasted like the same stuff that another healing center had me drink called probiotic after my colonic last week, so I thought, cool, same stuff, score!

Well, half way through the night, I woke up feeling awful, so sure I had picked up an Asian bug in the food or water or something. Major naseua, couldn't decide if I needed to throw up or deficate violently, pounding headache (was this from the "illness" or from banging my head on the wall in the bathroom while groaning doubled over?), and just feeling weird all over. My intestines were bubbling just like Tom's had been all night from the doctor's laxative solution and I was wondering if I accidently drank some of his stuff! What an awful night we had (but hey we are getting used to those!)....

Waking up to go to the hospital, I felt like a train ran over me and still couldn't figure out what had hit my stomach, still hadn't puked or pooped though..... then it hit me, was this solution, this "probiotic" some type of laxative instead? IT sure was treating me like one! Making our way to the hospital in a song-tau in the same clothes we had been wearing for 3 or 4 days now, both feeling like depleted aliens, wow, what a site we must have been..... as we got there, I finally started to release my intestines, exploding in the toilet just like Tom had been doing for 12 hours now..... this must have been a laxative! Had to have been....... So, as he is taken in for his iv and xrays I am lying out on the bench doubled over feeling like hell had taken hold of my body and mind........... Tom comes out 45 minutes later saying he had to wait and then do more xrays, I finally got up enough energy to go up and eat some eggs, helping me a little bit..........

Ok.... so the REAL news is that Tom no longer has Helga! We went back (after Tom falling asleep at a coffee shop) and doc showed us the Xrays with no stone! YIPEEE!!!!! THe residual pain is just from the stone causing some edema (swelling in the tube) and should be gone soon! YIPEEEE AGAIN!!!! So, more smiles from the doc and sent us on our way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We just booked a NICE hostel ($13/night) for the next five nights that is BRAND new and just like a boutique hotel, so beautiful! And also booked our trip to Laos, finally!! So, we will be in Chiang Mai until monday, the day after christmas and it will take us 2.5 days to reach our first real destination in Laos, Laung Prabang..... we are excited! We have already decided how we will spend christmas in Chiang Mai and then we will be in LAOS on new years.... yipee, we will start prancing again! and probably pretty fast through the rest of asia....

why has all of this happened? Why have we been walking around delirious for days/weeks wondering what to do with ourselves? Why are we will here? What does this all mean? Why are we "wasting" money? What is going on? Well, we aren't sure! All we know is that we have kept each other strong through all of this, lots of the time in funky states of laughter.... like yesterday as we walked through Chiang Mai, punching the air, doubling over in pain from laughing so hard at absolutely nothing but ourselves, trying not to pee our pants............... for what? Just to show each other that we love each other so much that nothing will take us down, nothing will tear us apart, nothing will conquer the Prancers! Tom and I are so great as a pair.... we become stronger each day together. We will continue to lift each other up when one is down, and when we are both down we will still be there for each other. Through the good times and the bad times.... through the thick through the thin.....

So, there it is! Helga is gone! And what an experience that all was........... but no time is lost. Everything happens for a reason...... and Tom and I know that. Now we will rebuild his strength and our emotions and move on.............

We love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tom’s Account: When trying to predict our course of action this holiday season back when this adventure started in early November, we sure didn't expect the month of December to play out the way it has. It started out after a great opening 2 and a half weeks in Chiang Mai and our course took us into the more remote areas that border Burma to the northwest. That is where the fun began. Enduring travelers sickness, intense stomach issues and then the outrageous phenomena of a kidney stone has taken us right up to Christmas with nothing but hospital visits, pain meds and sleepless nights to look back on as you all know. Not exactly what we asked for this Christmas season. I guess we weren't very good this year!!! (wink) But Jill and I are thrilled to announce the passing of Helga, the bitch-of-stones, into the deep, vast sewer system of Chiang Mai. We aren't exactly sure when I passed the stone, but today's tests revealed no trace of Helga. Perhaps the chinese herbs helped to break up the Callaway Long Drive Series - or simply the grogginess of a beautiful middle-of-the-night pee break - so that I really don't remember passing it. The urologist says my kidneys, bladder and the whole nine yards looks good and we can "continue on being happy tourists." That brought a huge smile to our faces and gave us that peace of mind that we can move on. The slight pain I am feeling currently is simply inflammation or swelling from the whole ordeal...a very common side effect from passing a stone. Whew!

So with this now behind us, we can look happily ahead to both the holidays and our next move into Laos. We are going to remain in Chiang Mai for Christmas and then leave for Luang Prubang (a 3 day ordeal which consists of a 1 day bus ride and then 2 days on a slow boat floating down the Mekong River into Luang Prubang) on Monday. The last 3 weeks have helped us realize several things: one, we love each other deeply! (I must have been a jerk most of the time and Jill took care of everything!!! She is known throughout the Chiang Mai Ram 1 Hospital as the "falang" who takes no shit from anyone!) two, if we can make it through this...we can make it through most anything on the road! and three, traveling in SE Asia is no picnic. We have much more to see - and we certainly don't claim to be experts of the vast region yet - but we know that traveling through 2nd and 3rd world countries can have its tough times. So we realize even more fully now that you have to roll with the punches (and even throw some of your own sometimes!!! wink!) everyday and try to laugh as much as possible...which we can't wait to get back to doing on a more permanent basis! That and DANCING! So anyway, as Christmas approaches in a few days, Jill and I send you all our deepest holiday wishes and want you all to know that you have been in our thoughts and prayers a lot lately. We have felt your support and warm love through this ordeal as well. Feeling those warm wishes has helped a lot and we feel very lucky this holiday season to have all that we have. We plan to spend Christmas here in Chiang Mai, eating at our favorite Mediterranean restaurant and getting Thai massages. Then onto Laos next week!!! Finally! We hope everyone has a great Christmas! Love to you all!

tom & jill
- the prancers who, although slowed by a small limp, are back dancing again