STANDING WITH ME by Deacon Tony Martucci
I awoke Christmas Day and went to St. Pius X to assist the Masses at 10 AM and Noon. After cleaning up and locking the Church, I went home to see my family and prepare for Christmas dinner. All seemed perfectly normal, until we sat down to eat. Suddenly I didn’t feel well, was nauseous and excused myself. I sat in the living room and felt a sharp burning pain in my lower abdomen. Thinking it was a kidney stone, I put up with the pain for the rest of the day. I didn’t watch the kids open their presents, and was not a very good host. Family went home; I took Aleve and went to bed. Dec. 26 the pain was muted, but came and went throughout the day. “Call the Doctor,” said Pat. I toughed it out for another day. Dec. 27, pain was intermittent, but I saw blood in my stool and called the urologist, still thinking it was a kidney stone. He saw me at 1:30 PM, determined it wasn’t a stone and sent me to the ER. I met Pat in the ER (it was her last day of work, having resigned from the