I feel a bit more manly, now.

I missed Sisyphus's mention of it in the comments to my brief post—and, somehow, failed to think of it myself—but the kidney stones that struck me down last weekend were also featured in one of the most remarkable moments in recent television history.  In the second season of Deadwood, a similar affliction knocked Al Swearengen to the floor:

And made him scream:

"Mother of God!"

"Help me Christ!"

Your eyes do not deceive you: passing those kidney stones robbed Swearengen of something so fundamental to his being it's right there in his name: the ability to swear. 

If the pain can do that to a beast like Swearengen, imagine what it did to a baby like me.

Comments

[Horace DelightandInstruct]

I don't think I screamed like that, but I did grind most of my teeth into tiny little nubs. But I can say that with more attention to hydration, no recurrence four years later. So drink up!

[JohnR]

Just to make you feel better, where I used to work (Urology dept., big old hospital), a kidney stone was on display that was bigger than my fist. It had been surgically removed, of course, but how the 'owner' had lived with it while it grew to that size was food for thought. They made them tough back then, I guess.

[Rumor]

I wanted to leave this question till you were feeling better. I pretty much adore your explorations into comic bookery, but there's very little out there in the old intertubs that I can find that explores comic books from a literary and visual perspective to the same depth you do, particularly in blog format. So, that said... have you any recommendations on that score? Do you like any comic blogs or people who blog sometimes about comics?

P.S. I'm a longtime lurker. Obviously, I suppose!

[Jon H]

I'm sure it's painful. I think I might have passed a teeny tiny stone of some sort once.

On the other hand, Swearengen's doctor there was Brad Dourif. That's just asking for trouble.