Kidney Stones

An infinite cobblestone generator is something you make in Minecraft. I’m reminded of the automatic bridge on the original “Tutorial World” for the Xbox 360, while kidney stones are a serious medical condition caused by the build up of minerals into clumps, which the body then tries to push out. I have heard it is extremely painful. Drawing an analogy between the two is a clever play on the theme of…uh, “stone production” and a mash-up of Minecraft’s youthful whimsy with the hard realities of adulthood.

My dad has had kidney stones multiple times over my life, and I always think of him when I see this picture:

I was quite young the first time, maybe 7, and all I remember is visiting him in the hospital out on Redcliffe Peninsular. He sat in a wheelchair with sunlight on his tired face, looking out a second storey window that framed blue sky and a branch of swaying gum leaves. It seems like a movie scene and I don’t know if it actually happened.

The second time was when I was 18, I think. In the dark of night, my dad knocked on my door. I bolted awake and opened it. He stood in the blackness, hunched over from the pain and sweating and nauseous, holding a white ceramic mixing bowl. I asked what was wrong and he told me. We rushed out the door while my mum slept on. In the car ride to the hospital my dad vomited in the bowl from the pain. He sounded like he was dying. The rank smell of it filled the car and I rolled down the windows to let it out. I dropped my dad at Emergency and offered to walk him in, but he said he was ok and took the bowl of vomit with him. As I drove away I realised the black of night had broken, and everything looked grey in the predawn light.

The third time was on a Saturday just a few months ago. I heard from my mum that dad was having kidney pain while at work, but couldn’t leave until knock off because there was no one to cover for him. I met him at their house when he got home, and took him to the hospital. The next day I took him to another hospital, then drove him home later on. My dad and I haven’t always been close, but these trips to and from hospitals were some of our best chances to really talk, and were picturesque in the golden, late afternoon sun. It was funny seeing him while the painkillers kept him on a high, he’d never been so chatty.

In the end, I was just glad I could be there to help.