Can you believe the stones on this guy?
Tuesday, October 24, 7:00pm
Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii
All day, Tim and I have been spraying each other down with Panama Jack, downing colorful drinks by the pool, then rushing upstairs to rip each other's bathing suits off and fuck in every position imaginable. I could totally get used to this.
I am lucky to be married to such a horny woman. Most days, I wake up with her on top of me, sucking on my earlobe or reaching her dainty hand underneath my boxers. Yeah, sometimes, my cock wakes up before me.
We have been fucking nonstop since we got here. The weeklong holdout has worked wonders. No matter how much we do it, I feel completely backed up. But it's not just that.
Wedding planning is stressful. Bills are stressful. Work is stressful. We get a break here or there, get lost in a movie, maybe go to bed early every so often, but other than that, it never lets up.
But there is something liberating about flying 10,000 miles from home. It's not like taking a day off, and being 15 minutes from the office. Right now, I'm not even in the same hemisphere as my office. There's no possible way I can accomplish anything here, and no one expects me to. I've got a free pass for 10 days, and I sure as hell am going to use it. At this point, there isn't a whole lot to do other than eat, drink and fuck like inmates on a weekend furlough.
The concierge at the hotel had to talk us into going to the luau. We have not been doing many of the touristy things here, other than going to the beach and relaxing, and it's been sheer heaven.
The beach is completely dark except for a few blazing torches. A soothing wind blows softly against our skin, as if ordered by a considerate host.
A row of long-haired, ridiculously curvy, grass-skirted hotties stand flawlessly still, and then the music starts--loud, hectic drumbeats played by two men on either side of the stage, and the girls spring to life, dancing with controlled fury. I am amazed at how their hips move so independently of their bodies--and yeah, more than a little turned on, too.
"Should I get you a bib?" Tim asks, curling her lip at me.
"They're not that hot."
She rolls her eyes at me.
**********
Men with shovels surround a spot in the sand and dig furiously to expose an underground oven called an Imu. Reaching bottom, they pull a gigantic pig from the hole, and I can feel the blast of heat 10 yards away.
The closest thing I can compare it to is pulled pork. The meat is so incredibly tender that I almost don't have to chew it. I am full after the third heaping plate, but it's way too good to stop. When's the next time I'm going to be at a luau, anyway?
Wednesday, October 25, 2007, 5:07am
I sit quickly upright in bed, clutching my stomach.
The pain is on the right side of my abdomen, just under the rib cage. I've had it before, usually on mornings after I overeat. Generally, I take a Gas-X and it goes away in a half hour or so.
It feels like I have to shit, but I can't. I load up on Gas-X, and the pain doesn't flinch. It's all I can do to stand upright, as the pain squeezes down like a vice on my intestines. Hours pass.
"Can you come down and eat?" Tim asks.
"Do I look like I can eat?" I snap.
"I know it hurts! You don't have to be a jerk about it!" she hisses.
10:15am
Tim makes me a warm compress and I lay down on my left side, but the pain is no better. And it hasn't moved from that one spot, either, which makes me think that this is not just something I ate. I wonder if I'm getting an ulcer.
I take a hot shower, and it helps a little. Tim runs to the store and does some laundry, and we watch TV together for a while.
"I'm sorry you're so sick," she frowns. "Is there anything else I can do?"
"Let's just wait it out."
1:00pm
I've been in pain for 8 hours straight, and it's gotten no better.
"I want you to go to the hospital," she says.
"What? We're in Hawaii!"
"They have hospitals here, Steve."
"Just give it some time. I'll be okay."
"Either let me take you to the hospital, or I'm calling an ambulance!"
**********
The emergency room is packed. After hearing my complaint, the triage attendant, wearing a worried face, sits me in a chair.
An obviously homeless man approaches the desk. "I need someone to wrap up my foot," he says.
Why? Aren't you gonna eat it here?
I focus on Randy, the homeless man, as he talks. And talks some more. He was playing Frisbee with his girlfriend Becka's brother, you see, because his girlfriend's brother thinks Randy is no good for Becka, and he's trying to loosen him up a bit--
It's no use. The pain simply will not quit. It keeps tearing away at my insides, as if I swallowed a bowl of broken glass. The only thing that helps a bit is leaning to the right in my chair and holding my left hand over my head. At this point, I'm probably competing with Randy for "Biggest freak in the ER" honors, and I don't even care.
I was right before about this not being a digestive problem. It's been far too long for that. Something is broken inside me. It's too high to be my appendix, but I wonder if it's a kidney. Or my gall bladder...
They finally take me to an exam room. A technician smears gel on my stomach and rubs a device the size of a computer mouse across my midsection.
"Take a deep breath and hold it," she says.
"What are you seeing there?"
"The doctor interprets the images. I just take them."
"But does it look like--"
"Deep breath and hold, please."
Every few minutes, someone pops into the room to ask how I'm feeling. I wish I could take something for the pain, or at least sleep. Maybe if I closed my eyes, I could nod off for a while--
The door opens. "Mr. Caruso? I'm Bonnie. From the business office. Your emergency room copay is..."
Is she seriously asking me for money? Now?
"I'm a little indisposed here. I'll pay on the way out, Betty."
"It's Bonnie."
Sure that's not "Bitchy"?
**********
"You have multiple gall bladder stones," Doctor Patel says.
"Am I... is that serious?"
"Your white blood cell count is very high. You should have your gall bladder out immediately."
"You mean you want to operate?"
"Yes."
