MISSING: One Renal Cyst

Time: 10:18 a.m., PST
Place: the trundle bed my family rolls into my room when i come home since my real bed is suffering under the weight of my brother's roommate in los angeles. i'm not overlooking a lake in africa... but my window looks out over o'neill regional park and the foothills of the saddleback mountains (note: the church is named after the mountains/region, not vice versa)
Book(s): The Golden Compass (finally finishing it), Ender's Game (finally starting it), The Cell: A Molecular Approach (recommended by my P.I. as "a good book to thumb through in your free time this semester")
Ugly babies abound, i'm sure... but the sneaky little buggers somehow manage to stay out of my line of sight.

First things first- wow, Thirty Travelers... you're really booming lately, what with all the new posts and now the return to the original format. Way to step up.

But what i really need to know is... where is my cyst? For those of you who remember that I have kidney issues, well-- the 4-inch cyst on my kidney is gone. They did an ultrasound to check up on him (Jamie likes to envision the cyst as a friend that my kidney spawned out of loneliness, so i'll be using personal pronouns for it, er um... him). The ultrasound tech looked at me and completely serious asked, "Have you had any work done?" What the heck kind of question is that? Like botox, or what? I told her no, she asked if i was sure i hadn't had surgery since last time... again, what the heck. "Oh come to think of it, that one time when a doctor cut me open and took out half my kidney-- yeah, slipped my mind. My b, lady." So I went to the urologist to discuss the test results, where I got at least 30 minutes worth of very passionate ramblings about how confusing it was, and how he'd never seen a guy (the cyst) that size just go away, and one more time for good measure-- he asked if i was certain i hadn't had surgery. good grief. As a follow up, he requested a cat scan... which i had yesterday.

The cat scan took forever. for-eh-ver. not the scan itself, but the lying on the table waiting for the ct tech to come in afterwards. twenty minutes after the scan, he (the tech, not the cyst) came in and asked-- everyone together now-- if i'd had surgery to remove him (the cyst, not the tech)... because after twenty minutes of searching the scans, he couldn't find him (i hope the pronouns aren't getting muddled... blame Jamie).

So it turns out he is gone... the cyst... my kidney's lone friend. I've gotta admit that I'm sorry to see him go-- mainly because Jamie has me feeling really bad about how lonely my kidney must be down there. The upside? I won't have to worry about inaccurate punches from Cheese or random, hyperenergetic attacks from Matt or Aaron landing a solid blow on my kidney and rupturing a cyst, leaving me writhing in pain on the floor during that ever-awkward moment of "oh crap, the fun just went too far."

But if you see him (the cyst, not the tech or doctor or cheese or matt or aaron)... let me know.

woot woot (one for me, one in memory of the little guy who's gone)
-brian