Mark had kidney stone surgery December 23

 Mark went to the Emergency room at Timpanogos Hospital twice on Dec. 18.

They put in an IV gave him pain medicine and sent him home.

He went again at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 19 to the same hospital.  He asked

for a CT Scan and found that the kidney stone was in the Kidney.

He went to the Emergency Room at Utah Valley Hospital on Dec. 22.

They want to keep him in The ER until they operated, but Daddy declined

and came home.

Mark had surgery at Same Day Surgery and Utah Valley Hospital on Dec. 23

with Sparenborg operating.  He removed a kidney stone from the bladder

that was fairly good sized over 0.4 cm. and had a point on one side which

caused considerable discomfort and bleeding, and was probably the reason

it never passed.

He came home right after the surgery and by the next day realized he

still had a stone in his kidney, which he passed within 24 hours.

In case you missed the significance of the timing. . .Mark's surgery stone surgery

was DECEMBER 23, two days before Christmas and he had been in severe

pain for over six days before that.

2020 the Year of COVID-19

 Nathan and Natalia moved to Amsterdam the end of January and while COVID

was in China, it was not known that it was in the United States at that time.

They discovered COVID-19 was in the US in February and by March most of the United

States was shut down to prevent the spread.

2020 is the year of quarantine and wearing masks and growing COVID numbers

world wide.

Another night with 11 hours without pain medication

I am sure no one is reading this.

Last night represents another night of over 11 hours without pain medication.
Sleep was marginal, but I didn't  wake up enough to think I was
in pain and needed medication for either the pain or high blood pressure.

End Result:

By the time I take pain medication in the morning, it doesn't work.
I took Oxycodone at 8:30 a.m. and 11:30a.m. and I am in serious pain.

Now I am wondering if I should set an alarm to wake me in the
middle of the night so I don't wake up in so much pain.

My surgery was Dec. 20 a LONG time ago.

I do have a family practice doctor I could go discuss this with,
however as I pointed out above-- going anywhere is painful
and I am already in pain.

I have slept all night for the first time since surgery Dec. 20

I have slept all night two of the last three nights.  Last night I slept eight hours
 and two nights ago I slept 11 hours.

Prior to that I have been getting up at least once to eat something and take
pain medication, and put a heating pad on my knee and or use the water
circulation machine they gave me in the hospital.

Sadly the days were miserable.  I woke up feeling relief that I was better
only to be in lots of pain all day, despite taking pain stuff.

I am still taking Ibupropin, Tylenol and Oxycodone.

Patellofemeral knee replacement December 20, 2019

I had a Patellofemeral knee replacement on December 20 with Dr. Blake Gillette MD
at the Canyon View Orthopedics in Spanish Fork.

Dr. Gillette was recommended by the gynecologist Dr. Dewey I had been seeing.

My Knee cap- the front of my knee has not been working for probably years.
In 2019 it reached peak pain levels and my ability to walk was almost gone.

I saw several doctors including Dr. Mortensen who has operated on several
of my siblings and there was no concrete consensus on the solution.
Dr. Mortensen said he wasn't sure surgery would help.

Dr. Gillette's PA knew at once that they could replace the knee cap and make
it better.

I waited weeks to get an appointment with Dr. Gillette and the surgery was
scheduled Nov. 11.  Dec. 20 was his next opening for surgery and also his
last surgery date in 2019.

You know there is something wrong when:

The Oct. 1 story in the Daily Herald lists the top FIVE
football teams in Utah Valley.

Salem Hills is the ONLY Undefeated team and Timpview
is not even in the top 5 AND PROVO HIGH IS.

Oct. 1, 2019 Daily Herald Salem Hills only undefeated team

Now on October 5 after the Friday night Oct. 4 Football games,
Provo beat Salem Hills.  Salem Hills is no longer undefeated.

Sidenote:  Timpview lost again to Orem High who is now
the region champion.

The Utah High School Athletic Association's classifications
for 2019 have two different rankings.  One for all sports except
football and one for football.

I think Provo's Region may explain why they were in the top five.
Provo is in the same region with Maple Mountain, Payson, Salem Hills,
Spanish Fork, Springville and Wasatch.  Typically these schools are smaller
and not generally in the playoffs.  Now it appears both Provo and Salem
Hills will be in the playoffs from their region.  Payson has not lost all
their games,  Spanish Fork has lost quite a few as has Wasatch.

Provo BARELY held off Salem Hills 30-26.

A point of this post, is that schools DO NOT STAY THE SAME.
Check principals, and teachers of the school every year, because
the education and environment at each school fluctuates.

I won the Utah Policy Contest AGAIN!

Trivia time

Utah Sen. Arthur V. Watkins headed up a bi-partisan committee to consider censure of Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the height of his anti-communist purges. The Senate ultimately voted to "condemn" McCarthy on two counts.

Many people believe Watkins' role in the McCarthy affair contributed to his re-election defeat in 1958 when Democrat Frank Moss won the seat. 

The first three readers with the correct answer were:

·       Matt Howell

·       Peggy Burdett

·       Donald Jarvis

Thanks to everyone who sent in guesses.

If you'd like to submit a question for our Friday trivia, email them to me at bschott@utahpolicy.com. If we use your question, I'll send you one of our UtahPolicy.com stickers.

This time I know more.  Utah Policy posts a trivia question on FRIDAY.

Evidently, you need to find it right after they post it to be first.  This
week I am second and it was early in the day when I found the question.

The last question took several searches.  Numerous news stories
about famous people buried in Utah left off the California Governor,
the answer to last week's trivia question.  I finally found the answer in a
Family History burial site, but I was still first.

This week I found the answer and didn't know I had the answer
until I found it in an additional site.

Utah Policy Trivia Winners September 16