Daniel Heng Trinh - Part 2

The next day (Sunday), I tried to get up as early as I could so I could return to Tary. I had usher duty this month at church so I started my day by calling E.H. and asked him to fill in for me. Then after a quick shower, I fed the boys (i.e., the cats) and hurried back to the hospital.

When I got to Tary's room, her roommate, a relatively young girl, was sleeping on the bed closest to the door. Apparently, this girl was also pregnant and had some sort of infection.

I quietly walked across the room to get over to the other side where Tary was lying. She was still in a great deal of pain. She was still drinking tons of fluids so she had to frequently get up to use the bathroom (which was on the opposite side of the room). Not only did the pain of getting up make these trips to the bathroom incredibly hard, there were a lot of IV tubes connected to Tary's arm. While I was there, I did my best to be supportive by unplugging the IV machines, neatly wrapping the power cords and placing them on top of the IV hooks, and then rolling the machinery while escorting Tary on her trips. After each trip, I would help Tary back to bed, reconnect the power cords, and ask if she felt any better. The answer was always the same. "No."

The last time Tary had kidney stones, she was able to pass them in less than 24 hours. It was quickly about to approach the 48 hour mark. It was the toughest thing for me to just sit and watch Tary have to go through this. I tried calming myself down by searching on my iPhone about kidney stones and pregnancies. Apparently, it's fairly common. However, the more I read, the worse I felt about the whole ordeal. Some mothers shared various horror stories on forums about how it took weeks for their kidney stones to pass, well after their babies were born.

Each Sunday, Tary and I would normally go to church and then have lunch at my parents' house. Since we knew were wouldn't able to make it this week, I texted my brother and cousin to let my parents know. A few hours later, my brother and his girlfriend came to the hospital to visit. I don't know how much their presence helped Tary's psyche but I know I felt a little better having them there.

Some time later, my parents came by to visit Tary. I guess they were concerned after getting the news from my brother and cousin. Tary's parents and Tary's cousin also stopped by a while later. It was quite a surprise to see them all there but it feels good to know that they all care about Tary's health.

Continuing on the visitors theme, our friends S.I. and his fiancee J.W. came by to visit and to drop off some dinner. While the four of us were talking, I reminded my Bejeweled Blitz arch-nemesis J.W. that I had beaten her score this week. She then mentioned that she thought she had beaten it. I looked at my phone and still saw my name on top of the leaderboard...a fact which I had to point out to her again.

After our friends had left, I reloaded Bejeweled Blitz and checked the leaderboard again. Oh no...J.W. was right! She somehow managed to leapfrog me. That's impossible! It is not humanly possible to score more than 569,000 points! Maybe she's cheating. Someone check her for roids. I'm starting to think that I'll never be as good as she is. Well, maybe J.W. is really a robot (like from The Stepford Wives) but that's a topic for a future blog post.

Well, it was finally late and I had to go home again. Two consecutive nights without my wife was really hard. I had no clue how much longer we'd have to stay in the hospital waiting for those stones to pass. If only we knew what would happen next...

569,000

Last night, I was on a mission. I would not be denied! Tary had beaten my high score for this week in Bejeweled Blitz and she just had to let me know while we were at our friends' house (S.I. and J.W.). On top of this, Tary had a monster game last week where she scored in the high 400,000s; her personal best which easily beat anything I have ever done. I hate losing...

After we got home last night while sitting up in bed, I was determined to at least beat Tary's high score for this week. I got into a zone. I was on fire! Jewels were exploding left and right. Oh the carnage! They never knew what hit them. Muwahaha! 60 seconds later, the number "569,000" stared back at me on my iPhone...a new personal best! Not only did I beat Tary's high score of the week, I also destroyed her all-time high score.

On top of that, I had done the impossible! I beat the all-time high score of my long-time nemesis, J.W.. She was a worthy adversary who always topped my weekly leaderboard. Not anymore! I am now King of the Hill! Well, at least until next Tuesday when the leaderboards are reset again.

What's kind of ironic is that we were at S.I. and J.W.'s house a few minutes earlier to try out their new grill. Perhaps the perfect blend of lightly seasoned steak combined with A.D.'s spicy steak sauce and cooked at J.W.'s house provided me the energy I needed to finally beat her score in Bejeweled Blitz!

Ahh...569,000 points. I'm so happy, it makes me want to start singing. This reminds me of the song "Seasons of Love" from the musical RENT.

/sings

Five hundred sixty-nine thousand
Bejeweled Blitz points.
Five hundred sixty-nine thousand
Colors so dear.
Five hundred sixty-nine thousand
Bejeweled Blitz points.
How many games have I played this year?

Five hundred sixty-nine thousand
Bejeweled Blitz points.
Five hundred sixty-nine thousand
Explosions to plan.

Five hundred sixty-nine thousand
Bejeweled Blitz points.
This game can consume the life
of a woman or a man.

Techniques that I've learned,
Helped my score get so high,
The star gems, they burned,
Each point was multiplied!

It's time now, to play now,
Though the game, it never ends
Let's celebrate
Sixty seconds in the life of gems
Remember the love!
Remember the love!
Bejeweled Blitz love!