Thursday, August 6, 2009

Operation Disney


HORSESHOE KIDNEY


I went to Disneyland yesterday. They opened a new attraction and I just had to try it. It is called 'Stone blasters' It is really fun. They refer to it as a 'surreal reality' ride (that somehow sounds slightly like a 'suroxymoron') The object of the game is to slide a tiny telescope up through the urethra, find in the bladder a small hole; the right urerter. Then continue into the kidney. If you can locate the stone they upgrade you to a laser and you score points for blasting the stone into pieces smaller than 1 mm. They give you laser glasses, but they are only 2-D unlike the 3-D at the Toy Story Arcade attraction. You get to watch the TV screen while you work and the 'joy stick' scope is in your hand. You score extra points for sculpting the outside of the stones, but if you are not careful, you get docked 100 points if you Bazooka Blast the center, blowing up the stone and sending chunks flying all over the inside of the kidney. You also lose 5 points for each time you burn the kidney wall. We were very fortunate, though, because the opening of the patient's Horseshoe Kidney was facing up and that is good luck.
I got my highest score yesterday in the entire last year (which, of course, was easy since this was the first time I played in the last year)
The really cool part was that they actually provide a real patient for you to operate on. Disney does a great job; even the room was decorated like an operating room. I thought that the admission price would be steep, but at the end I actually got paid a reward for finishing successfully. I can see that this will be a very popular attraction. The only drawback is that the wait in line to get in is about 11 years.
I could be wrong about the location, but it felt like Disneyland because it is the 'Happiest Place on Earth' and where "Dreams Come True'. It certainly felt that way for me. I couldn't imagine a happier man on the face of this planet yesterday than me.

Kevin

1 comment:

Dana Nanigian said...

Hey, are you still credentialed at the VA? I can rummage up some business for you here:) Glad you are back at work and so happy. Hopefully will see you at GR soon.